Hello and how are you doing? How is your weekend going? Anyway I only called to say hi and Please have some fun, relax and enjoy your weekend.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on October 9, 2009 at 2:44am
He pursued the girl with lunatic passion, but she rebuffed his advances, until he succeeded in defiling her. But even this was not enough for Chinwikpe Ikezie. he made good his threat to kill the girl’s mother, her opposition to his advances. Abiola Azeez reports the gripping tale of a love intention gone wild.0
Was it a case of love gone sour or that of a professed love to one’s heartthrob being turned down or truncated by forces more powerful? No matter the deductions one makes out of the story, the deed has been done, and the deceased has been left for the bereaved to bury.
Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku is a rural village in Umuahia North local government area of Abia State. The usually peaceful community,which is just about three kilometres away from the heart of the state capital, was thrown into mourning, anger, and confusion on Wednesday evening, when the news filtered into the community that a 17 year-old young man had murdered a 35 year old mother in a cassava farm.
Members of the community, particularly the leadership of the youth, gathered and formed a search party. They went after the alleged killer, going from one neighbouring village to another, apparently to deny the murderer any form of escape and to hand him over to law enforcement agents.
Their efforts paid off after much exertion of energy; the alleged murderer, Chinwikpe Okezie, who allegedly committed the heinous crime at about 5 p.m., was tracked down at about 3 a.m. the next day at a bush path in the neighbouring village.
It was discovered that he had his own network of informants to help him immediately he fled the community after committing the dastardly act.
Investigations conducted by FeaturesXtra revealed that Chinwikpe regularly visits Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku, which is his maternal community, where he had lived with his mother in Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku, since the mother was thrown out of her husband’s house unceremoniously.
Another version to the personality of the Chinwikpes had it that his mother had no clear cut means of livelihood and was also a trouble maker in the community.
This, members of the community said, made her husband to wake up one morning and engage the services a truck driver, who helped him to pack her belongings back to her community in the full glare of everyone present at the market square of the village. Her bride price was not paid.
Members of the community, in separate interviews, said that Chinwikpe had, about two years ago, used a cutlass to cut the hand of one of his older kinsmen during a fight. Also, no member of the community could confirm his source of livelihood.
While some said he never attended school, others said he was a drop out, while some others said he was available for any casual labour since he was not known to be on apprenticeship with anyone.
Speaking with FeaturesXtra, a former youth leader of the community, Mr. Ibeabuchi Abarikwu, said the deceased, Chikamnayo Nwakaaku Young (nee Ikpo), aged 35, was a native of Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku in the Umuahia North Local government area of the state, but was married to one Abel Young, an indigene of Amankwu Amiibo in Ubakala community of Umuahia South local government area of the state.
Abarikwu said the couple got separated when the man could not complete the payment of brideprice on Chikamnayo, a development which he said made her to take her children along with her to her father’s house.
”Chikamnayo is a peasant farmer. She had gone to her farm in the morning of the day of the incident. Earlier, before the day of the incident, her assailant, Chinwikpe, had been threatening her, and telling people that he would kill the woman.
“Chinwikpe’s mother is from Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku, just like the deceased. Interestingly, no other girl in the community caught Chinwikpe’s admiration and love except the deceased’s daughter, Chinagorom Young, aged 17. He was trying to befriend the daughter of the deceased, which the deceased vehemently opposed, saying that her daughter is a blood sister to the boy.
She said they couldn’t have any love relationship. Many people are aware of how the girl in question had rejected the advances of the boy on many occasions, yet he continued to trouble the girl.
“Their neighbours even said that the boy had succeeded in raping the girl once, saying their houses are close to one another. So, because the mother refused to consent to their relationship, the boy vowed that he would kill the deceased and also rubbish the girl.
“The deceased had made several complaints to elders of the community, among other people, yet no action was taken, not even calling the boy to order.
“On Wednesday morning, Chikamnayo went to her farm. However, one of her friends in the community, who had a funny feeling, a sense of an impending danger, about her friend, went to her house to warn her about the ominous feeling she had about her. But the woman only met her children, who told their mother’s friend that their mother had gone to the farm.
She, therefore, traced her to the farm, where she met her and told her about the feeling of danger she was having. She succeeded in persuading the deceased to come back to the village with her.
“As fate would have it, the children had nothing to eat at home and the deceased decided to go back to her farm in the evening, at about 5 p.m., to get some vegetables needed to cook a meal for her children. People said immediately she left, they saw Chinwikpe trailing the deceased to the farm.
“When we saw her corpse, already battered by machete cuts in the chest and back, with her face lying on the ground, we learnt that the boy was still lurking around the vicinity. Thus, we alerted everyone in the community.
We also raised a search party. Do you know that it was not until 3 a.m. on Thursday that we eventually caught the boy in a neighbouring community? We then handed him over to the police. The police have since commenced investigations into the matter.”
Asked what he knew of the boy previously, Ibeabuchi said:“Two years ago, when I was the youth leader in the community, Chinwikpe’s elder brother used a machete to cut the arm of one of his elder kinsmen in the community. Then, I warned his people that he should not come back to the community after the incident”, he said.
Describing how they tracked the suspect down in the dead of the night, the youth leader said, “It was a tough experience. When we got the information that he was still hanging around in the area after committing the crime, we mobilised all the youth in the area and searched the community.
We immediately went from Ukome to other neighbouring villages. We also gathered that some people were communicating to him through GSM phones about our journey, which we made with a car, and particularly about my personal involvement in the effort to get him. At a point, we would see him, but he would quickly hide inside the bush on seeing the head lamp of the car we were using to track him.
So, at a point, I advised that we should park the car and go on foot. We then mobilised all the neighbouring communities. Again, he saw us and tried to take cover in the bush. As he was scampering out of the bush at Isieke, we caught him and handed him over to the police.”
Meanwhile, a new twist was added to the story as some sympathisers of the alleged murderer insisted that Chiwinkpe was a friend to the deceased’s daughter and that she even had an issue for the alleged murderer. Speaking on this twist, a native of the village, who wanted to remain anonymous, denied such a story, describing it as a figment of the peddlers’ imagination.
“They were not friends at all. The deceased’s daughter told me that the guy had made several attempts to befriend her, while the girl said she shouted ‘obara Jesus’, meaning blood of Jesus. The guy knows what that means. Yet he continued to pester her. The guy succeeded in raping the girl; the whole village can testify to this. Because of the incident, the girl cried out to the whole community. If they were friends, there would not have been such an alarm.
“Because of this incident, the deceased did not hide the matter but cried out to the whole community over the sacrilegious occurence. The deceased even contacted the guy’s mother with the hope that his mother would caution him. But due to the way the guy was brought up, he never listened to his mother, as his mind was already made up. The elders were still looking into the matter until the killing of the deceased.
If he was innocent or ignorant of what he did, he would not have run away. When he was eventually caught in the bush, he never argued about his offence. He never uttered a word. There was a feeling of disgust and shock because the village saw it as a sacrilege for a boy to have killed someone in his maternal home.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Tribune gathered that the case is being handled by the state Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Umuahia, while the village called on the police to look carefully into the case. They said the boy should not be allowed bail and that he should face the consequences of his action.
“Our community is a law-abiding one. We could have meted out justice to him the night we caught him, but we decided to hand him over to the police immediately. We believe in the police and the court of law. Justice must take its full course. Such a thing has never happened in our place before”, he said.
