Tragedy struck at Alaba area in Amukoko, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria yesterday when a 21-year old mechanic, Ismaila Sanni was shot dead by policemen while watching the explosive premier league match between Arsenal and Manchester United at a viewing centre in the area.
The police did not only kill Ismaila, two other fans whose names were given as Biodun and Sanjo were also injured by the bullets fired by the police...
P.M.NEWS gathered that the men were shot at a viewing centre covered with a canopy. The police, it was learnt, were in the area to dislodge some suspected criminals at their hideout when the bullets they fired hit the deceased and his friends who were watching the match.
According to a football fan, Seun Alabi who was also at the viewing centre before the incident occurred, the police