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The explosion of Information Technology in Nigeria has meant that more people have access to internet connection and other innovative IT solutions, but this has brought its own ills.Two years ago, the Internet Crime Report ranked the country tops among the African countries from which fraudulent credit card transactions and other forms of cyber-crime originate. The local parlance for the perpetrators of these cyber cons is “Yahoo boys”.All that is needed for start-up is between N300 and N500 for an all-night internet access at a cybercafé or even a dial-up connection, a second rate laptop from the Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos and a handful of software. As the con man toils all-night, setting traps for gullible citizens while they are asleep; he goes to sleep in the day, expecting to wake up to a harvest in form of money, in local and foreign currencies, saleable items like computers, or the PIN of somebody’s ATM card.Bolade Akeem, a resident of Ibadan, recently fell victim of these fraudsters. “I lost my one month salary to ATM fraud,” he said while narrating his predicament to NEXT.“I do hear about Yahoo boys, but I don’t know how they operate. The way they operate is secretive because victims do not talk about it, probably because doing so reveals their palpable vulnerability,” he said.“I responded to an email, purportedly from Interswitch, which said I needed to update my ATM card details. I didn’t know such email is rampant until I spoke out and other people started relating their own experiences,” he said.“Should every victim narrate his/her experience exactly the way it happened, many more people will not be entering it and the ‘yahoo business’ will be heading moribund by now,” said Mr. Akeem.Indeed, more young people are taking to the practice, either on a part-time or a full-time basis, as revealed by the manager of a Lagos Island-based cybercafé who spoke to NEXT on the condition of anonymity.Evil partnership“It’s difficult to run a profitable internet cafe in Lagos without the patronage of these boys,” he said, adding that “many Yahoo boys are unemployed. Some of them quit after getting regular source of income. At least I know about four that have quit.”From a list that included secondary school leavers, undergraduates, and unemployed university graduates, he deduced that more than poverty, idleness and lust for “quick money” are the reasons given by some of the boys he had spoken to.According to Mr. Akeem, the fertile avenue for the business of internet scam remains the public cybercafés.“The latest strategy, I learnt, is that they (scammers) liaise with some cybercafé owners and plug a particular device into computer systems. The device records any entry made on popular e-commerce and email websites, including credit card number and PINs,” said Mr. Akeem.Solution“We are being forced to embrace the ‘e-trends’ – e-payment, e-banking, e-this and e-that without a plan for e-security. These scammers can easily link up with their pals overseas for advanced scamming technology. This ‘Yahoo business’ is dynamic and has gone international,” said the cybercafé manager.However, Mr. Akeem suggested that the best protective measure is to be wary of unsolicited emails and use trusted internet network on a trusted computer equipped with latest protective software. “And the only computer you can trust is your own,” he added.Jide Awe, an IT expert and founder of Jidaw.com in a website post on cybercrime, listed some of the internet fraud schemes as those perpetrated through e-mail, chat rooms, message boards, or websites.According to the him, fraudsters are taking advantage of the speed and easy accessibility of the internet, cheaper to use fraudulent, deceptive “spamming” e-mails to dupe unsuspecting victims and the anonymity that the internet sometimes offers.Mr. Awe urged security agencies to be equipped with the skills, know-how and the insight necessary to fight cybercrime effectively.
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Attack Sequence 1: Direct Questioning• Stage 1. Ask your question directly.• Give no advance warning of the subject you’re about to bring up or of any feelings of mistrust.• Never reveal what you know first. Ask questions to gather information to see if it’s consistent withwhat you already know.• The way you present yourself can greatly influence the attitude of the other person. Three powerfultips for establishing building rapport:1. Matching posture and movements – if he has one hand in his pocket, you put your hand in yours.2. Matching speech – if he’s speaking in a slow, relaxed tone, you do the same.3. Matching key words – if he’s prone to using certain words or phrases, use them when speaking.• Ask a question that you know will produce a response similar to how you expect him to react. In otherwords, if he waves his arms around no matter what he’s talking about, you want to know this.• Use a relaxed and non-threatening posture, and square off so that you’re facing each other.• Never, ever interrupt. You can’t learn anything new while you’re talking. Ask open-ended questions.• Stage 2. Silence.• Stage 3. Really? At the end of his answer respond with “Really?”• Stage 4. Sudden Death. Follow with “Is there anything you want to get off your chest?”Attack Sequence 2: Lead and Confine• Stage 1. Ask a leading question. For example, “you were back by two A.M. last night, weren’t you?”• Stage 2. Reverse course: You’ve got to be kidding! For example, “I was hoping you did, so you would havegotten it out of your system. Please tell me that you’ve done it, so I know that it’s over with.”• Stage 3. This is not going to work. For example, “I thought you were somebody who had a sense of adventure.Someone who knows how to live a little.”Attack Sequence 3: Time Line Distortion• Scenario: You suspect several employees in your store of stealing money• Stage1. Setting the scene. Let the conversation turn casually to stealing and say, “Oh, I knew right from thestart what was going on.”• Stage 2. It’s no big deal. “You had to know I knew. How else do you think you could have gotten away with itfor so long? I hope you don’t think I’m a complete idiot.”• Stage 3. I appreciate what you’ve done. “I know that you were just going along with it because you werescared of what the others would do. It’s really okay. I know you’re not that kind of person.”Attack Sequence 4: Direct Assumption / Shot in the Dark• Stage 1. Set the scene. Be somewhat curt and standoffish, as if something heavy-duty is bothering you. Thiswill cause his mind to race to find ways to explain the “error of his ways.”• Stage 2. I’m hurt. Say, “I’ve just found something out and I’m really hurt [shocked/surprised]. I know you’regoing to lie to me and try to deny it, but I just wanted you to know that I know.” You establish that (a) he’sguilty of something and (b) you know what it is.• Stage 3. Holding your ground. Say, “I think we both know what I’m talking about. We need to clear the air,and we can start by your talking.”• Stage 4. Continue to hold your ground. Repeat phrases such as “I’m sure it will come to you” and “The longer Iwait, the madder I’m getting.”• Stage 5. Apply social pressure. “We were all talking about it. Everybody knows.” Now he begins to getcurious about who knows and how they found out. As soon as he tries to find out, you’ll know he’s guilty.Attack Sequence 5: The Missing Link• Scenario: You think that your mother-in-law may have hired a private investigator to follow you around.• Stage 1. List facts. Tell her something that you know to be true. “I know you’re not very fond of me, and thatyou objected to the wedding, but this time you’ve gone too far.”• Stage 2. State your assumption. “I know all about the investigator. Why did you think that was necessary?”• Stage 3. The magic phrase. “You know what, I’m too upset to talk about this now.” The guilty person willhonor your request because she won’t want to anger you further. An innocent person will be mad at you foraccusing her of something that she hasn’t done and will want to discuss it now.Attack Sequence 6: Who, Me?• Stage1. Setting the scene. He suspects that his ex-girlfriend broke into his house. He phoned to let her know ina very non-accusatory way that that there had been a break-in and some items were missing. The following typeof conversation would ensue:Winston: The police are going to want to talk to everyone who had access to the house. Since youstill have a key, they’re going to want to speak with you. Just routine stuff, I’m sure. Ofcourse you’re not a suspect.Ex-Girlfriend: But I don’t know anything about it.Winston: Oh, I know. Just policy, I guess. Anyway, one of my neighbors said that she got apartial license-plate number on a car that was by my house that day.Ex-Girlfriend: (After a long pause) Well, I was driving around your neighborhood that day. Istopped by to see if you were home. But when you weren’t, I just left.Winston: Oh, really? Well, they did a fingerprint test too. That should show something.Ex-Girlfriend: What test?Winston: Oh, they dusted for prints and…• Stage 2. Inform non-accusatorily. Casually inform your suspect of the situation.• Stage 3. Introduce evidence to be rebutted. As you introduce the evidence, look to see if every one of yourstatements is met by explanations from him as to how the evidence could be misunderstood. For example, yoususpect that a co-worker had shredded some of your files. You would first set the stage by letting him knowthat you can’t find some important files. Then say, “Well, it’s a good thing my new secretary noticed someoneby the shredder the other day. She said she recognized his face but didn’t know his name.” An innocent personwould not feel the need to explain in order to avert the possibility that he might be wrongly accused.• Stage 4. Continue. Continue with more facts that the person can try to explain away. But in actuality, as soonhe starts to talk about why the situation might “look that way,” you know you have him.Attack Sequence 7: Outrageous Accusations• Stage 1. Accuse him of everything. In a very fed-up manner, accuse him of doing every imaginable dishonestand disloyal act.• Stage 2. Introduce the suspicion. Now introduce the one thing you feel he really has done, and in an attempt toclear himself of the other charges, he will offer an explanation for his one slip-up. Say, “I mean, it’s not likeyou just stole a file, that would be fine. But all these other things are unspeakable.” He responds, “No, I juststole that one file because of the pressure to get the job done, but I would never sell trade secrets!” The onlyway to prove his innocence to all of your outrageous accusations is to explain why he did what you reallysuspect of him of doing.• Stage 3. Step in closer. This increases anxiety in the guilty. He feels he’s being closed in on.Attack Sequence 8: Is There a Reason?• Stage 1. Introduce a fact. For example, if you want to know if your secretary went out last night when she saidshe was sick, “I drove by your house on the way home. Is there a reason your car wasn’t in the driveway?”Had she been home sick, she would simply tell you that you were wrong – the car was in the driveway.• Stage 2. One more shot. “Oh, that’s odd, I called your house and I got your machine.” If she’s guilty she willlook for any way to make her story fit your facts.• Stage 3. Stare. Staring makes someone who is on the defensive feel closed in; your glare is infringing on herpersonal space, inducing a mental claustrophobia. Lock eyes with her and ask again.Attack Sequence 9: Third-Party Confirmation• Scenario: You suspect one of your employees is having someone else punch out on the time clock for him.• Stage 1. Accuse outright. After gaining the assistance of a friend or coworker, you have this person make theaccusation for you. Such as “Mel, I was talking to Cindy, and she told me she’s getting pretty tired of yourhaving someone else punch out for you so you can leave work early.” At this point Mel is concerned only withCindy’s disapproval of his actions. Your friend is thoroughly believable because we rarely think to questionthis type of third-party setup.• Stage 2. Are you kidding? “Are you kidding? It’s common knowledge, but I think I know how you can smooththings over with her.” See if he take the bait. A person who’s innocent would not be interested in smoothingthings over with someone else for something that he hasn’t done.• Stage 3. Last call. “Okay. But are you sure? At this point, any hesitation is likely to be sign of guilt becausehe’s quickly trying to weight his options.Attack Sequence 10: The Chain Reaction• Scenario: You suspect several employees in your store of stealing money• Stage 1. Setting the scene. In a one-on-one meeting with the employee, let them know that you’re looking forsomeone to be in charge of a new internal theft program for the entire company.• Stage 2. The iron is… “We’re looking for someone who knows how it’s done. Now don’t worry, you’re notgoing to get in trouble. As a matter of fact we’ve known about it for some time. We were more interested inseeing how efficient you were. Quite impressive. Anyway, we feel that since you know how it’s done, you’llknow how to prevent it. Granted, it’s pretty unusual, but this is an unusual instance.”• Stage 3. I told them so. “You know, I told them that you would be too afraid to have an open discussion aboutthis. They were wrong, I was right.” Look for hesitation on his part. If he’s guilty, he will be weighing hisoptions. This takes time. An innocent person has nothing to think about. Only the guilty have the option ofconfessing or not.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on October 5, 2009 at 9:06pm
It is the month of August, a resort town sits next to
the shores of a lake. It is raining, and the little town
looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in
debt, and everybody lives on credit.
Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town. He enters the
only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter,
and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick
one.
The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs
to pay his debt to the butcher. The Butcher takes the 100
Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig raiser. The
pig raiser takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt
to the supplier of his feed and fuel. The supplier of feed
and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to
the town's prostitute that in these hard times, gave
her services" on credit. The hooker runs to the hotel,
and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel
proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.
The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back
on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect
anything. At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after
inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after
saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves
town.
No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now
without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of
optimism.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the Irish
Government is doing business today.We hope naija can cash in on this strategy !
This is the only way to Economic recovery, bailing out all those FAT CATS up-stream does not guarantee that it will flow down-stream. Trickle-Economics will definitely flow up-stream, although it defies Sir Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation. Have a great day
Thanks to Osamuyi Paul Ogbebor for sending in this one !Read more…
Highlight: As The Age reports today, federal police are investigating whether Securency bribed Nigerian officials to win a bank-note contract. The probe centres on a series of multi-million-dollar payments made by the company into an offshore tax haven account of two
UK-based businessmen, Benoy Berry and Mike Harding, who boast high-level political connections in Britain and Africa. The men were paid to help Securency win a 2006 contract from the Central Bank of Nigeria to print its polymer notes.
An Age investigation unearthed evidence the firm paid millions into a tax haven bank account belonging to Dr Berry, while an overseas-based source claims Securency paid $1 million into accounts tied to two companies overseen by Mr Harding. Our investigation also found that Mr Harding directs some of his companies' earnings into a tax-free business zone at Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates.
The RBA declined to answer questions about Securency's activities in Nigeria, in the same way it kept mum last month when Securency's Africa manager, Peter Chapman, resigned and the company's convicted South African middleman, Donald McArthur, was sacked. The sacking took place only after The Age revealed McArthur had pleaded guilty last year to reckless trading involving fraudulent transactions. Again, the details of Securency's engagement with McArthur raise questions of the RBA
Complete Story:
For obvious reasons Australians are entitled to expect their central bank to comply with the highest standards of probity, transparency and good governance. This includes an assumption that the Reserve Bank, as chief custodian of the nation's financial system, would apply proper scrutiny to the activities of its subsidiary companies, especially when those companies seek contracts, however lucrative, in corruption-riddled parts of the world.
And yet as The Age continues to expose a worrying trail of dubious deals struck by the RBA's half-owned subsidiary Securency, the Reserve has maintained a somewhat undignified silence on the subject. We acknowledge the RBA acted properly in initiating a federal police probe - and KPMG audit - into commission payments made by Securency to politically connected foreign middlemen. We would not expect the RBA to say anything that cuts across those inquiries.
But the silence is beginning to smell like an unwillingness to face facts and to act on them. Securency's operations, namely the engaging of middlemen with shady pasts and the payment of commissions into offshore tax haven accounts (contrary to RBA rules) and the curious size of those commissions, raise serious questions about the extent of the RBA's knowledge and the quality of its oversight.
At the very least, we deserve some kind of explanation about why, in the Reserve's recent annual report, governor Glenn Stevens expressed confidence in the way the bank had supervised Securency's activities. The bank has effectively opened the door on its own probity through this extraordinary assertion.
The Reserve's failure to stand down officials within Securency while the company remains under investigation - a convention of good governance - is also mystifying.
Nigeria:
As The Age reports today, federal police are investigating whether Securency bribed Nigerian officials to win a bank-note contract. The probe centres on a series of multi-million-dollar payments made by the company into an offshore tax haven account of two
UK-based businessmen, Benoy Berry and Mike Harding, who boast high-level political connections in Britain and Africa. The men were paid to help Securency win a 2006 contract from the Central Bank of Nigeria to print its polymer notes.
An Age investigation unearthed evidence the firm paid millions into a tax haven bank account belonging to Dr Berry, while an overseas-based source claims Securency paid $1 million into accounts tied to two companies overseen by Mr Harding. Our investigation also found that Mr Harding directs some of his companies' earnings into a tax-free business zone at Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates.
The RBA declined to answer questions about Securency's activities in Nigeria, in the same way it kept mum last month when Securency's Africa manager, Peter Chapman, resigned and the company's convicted South African middleman, Donald McArthur, was sacked. The sacking took place only after The Age revealed McArthur had pleaded guilty last year to reckless trading involving fraudulent transactions. Again, the details of Securency's engagement with McArthur raise questions of the RBA.
And there's more. Why did Securency in 2003 engage an arms dealer linked to the supply of weapons to Latin American drug gangs to help it win a bank-note printing deal in Paraguay? Why did Securency discuss its bank-note technology with Sudanese central bank officials last year? Doing business with Sudan would not violate Australia's international obligations under the UN sanctions regime, but should an RBA subsidiary even be talking to a country backlisted by the US for supporting terrorism and ranked among the world's most corrupt by Transparency International?
And, while we're at it, why did the RBA pay $500,000 to a self-styled ''white witch'' to oversee an ultimately disastrous workplace overhaul at the fully owned Note Printing Australia, Securency's sister company? On the other hand, perhaps a consultant with special powers may have helped Securency's officials better appreciate the risks of using agents in corruption-prone countries.
Government agencies and departments must also account for their knowledge of Securency's activities, and their action, or inaction, as a result. But first, we wait for our bank to speak.
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WHO is India's best known Nigerian right now? The answer may surprise most readers of IndiaPage.
With due apologies to other claimants to such distinction, there is virtually no need to hold any opinion poll! I am pretty certain who India's best known Nigerian is: Its Odafa Onyeka Okolie. Odafa Who? How Come? - Hang on!
He is a 25-year-old Nigerian footballer - current captain of Goa-based Churchill Brothers Sports Club. He has been known among Indian football aficionados for past six years.
Nevertheless, his hat-trick during 10 minutes of extra time of 122nd Durand Cup final in New Delhi on September 22 has transformed him into a legend.
Odafa single handedly sank chances of famed Mohun Bagan Club of Kolkata of winning the Durand, India's most coveted, world's third oldest football cup.
Churchill Brothers' 3-1 Durand victory followed similar victory over same Mohun Bagan in IFA Shield final a few weeks ago which, too, was largely engineered by Odafa.
Odafa has been playing with various football clubs in India since 2003.
He renewed his annual contract with Churchill Brothers earlier this year reportedly for a fee of around N30 million- making him highest paid footballer in India.
That kind of money puts Odafa into a different Indian league: that of Bollywood stars, who earn even more. But, that's another story!
Odafa has outclassed other forwards in the penetrating zone for the last three years. After the 21st round, Odafa led the scorers' tally with 24 goals. Felix Chimaokwu (Churchill Brothers) and Ranty Martins (Dempo SC) came next with 11 goals.
Starting his Indian sojourn in 2004, Odafa never had to look back though he had some anxious years with Mohammedan Sporting of Kolkata and Bangladeshi side Muktijoddha.
However, he won't be the first footballer to touch the Rs1 crore base in India. Mahindra United defender Mahesh Gawli was signed for close to Rs1.25 crore for a three-year term.
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The lingering mêlée involving Peter and Paul Okoye with their brother and manager, Jude Okoye and the owner of the property in which they currentltly reside in Omole Estate, Phase 1, Lagos is gradually degenerating into a scenario of shame with accusations and counter accusations flying like missiles from both camps. The two parties held a press conference concurrently in Lagos last week to elucidate the genesis of the squabble.It will be recalled that late last year, P-Square’s landlord, Chief L Charles Nwangwa, the Chairman/CEO of Zedex Petroleum Nig. Ltd. staged a press conference in Lagos to intimate the public on the damages the Okoye brothers had done to his property by breaking a concrete wall dividing the two rooms in the BQ and converted it into a musical studio without his consent. He revealed then that the most annoying thing they did that got him really upset was lying to the media that they had bought the house. He described it as a shameful and cut-price hype on the part of the artiste. The Okoye brothers however maintained sealed lips then.The ruckus later re-generated few days back when the landlord called a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday September 29th and claimed that the Okoye brothers’ squad attacked him on Monday September 28th when he had gone to dispatch the quit notice that is expected to take effect from October 1st, to them based on his lawyer’s advice. “…one guy assaulted me in the presence of witnesses and a crowd had begun to gather when Jude finally appeared. I managed to free myself from the clutches of the guy that was holding me and I gave the letter to Jude which he read and my efforts to make him sign the acknowledgement earned me more battering. I immediately reported the case to the police”. These and many more the landlord told Journalists present at the conference after which he took them to the house but the Okoye brothers refused them entry.The next day which was Wednesday September 30th, P-Square organized their own emergency press conference at their residence where they put in plain words their own part of the story to the media. They revealed that the man had never been beaten before like he publicly professed. “We actually started on a good note before things went sore between us. He was a constant feature in the same studio he is now complaining about. We started having disagreements when he began bringing people to us to sign on our label and we told him we were not ready for that now. He later brought his son and we told him the same thing. Another time he said he wanted to take up the marketing of our albums and we also refused. That was how we fell out and he started saying derogatory things about us. He called a press conference last year but we refused to comment. What further escalated the issue was his demand on a percentage from our album sales because we have a recording studio inside the compound”, Jude Okoye said.Peter and Paul have for a long time distanced themselves from this feud. They claimed that they actually didn’t interact much with the landlord because all businesses were transacted between him and Jude. The Okoyes later revealed that the original agreement was to buy the house from the landlord but they abandoned the plan to commence the building of their own house inside the same estate when the landlord kept increasing the price whenever they approached him with the subject matter. Journalists present at the press conference in their house were later taken on an inspection to the new site where the construction of the house is currently going on. Those present affirmed that it was magnificent.However, the landlord said he has brought them before the court of public opinion to judge the case between him and the Okoye brothers. He also appealed to their mum to help salvage the situation but the Okoye brothers maintained that they are unperturbed by his actions. Their house rent expires next yearMeanwhile, they revealed that their new album has sold a million copies since its release.Read more…
A successful business man was growing old andKnew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children,He decided to do something different. He called all the youngExecutives in his company together.He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO.I have decided to choose one of you. "The young executives wereShocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each oneOf you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plantThe seed, water it, and come back here one year from today withWhat you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will thenJudge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will beThe next CEO."One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others,Received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife theStory. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he plantedThe seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it hadGrown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives beganTo talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't haveA plant and he felt like a failure.Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew heHad killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, butHe had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however.He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - He so wanted theSeed to grow.A year finally went by and all the young executives of the companyBrought their plants to the CEO for inspection.Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot.But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sickTo his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing momentOf his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty potTo the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the varietyOf plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful --In all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor andMany of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his youngExecutives.Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees,And flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you willBe appointed the next CEO!"All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room withHis empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him toThe front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm aFailure! Maybe he will have me fired!"When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happenedTo his seed - Jim told him the story.The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim,And then announced to the young executives, "Behold your nextChief Executive Officer!His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even growHis seed."How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in thisRoom a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it,And bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds;They were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants andFlowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, youSubstituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was theOnly one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot withMy seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the newChief Executive Officer!"* If you plant honesty,you will reap trust* If you plant goodness,you will reap friends* If you plant humility,you will reap greatness* If you plant perseverance,you will reap contentment* If you plant consideration,you will reap perspective* If you plant hard work,you will reap success* If you plant forgiveness,you will reap reconciliation* If you plant faith,you will reap a harvestSo, be careful what you plant now;it will determine what you will reap later."Whatever You Give To Life, Life Gives You Back"If you like this mail, give us a little reward. Invite atleast one of your friend to join this groupComputers, Gadgets | Sms Collection | Friends Discussion | Magazines, Photoshoots | Music, Videos, Movie Trailers | FunXone | Love SMS__._,_.___Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topicMessages | Photoshttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/funxone/ FunXone: Inbox Fuel for Funhttp://forum.xcitefun.net/ Friends Network for Funhttp://www.smsglitz.com/ Fresh SMS Collectionhttp://www.magxone.com/ Fashion Photoshoots, Magazines and Cover Pageshttp://xbeats.net/ Music, Videos CollectionMARKETPLACEMom Power: Discover the community of moms doing more for their families, for the world and for each otherChange settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to TraditionalVisit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
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1.FINE:this is d word women use 2 end an arguement wen dey r right n u nid 2 shut up2.FIVE MINUTES:if she is gettin dressed,ds mean a half an hour.five minutes s only five minutes if u ve jst been given five more minutes to watch d game b4 helpin around d house.3.NOTHING:this is d calm b4 d storm.ds means something,n u should b on ur toes.arguements dat begin wit nothing usually end in fine.4.GO AHEAD: ds is a dare,not permission.don't do it!5.LOUD SIGH:ds s actually a word bt s a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men.a loud sigh means she thinks u r an idiot n wonders y she s wasting her tym standin here n arguing wit u about nothing.6.THAT'S OKAY:ds s one of d most dangerous statements a woman cn mek 2 a man.dat's okay means she wants 2 think long n hard b4 deciding how n wen u'll pay 4 ur mistake.7.THANKS:a woman s thankin u,do not question or faint.jst say welcome.8.WHATEVER:is a woman's way of sayin [clear off] YOU!9.DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT,I GOT IT:anoda dangerous statement,meaning ds s something dat a woman has told a man to do several tyms bt s now doing it herself.ds wil l8r result in a man askin 'wat's wrong?'.for woman's response refer to #3
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The Central Bank of Nigeria, on Friday, fired the chief executive officers of three of the 14 remaining banks at the conclusion of stress audits of their operations.
Like the first five banks whose chief executives were fired in the first round of audit of 10 banks, the three were immediately replaced, with one of the replacements bringing to three the number of female chief executives of commercial banks.
The sacked
Those affected were Francis Atuche, Charles Ojo, and Ike Oraekwotu, who were relieved of their positions as managing directors/ chief executives of Bank PHB, Springbank and Equatorial Trust Bank.
They are to be replaced by Cyril Chukwumah for Bank PHB Plc; Sola Ayodele for Spring Bank Plc. and G.O. Folayan for Equitorial Trust Bank Plc.
Wema Bank was also found to be in a grave situation, however the CBN noted that the bank came under a new ownership and management in June 2009, which “took over a bank already in a grave situation and should not be held responsible for the present condition of the bank.”
The nine banks that survived the CBN litmus test, according to its corporate affairs head, Mohammed Abdullahi, include Access Bank Plc, Citibank Nigeria Limited, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Standard Chartered Bank Limited and Zenith Bank Plc. Unity Bank, which is the tenth was, according to the CBN, adjudged to have insufficient capital but not in grave situation because it has a healthy liquidity position.’’
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Posted by 9jabook.com on October 4, 2009 at 8:34pm
Government Ekumokpolo Tompolo Surrenders like the thieving/conniving coward he is.
WHAT HAVE THEY ACHIEVED ? except destroying the lives of "innocent" youths and subjecting Women and Children to un
neccesary Violence. they have become Even more corrupt than the system they are trying to overcome .
They have now become tools and lackeys of the government of Go slow.
ASUU is still on strike, Who do they think Yaradua is some sort of Obama ? The Nigeria Delta Crises will continue
with Business as Usual .
Fake Militant Leaders ! At least Saro Wiwa put himself on the line with his life .What does Tompolo and the Rest of
his thieving crew have to say for themselves .No Wonder his names include Governmet as an appendage .
With Weapons you never stood a chance against the JTF .Now how in the world do you think you now stand a CHANCE !
If you had all done your homework properly you would remember that Violence can never solve the problems of a
country like Nigeria.
I assure you that someone like Mahatma Gandhi's Life and times should become part of your Library of people to
read about as you take on this herculean Task of changing President Go,slows mind .
Akin Osunlaja is a Staff Writer for 9jabook.com
Story In-depth
Former militant leader, Government Ekumokpolo (also known as Tompolo) arrived in Warri from Abuja on Sunday
afternoon to a tumultuous reception mounted by Ijaw cultural groups, security officials and stern looking militants
in headbands.
Mr. Ekumokpolo, who was in Abuja on Saturday for a meeting with the Nigerian President, Umaru Yar’Adua, was the
last major militant leader in the Niger Delta to accept the government’s amnesty offer. He had earlier held out by
asking that the programme be extended to allow him meet with his gang and get them to sign to the plan.
The former militant leader arrived in a presidential jet at the Osubi airstrip, Warri, with Defence Minister,
Godwin Abbe, and Special Adviser to the President on the Niger Delta, Timi Alaibe, in tow.
“Today is the greatest day for Nigeria,” Tompolo said as he stepped out to meet his people. “I and my people will
accept the amnesty and we will work with Mr. President to achieve the dreams of this country.”
He was driven away in a convoy of Hummer jeeps to a camp at Oporoza in the creeks for a formal surrendering of
weapons.
Mr. Ekumokpolo handed over rocket launchers, machine guns and explosives to Mr. Abbe at a ceremony in Oporoza.
“It is an act of patriotism that Tompolo and his group surrendered their arms,” Abbe said. “The time has come for
us to settle down and find solutions to what led to the crisis in the region. Today marks the beginning of the
development of the Niger Delta.”
Mr. Abbe also told the militants that he appreciated their courage for embracing the amnesty offer which, he said,
is a panacea to restiveness in the area.
“The amnesty committee will work with the repentant militants to know the cause of their problems with a view to
providing a permanent solution,” he said.
He warned that whoever is caught with illegal weapons, two days after the disarmament exercise, will face the wrath
of the law.
Mr. Abbe said that oil is a gift from God and should be a source of affection and joy and not a source of hostility
and war.
Tompolo boys in Ondo
The laying down of arms was not limited to Tompolo followers in the creeks. His followers in Ondo also laid down
arms at Arogbo town, in Ese-Odo Local Council.
The militants, who were led by Tompolo’s aides, Biobapre Ajube and Omoh Tonwerie, led other members of the group to
surrender their arms and ammunition in large numbers. The two men, while speaking during the disarmament ceremony,
said they acted in conformity with the directive of their warlord who met with the president on Saturday.
The militant leaders, who appealed to the president to fulfil his promise to alleviate the suffering of the people
in the area, said they took to arms in the creeks in order to fight for their rights.
The Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, said the heap of arms and ammunition he was looking at afforded him the
opportunity to know the challenges of people in the area. He promised to collaborate with the government to
rehabilitate the militants and bring development to the area.
Bakassi boys included
Other militant grous also gave up arms yesterday in Cross River State. The Bakassi Freedom Fighters (BFF) and
Bakassi Salvation Front (BSF) surrendered their weapons as a follow up to the cache of arms turned in at Bakassi
Local Council early last week.
Sunday’s submission by the “creek boys” to the Presidential Committee on Amnesty include six AK-47 rifles, one FM
rifle, 55 live ammunition and eight magazines.
During the first phase of disarmament, the two groups surrendered six AK-47 rifles, one General Purpose Machine Gun
(GPMG), one Rocket Propelled Machine Gun (RPMG), one FM rifle, G3 rifles, rifle rafts, dynamites, grenades, G.
crane machine guns, one Brandi Machine gun and nine 620 assorted live ammunitions.
At a hotel in Bakassi yesterday, the second batch of weapons was surrendered by the leaders of the two groups,
“General” Franklin Duduku (BFF) and “Brigadier” Dan Don Atikpee (BSF).
Mr. Atikpee said the October 4, 2009, mop-up exercise was the final phase of their disarmament and surrendering of
all weapons at their disposal to government.
“Today, we have surrendered all our weapons as a mark of total acceptance and commitment to the presidential
amnesty,” he said.
He appealed to the government to map out adequate rehabilitation programme for the boys to give them a sense of
belonging in Nigeria.
Culled and Adapted from Next
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Lara George grew up and schooled in Yaba, Lagos. The singer has fond memories of childhood, and recalls “sharing a huge bowl of pounded yam on a Saturday afternoon with my siblings. It was a family tradition and was so much fun.I also remember Sunday morning breakfast on my father’s lap with my tiny fork and knife and my own little tea set. That memory brings goose bumps all the time.”She says of her mother: “She taught me to think of the long-term and never to be frivolous. This is a big part of the reason why I do inspirational music. To me, music must always have meaning and a positive direction in which it will move people’s lives."My aim is to give hope, life and encouragement through my music, and help people see life from a more positive point of view.”George grew up listening to “people like Victor Uwaifo—for some reason, I was really fascinated by his songs; CAC Good Women’s Choir, Abba and Ebenezer Obey—no thanks to my mom!.Later on, I came to love the sounds of Bebe and Cece Winans, Amy Grant and more recently, Yolanda Adams.” She started singing with her sisters at a very young age. “We had a medley we did often and it was about thirty minutes of pure, non-stop music. Every time we sang, it felt like we had angels in the room.”Choosing MusicLara George has always made her sonorous voice heard. In Queens College, she took some lead parts as a member of the school choir; at university, she joined Rocksolid, the musical wing of House on the Rock, a church.That was where she met other members of KUSH:Emem Ema, TY Bello and Dapo. Despite her love for music, she studied Architecture at the University of Lagos; “the closest compromise between the arts which I love, and the professional course which my parents wanted me to do."I had hoped that architecture would give me the much needed creative outlet I craved for, but was sadly disappointed by the six years I spent studying the course as little or no guidance was given to our talents, and I was uncertain by the end of my first year.”She was part of the very first West African Idols. She did not win, but that was not the end of the story.The Days of KUSHKUSH was not only the first musical group from Nigeria to get signed on an international record label, they had a string of hits, including ‘Let’s Live Together,’ which was almost like a national anthem.Lara George remembers their “very first recording at Abbey Road Studios London (same studio where The Beatles recorded), recording at Record Plant Studios Los Angeles (and Brandy was in the studio next door on that day!), limousine rides from hotel room to shopping mall at Minneapolis, the laughter, the tears, all the fun times on stage. Those memories are irreplaceable.”The members of KUSH moved on to other things eventually. “Our individual visions changed,” George says now, but stresses that they remain good friends.From KUSH she learnt “never to be afraid to dream... I got the opportunity to work with people who in my opinion are truly three of Nigeria’s greatest musical talents, not just in terms of the music, but also because they are such great team players.It was a fantastic eye-opener; we got the unique chance to work with some of the best people in the international music industry, so it was an introduction to true professionalism at its finest.”The end of KUSH led to the birth of George’s solo music career, in November, 2007. She was unsure at first, but with two successful albums under her belt, she admits to being “extremely excited; I’m feeling very ready to do even better than I’ve done before.”So excited in fact, that she’s gone back to school. “I started a course last year on music theory with the MUSON centre,” she says. “I’m also currently taking piano lessons.It’s been a very enlightening experience so far. I can’t believe how little I knew about the music I love so much and am definitely looking forward to excelling in every area of the course.”On the Music IndustryThe singer sees the Nigerian music industry as “fast-growing, exciting, unstructured and yet with huge potential for development in the right direction.” She is concerned about challenges faced by artists, including “the perception of women in music as being somewhat unserious.As an inspirational artist, it’s even more challenging because there’s a faulty mindset that people have that says that you should not, as a gospel musician, put a fee to your performance, especially in the church.Nigerians find it easy to invite foreign artistes and pay their fees, but get offended when a Nigerian gospel artist sends in fee requirements. There’s also perception by the larger society that freebie ‘charity’ concerts should be directed always towards the inspirational artiste.Have we forgotten that gospel artistes also pay exorbitant producer fees for music and director fees for videos?” She would like to see an attitude change towards wholesome inspirational music.Tackling piracyAnother challenge is “an utter lack of respect for intellectual property of the musician even in this day and age.” George has responded to this by starting her own music distribution network.SoForte Entertainment Distribution is an automated entertainment distribution company with the aim of reducing piracy to the barest minimum by creating distribution channels throughout Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world.She is the vice-president of Soforte, and says, “We have partnered with TNT logistics (the third largest courier company in the world), as well as Maevva Solutions in order to provide the best possible services.When a product is released on a certain date in Lagos, it is made available in all the major states before that day. Automation of our services allows our licensed artists to obtain real-time online accounts of their sales without hassle.”The FutureGeorge recently won the Best Female Vocalist of The Year award at the Nigeria Music Award (NMA), but she is not resting on her oars. She looks forward to the day her music will take her beyond the shores of this country to win a Grammy.According to her, true success is when an artist’s impact is felt positively. “It always makes me happy when anyone at all comes to me to say how much my music has inspired them,” she says.
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COPENHAGEN – Like sweet, sultry samba music, Rio hit all the right notes. Chicago had Barack Obama. Tokyo had $4 billion in the bank. Madrid had powerful friends. But none of that mattered. Rio de Janeiro had the enchanting story — of about 400 million sports-mad people on a giant untapped and vibrant continent yearning, hoping, that the Olympics finally might come to them. And the International Olympic Committee was hooked.
Olympians, we'll see you on Copacabana beach in 2016. Let Carnival begin.
On a chilly Danish evening of high drama, the IOC on Friday sent the games of the 31st Olympiad to Brazil's bustling, fun-loving but crime-ridden city of beaches and mountains, romance and slums.
The IOC closed its eyes to the risks — the huge projected costs of the Rio Games, the concerns about how athletes will get around and where people will sleep — to focus on the reward of lighting the Olympic cauldron in one of the last corners of the globe yet to be bathed by its light.
"It is Brazil's time," said the country's charismatic president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Chicago was knocked out in the first round — in one of the most shocking defeats ever handed down by the committee of former Olympians, sports administrators, royals and other VIPs.
While blues legend Buddy Guy twanged "Sweet Home Chicago" in a promotional video the city played to the IOC, bad blood between the committee and its U.S. branch — they've had flare-ups over revenue sharing and lucrative broadcasting rights — proved to be a note of discord. IOC members said the slap to Chicago was more directed at the U.S. Olympic Committee than to the Windy City itself.
The win was decisive: Rio beat Madrid by 66 votes to 32.
Chicago got just 18 votes in the first round, with Tokyo squeezing into the second round with 22. Madrid was leading after the first round with 28 votes, while Rio had 26.
In the second round, Tokyo was eliminated with just 20 votes. Madrid got 29, qualifying it for the final round face-off with Rio, which by then already had a strong lead with 46 votes.
The indignity suffered by Chicago — long considered a front-runner — was such that some IOC members squirmed. Obama flew overnight from Washington to sell his adoptive hometown and its plans for Olympic competition on Lake Michigan's windy shores to the IOC. First lady Michelle Obama, with talk show host Oprah Winfrey and sports stars in tow, jetted in first and spent two days buttering up IOC members, an essential part of the secretive and unpredictable selection process.
IOC members seemed wowed, posing for photos with her and taking souvenir shots of the president with their cell phones. But, in the vote, Chicago was shunned.
Obama called Silva to congratulate him, but the nature of the loss still rang as a stinging anti-American rebuke. Close to half of the IOC's 106 members are Europeans.
"To have the president of the United States and his wife personally appear, then this should happen in the first round is awful and totally undeserving," senior Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper said.
French IOC member Guy Drut said "an excess of security" for the Obamas unsettled some of his colleagues. He complained that he'd been barred from crossing the lobby of his hotel for security reasons, and he grumbled that "nothing has been done" to resolve the financial disputes between the IOC and the USOC.
Of Obama's performance, Drut said: "He didn't do too much. Michelle Obama was exceptional."
"This morning the city was closed because of Barack Obama," he added.
In Chicago, there was bewildered silence when IOC president Jacques Rogge announced: "The city of Chicago, having obtained the least number of votes, will not participate in the next round."
On Rio's Copacabana beach, where nearly 50,000 people roared when the winning city was announced, the party headed into the night.
Rio spoke to IOC members' consciences: the city argued that it was simply unfair that South America has never hosted the games, while Europe, Asia and North America have done so repeatedly.
"It is a time to address this imbalance," Silva told the IOC before it delivered its verdict. "It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country."
Madrid's surprising success in reaching the final round came after former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch made a morbid appeal for the Spanish capital, reminding IOC members as he asked for their vote that, at age 89, "I am very near the end of my time."
Samaranch ran the IOC for 21 years before Rogge took over in 2001.
Beating three rich, more developed nations that had all previously held the games represented a giant, morale-boosting coup for Brazil. The emerging nation is bounding up the ranks of the world's biggest economies but still has millions of people living in poverty.
Like a football team before a big final, Rio's bid leaders and Silva held hands in silent prayer before walking out to deliver a flawless and impassioned presentation. A bid official said Silva's last words of encouragement were "let's stay calm, and stick with our plan."
Brazil's central bank governor reeled off impressive statistics about an economy predicted to be the world's fifth-largest by 2016. The state governor pledged that taxes would not be raised for the games and played down safety concerns. Computer-generated bird's-eye images of how venues will spread across the city, with sailing in the shadow of Sugar Loaf mountain and volleyball on Copacabana, provided the wow factor.
Then Silva delivered the knockout.
"Among the top 10 economies of the world, Brazil is the only country that has not hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Games," he said. "For the Olympic movement, it will be an opportunity to feel the warmth of our people, the exuberance of our culture, the sun of our joy and it will also be a chance to send a powerful message to the whole world: The Olympic Games belong to all peoples, to all continents and to all humanity."
Silva, a bearded former union leader, disappeared into a huge group hug with the joyous Rio team after Rogge announced that the city had won. Football great Pele had tears in his eyes. Brazil will now hold the world's two biggest sporting events in the space of just two years: in 2014, it is hosting the World Cup.
"There was absolutely no flaw in the bid," Rogge said.
Now, Africa and Antarctica are the only continents never to have been awarded an Olympics.
"We have sent out a message that we want to go global," IOC member Gerhard Heiberg said.
Obama held out the enticing prospect of a Chicago games helping to reconnect the United States with the world after the presidency of George W. Bush. He told the IOC that the "full force of the White House" would be applied so "visitors from all around the world feel welcome and will come away with a sense of the incredible diversity of the American people."
An uncomfortable moment came during Chicago's presentation when an IOC member from Pakistan, Syed Shahid Ali, noted that going through U.S. customs can be harrowing for foreigners. Obama responded that he wanted a Chicago games to offer "a reminder that America at its best is open to the world."
But the IOC's last two experiences in the United States were bad: the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were sullied by a bribery scandal and logistical problems and a bombing hit the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Former IOC member Kai Holm said the brevity of Obama's appearance — he was in and out in five hours — may have hurt Chicago.
"Too businesslike," Holm said. "It can be that some IOC members see it as a lack of respect."
IOC members said Asian voters may have banded together, at Chicago's expense, in the first round in favor of Tokyo, which offered reassurances of financial security, with $4 billion already banked for the games.
"The whole thing doesn't make sense other than there has been a stupid bloc vote," Gosper said.
The last U.S. city to bid for the Summer Games, New York, did scarcely better. It was ousted in the second round in the 2005 vote that gave the 2012 Games to London.
Now, Chicago can only rue what might have been.
And Rio ... well, what an excuse for a party.
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A few years ago, I was deeply engaged in conversation with a woman while my little girl, Alani was standing beside me and really wanting my attention. This woman was pouring her heart out to me, and I didn’t want to cut her off mid-sentence, but Alani was tugging on my pant leg, desperate for my attention.
I started to get frustrated with my little girl, but instead of acting on that feeling, I decided to make a positive deposit into her heart. I interrupted the woman very respectfully and said, “Just one minute. I need to speak with my daughter, but I really want to hear the rest of your story.” Then I knelt down beside Alani and looked attentively into her big brown eyes and whispered, “I know you want to talk to me right now, but I am already speaking with this woman, and I can’t listen to both of you at the same time. Honey, what you have to say is so important to me, I don’t want to miss one single word of it, so give me two minutes to finish up, and I’ll give you my full attention.”
Alani smiled at me and nodded in agreement. In fact, her whole body language changed because she felt important. She stood a little taller and prouder knowing that I truly wanted to listen to her. That deposit in her life let her know how much she mattered to me. She knew that she would have her mother’s undivided attention in a few minutes, and she was content to wait for me.
It’s easy to get busy in life, and if you’re like me, you can listen and work at the same time. We call it “multi-tasking,” but sometimes multi-tasking isn’t the best use of our time. Sometimes we have to stop, look people in the eyes, and give them the gift of listening. We need to take time to deposit value in their hearts. We need to support one another, and listening is an amazing way of doing just that.
As you go about your day, remember to give people the gift of listening. It seems like such a little thing, but those little deposits will eventually make a big difference. When you make deposits in people, you are making deposits in eternity, and that is what pleases the heart of God.
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry (James 1:19, NLT)
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Posted by 9jabook.com on October 2, 2009 at 4:00am
The U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has described the situation in Nigeria as heartbreaking. Mrs. Clinton gave this description yesterday while speaking at the Corporate Council on Africa's Seventh Biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Washington.
Mrs. Clinton, who acknowledged efforts by members of civil society in Nigeria for electoral reforms and an end to corruption, attributed the situation to the mismanagement of revenue.
"There is no doubt that when one looks at Nigeria, it is such a heartbreaking scene we see. The number of people living in Nigeria is going up. The number of people facing food security and health challenges are going up... because the revenues have not been well managed," she said.
Mrs. Clinton said that she had met with leaders in Nigeria and emphasised U.S.' "commitment to partnering with Nigeria in areas such as electoral reform, anti-corruption activities, better stewardship of oil revenues, and efforts to build a more diversified economy, as well as the resolution of the conflict in the Niger Delta."
According to Mrs. Clinton, the Obama Administration has strategies to help spur economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa and create conditions that will improve the lives of the African people.
"We are eager to move beyond stereotypes that paint Africa as a land of poverty, disease, conflict, and not much else.
And we will continue to lay a strong foundation for a new kind of engagement with Africa, one that is built on shared responsibility and shared opportunity, and on partnerships that produce measurable, lasting results," she said.
"From our perspective, for too long, Africa has been20viewed as a charity case instead of a dynamic continent capable of becoming a global economic engine of the 21st century. So it is time to change the narrative."
To this end, the secretary of state said the U.S. will help to create the right conditions for opportunities to be seized by focusing of five key areas: trade; development; energy security; more public-private partnership; and good governance, transparency and accountability, ending corruption, and adherence to the rule of law.
"We will focus on country-led plans and market-based investments in areas like food security, infrastructure, and women. We will focus on metrics and accountability, on nations eager to attack corruption and promote good governance," she said.
Mrs. Clinton however warned that the success of the Obama administration's ‘big agenda' and ‘very positive vision' for Africa is dependent on the continent's leaders.
"We have to acknowledge that none of this can happen without responsible African leadership, without good government and transparency and accountability, without acceptable rule of law, without environmental stewardship and the effective management of resources, without respect for human rights, without an end to corruption as a cancer that eats away at the entrepreneurial spirits and hopes of millions of people," she said.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on October 1, 2009 at 8:55pm
Quicklly bows out before being bowed out ! No Fuss No Theatrics
The Managing Director of Bank PHB, Frank Atuche, has resigned his position as the bank's chief executive.
Mr. Atuche made his decision known in a farewell letter to staff of the bank on Friday.
In the letter, Mr. Atuche did not say why he is leaving the bank at this time but said, "As in all things however, there is a time to say GOOD BYE. As I bow out today from the Bank, I earnestly urge each and everyone of you to keep the PHB passion aflame so that the height, the mount everest which we envisioned shall not only be accomplished, but shall be surpassed and we would have created an institution that would outlive".
He also said, "In the course of my stewardship we took decisions which affected all of us in different ways but they were in the best and overall interest of the Bank".
Mr. Atuche's resignation comes after sources saidT last night that the Central Bank of Nigeria had concluded plans to sack him today.
The central bank's decision, the sources said, was as a result of the inability of Bank PHB to pass its latest audit of banks. Since the audit began some months ago, the chief executives of five banks have been sacked. Four of the former executives are now being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for various offences.
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Brigadier General Alabi Isama was one of the very privilege Nigerians who witnessed Nigeria’s independence in October 1, 1960. He said that at that time, he had already enlisted in the Nigerian Army and was just 20-years-old.A military strategist, he fought as member of the Nigerian Army for the unity of the country during the Nigeria civil war. At the moment Alabi Isama who retired as a Brigadier General is involved in telecommunication businessHe told Daily sun that in Nigeria’s 49 years of Independence the situation in the country has graduated from good to worse and the hope that was left for the country by the colonialists has turned hopelessness. He spoke with Philip Nwosu in Lagos, excerpt;After 49 yearsI am a military strategist and I will only look at it in a military way, for instance by 1960 at independence I was 20 years old, nobody assassinated anybody, but today assassination has become the order of the day and those who carry out this nefarious act are never found. Beginning from Chief Bola Ige, the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Harry Marshall, the All Nigerian People Party (ANPP) stalwart, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Aminosari Dikibo, Dele Giwa, Alhaja Suliat in Ibadan, in fact the list is endless.Then The Atlas Cove attack all these things never happened, anybody who was killed the police were able to fish out the killers immediately. But look at the long list of persons assassinated which the police could not account for. This was after independence. That is as far as I can talk on security. Militarily, we are surrounded by French countries and if your military is moving today against any enemy and we are importing over 50 per cent of our food, what happens if the person we are buying from has sympathy for the country we are fighting against, that means that we will not have food and you cannot underestimate the importance of food to any population then when you look at all these things, you begin to ask if we have moved forward or we have remained stagnant at a position. At moment our universities, we have one university in the 1960, we have so many now what is the standard compare to that of 1960. So if we look at that progress you will also discover we are going back.The roads we have in 1960 were very few, we have tiny winy roads like the British roads, but they were passable, today we have many roads but they are not passable. At 49, Nigeria has only two roads, Lagos North and Lagos East, both roads are impassable, you see I can only look at it as a military person, now we are importing fuel and if our military has to move we should not be dependent on fuel imported from other countries, these are the things that has made this nation worse off. We have the oil, we have the man power and the geo-politics of Nigeria is just the best for anyone to take off, but we are still importing oil and this does not tell well of Nigeria at 49.Looking at all these things I believe that something is wrong fundamentally and I am not one of those who believe in restructuring, but what I believe in is that the situation is a political problem. I think the Nigerian leaders rather than be looking for their personal gain they should work towards integration of the country and the only way they can do this is through political awareness and education. For instance, there is nothing wrong in having two political parties so that Nigerians can just belong to the ones that best suit them. But as long as you have three political parties, everything will be reduced to ethnicity and tribalism.On Independence DayThe enthusiasm of every Nigerian living then was high, because we saw that with independence the sky was to be our limit, especially with many educated people in the country then, we are suppose to be the best in Africa. After 49 years could we have moved forward from where the British stopped because then, everything was working for us especially after oil was discovered. There was hope for the future because everybody and every unit of the country were competing for development. There was oil, ground nut and palm oil respectively in the regions of the country and Chief Obafemi Awolowo was talking about good life and freedom for all. There was free education here in the west and every other part of the country was trying to have entrenched in the system. So that was the situation then and everything was good and life was good and there was hope for the future.Way forwardWe need to do away with all these vices that had been holding the country down and get our acts together, we need to address the issue of corruption and work towards a better society. In Nigeria we do not need a benevolent president like General Yakubu Gowon or a tough president like General Sani Abacha, what we need is a leader who understands the situation of the country and can be able to be firm in his resolve to solve the problem of the country.BY PHILIP NWOSU
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Posted by 9jabook.com on October 1, 2009 at 7:30am
The extraordinary true story of a Malawian teenager who transformed his village by building electric windmills out of junk is the subject of a new book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
Self-taught William Kamkwamba has been feted by climate change campaigners like Al Gore and business leaders the world over.
His against-all-odds achievements are all the more remarkable considering he was forced to quit school aged 14 because his family could no longer afford the $80-a-year (£50) fees.
When he returned to his parents' small plot of farmland in the central Malawian village of Masitala, his future seemed limited.
But this was not another tale of African potential thwarted by poverty.
Defence against hunger
The teenager had a dream of bringing electricity and running water to his village.
William Kamkwamba and one of his windmills
Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy - people thought I was smoking marijuana
William Kamkwamba
And he was not prepared to wait for politicians or aid groups to do it for him.
The need for action was even greater in 2002 following one of Malawi's worst droughts, which killed thousands of people and left his family on the brink of starvation.
Unable to attend school, he kept up his education by using a local library.
Fascinated by science, his life changed one day when he picked up a tattered textbook and saw a picture of a windmill.
Mr Kamkwamba told the BBC News website: "I was very interested when I saw the windmill could make electricity and pump water.
"I thought: 'That could be a defence against hunger. Maybe I should build one for myself'."
When not helping his family farm maize, he plugged away at his prototype, working by the light of a paraffin lamp in the evenings.
But his ingenious project met blank looks in his community of about 200 people.
"Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy," he recalls. "They had never seen a windmill before."
Shocks
Neighbours were further perplexed at the youngster spending so much time scouring rubbish tips.
Al Gore
William Kamkwamba's achievements with wind energy show what one person, with an inspired idea, can do to tackle the crisis we face
Al Gore
"People thought I was smoking marijuana," he said. "So I told them I was only making something for juju [magic].' Then they said: 'Ah, I see.'"
Mr Kamkwamba, who is now 22 years old, knocked together a turbine from spare bicycle parts, a tractor fan blade and an old shock absorber, and fashioned blades from plastic pipes, flattened by being held over a fire.
"I got a few electric shocks climbing that [windmill]," says Mr Kamkwamba, ruefully recalling his months of painstaking work.
The finished product - a 5-m (16-ft) tall blue-gum-tree wood tower, swaying in the breeze over Masitala - seemed little more than a quixotic tinkerer's folly.
But his neighbours' mirth turned to amazement when Mr Kamkwamba scrambled up the windmill and hooked a car light bulb to the turbine.
As the blades began to spin in the breeze, the bulb flickered to life and a crowd of astonished onlookers went wild.
Soon the whiz kid's 12-watt wonder was pumping power into his family's mud brick compound.
'Electric wind'
Out went the paraffin lanterns and in came light bulbs and a circuit breaker, made from nails and magnets off an old stereo speaker, and a light switch cobbled together from bicycle spokes and flip-flop rubber.
Before long, locals were queuing up to charge their mobile phones.
WINDS OF CHANGE
2002: Drought strikes; he leaves school; builds 5m windmill
2006: Daily Times writes article on him; he builds a 12m windmill
2007: Brings solar power to his village and installs solar pump
Mid-2008: Builds Green Machine windmill, pumping well water
Sep 2008: Attends inaugural African Leadership Academy class
Mid-2009: Builds replica of original 5m windmill
Mr Kamkwamba's story was sent hurtling through the blogosphere when a reporter from the Daily Times newspaper in Blantyre wrote an article about him in November 2006.
Meanwhile, he installed a solar-powered mechanical pump, donated by well-wishers, above a borehole, adding water storage tanks and bringing the first potable water source to the entire region around his village.
He upgraded his original windmill to 48-volts and anchored it in concrete after its wooden base was chewed away by termites.
Then he built a new windmill, dubbed the Green Machine, which turned a water pump to irrigate his family's field.
Before long, visitors were traipsing from miles around to gawp at the boy prodigy's magetsi a mphepo - "electric wind".
As the fame of his renewable energy projects grew, he was invited in mid-2007 to the prestigious Technology Entertainment Design conference in Arusha, Tanzania.
Cheetah generation
He recalls his excitement using a computer for the first time at the event.
"I had never seen the internet, it was amazing," he says. "I Googled about windmills and found so much information."
Onstage, the native Chichewa speaker recounted his story in halting English, moving hard-bitten venture capitalists and receiving a standing ovation.
Bryan Mealer (left) with William Kamkwamba
William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer (left) spent a year writing the book
A glowing front-page portrait of him followed in the Wall Street Journal.
He is now on a scholarship at the elite African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mr Kamkwamba - who has been flown to conferences around the globe to recount his life-story - has the world at his feet, but is determined to return home after his studies.
The home-grown hero aims to finish bringing power, not just to the rest of his village, but to all Malawians, only 2% of whom have electricity.
"I want to help my country and apply the knowledge I've learned," he says. "I feel there's lots of work to be done."
Former Associated Press news agency reporter Bryan Mealer had been reporting on conflict across Africa for five years when he heard Mr Kamkwamba's story.
The incredible tale was the kind of positive story Mealer, from New York, had long hoped to cover.
The author spent a year with Mr Kamkwamba writing The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which has just been published in the US.
Mealer says Mr Kamkwamba represents Africa's new "cheetah generation", young people, energetic and technology-hungry, who are taking control of their own destiny.
"Spending a year with William writing this book reminded me why I fell in love with Africa in the first place," says Mr Mealer, 34.
"It's the kind of tale that resonates with every human being and reminds us of our own potential."
Can it be long before the film rights to the triumph-over-adversity story are snapped up, and William Kamkwamba, the boy who dared to dream, finds himself on the big screen?
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Posted by 9jabook.com on October 1, 2009 at 12:04am
In the name of God, the Beneficent and Merciful.
Your Excellency, The President of Nigeria. Peace and the mercy and blessings of God be with you.
Dear Umaru Yar’adua
First congratulations on your nation’s 49th Independence Day Celebrations, I am writing you this letter on behalf of the loving people of Saudi Arabia and myself. I need not emphasis to you the place of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, not just on you as a person but the fact that we represent the ground for billions of faithful and peace-seeking Muslims.
The next few lines I pen to you would be painful—the reason being that it is the truth and I dare say, you and I know that the truth hurts. I have been told and warned by my kinsmen that I am not saying anything new but I will still say it. Let me start with your recent visit to my domain. Your countrymen are sickened and cannot fathom the reason why you would abandon the UN General Assembly for the second time just to come for a University commissioning.
As it regards that I will skip for now. Do you know reasons why you were welcomed by a governor…well let us leave that to local gossip? Your absence is sad because it is one of the many reasons that you and your countrymen and women are not taken serious. If you recall early in the year you had complained to them and the world that it was unfortunate that the world did not reckon with you and your nation during the G-8 summit in London. Here was an opportunity to try and remedy the serious image problems you have with other nations by confronting their leaders face to face. This I think you missed…and your citizens I believe feel same. You told me that you minister for foreign affairs would handle the UN but I disagree with you.
The minister I am told flew to the US from Brazil where he had gone for negotiations on how the nation can achieve the 6,000MW power generation by December. It is sad that at 49 years and with a population of approximately 150milliion you are still battling with generating a mere 6,000 MGW. I gathered that no part of Nigeria has a one-hour uninterrupted power supply for a seven-day week. Since your assumption of office you have been on hijra to my domain on three occasions and this excludes the hajj you have come to perform. Can’t recall when we suffered a power outage last.
One of your revered writers a certain Wole Soyinka's said that "the man (Yar'Adua) is on permanent sabbatical". "… A permanent sabbatical from critical national duty,”. This I see as an insult because no one in my domain dares insinuate that of me. Your nation is adrift and all is not well and citizenry do not see any concerted effort at solving these issues. You came to commission a university, and mysteriously some 90 public universities are shut down in your country. Most of your states are battling with primary school teachers’ strike.
At 49 years you do not have a University in the top 1000 Universities listing, none of your public schools can be certified as first class. And I hear that most of your lieutenants are products of these schools that you and past governments have allowed to decay. On your other visits, you have been treated and attended to by some of the best the medical field has to offer in my domain, and each time I wonder to myself…why can you not build such in your country. Do you think if I was sick I would come to Nigeria for healthcare.. .? (subhannallah) Allah forbid that much you know. I am told that nothing works in your land and despite all the opportunities. You have continued to remain a nation of misplaced priorities and dashed hopes.
The Kingdom of Saudi is faced with its own troubles which are peculiar to us and some problems which you are familiar with. However we continue to tackle them. But I gathered that you are massaging your issues rather than deal with them headlong. In my domain we deal with corruption too, but be rest assured that our tolerance level is low. We do not hesitate to cut with sword the erring part, hand, eye, or ‘that part of the body’.
This results in serious human rights questions but we do not murder or assassinate journalists or opposition people either. Many people I have spoken to from your land say they had hope in you, but that after just two years…they called you go-slow, later it was snail, now they have resigned themselves to fate. I have my integrity and that of my people to protect; besides it is not in my place to say, yet I will ask. What is the place of your wife in government …is she a feminist, is she the only wife you have? I have no problem with all these but if she is indeed the de-facto president…then there is a problem? On a scale of preference we have long shifted our attention to the likes of South Africa, Ghana, and Egypt and recently tiny nations like Namibia, Mozambique are not left out. I do not envy the enormous problems you face but I am saddened that you have not solved any. You have not improved on a faulty electoral system that brought you to power. Your banking sector we hear just underwent partial oncology but the real cancer is still there.
Some of your elites now build helipads and move around in helicopters in cities like Port Harcourt, Onitsha to avoid kidnap and your roads remain hellish and all we hear is that the Federal and state governments are perpetually engaged on whether it’s a federal or a state road while people die on these roads. You have at 49 years some of the best brains in various fields but you have not been able to harness their potentials. There are several policy somersaults by various functionaries of your government and these paints you in bad light. You rule of law mantra has been questioned by the lawlessness of those underneath you and then people find out you are in the know. Your citizens are suffering loss of appetite, fatigue and memory slip at what best government practices are.
Infact I am told that citizens rejoice when government officials do what they are supposed to do because the reverse is the case. I am even told that there is a phrase used…’the man stole but he worked too’. Even in hitherto familiar terrain like soccer I hate to say that soon boys from my kingdom will beat your team whether super eagles or gentle doves. I gathered you never plan for anything in your nation anymore and the inevitable happens…you all fail. I have not proffered any solution to you in this Independence letter, so also have I left out many other issues and my reason is that I do not intend to insult you but awaken you. You have the manpower, the resources.
You can if you want to, my fear is, a doubt that you and your people want to. Leaders in the past have refused to take counsel and have never bothered about any legacies, I do not know if you want to be any different or will be different. I do not know if you will read this or an aide will browse through it as usual. Bisalam King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz
NB: As at press time it could not be ascertained if indeed the 85 year old royal father wrote this letter, but the contents are very correct. And our sources say that the Villa is not taking it lightly.
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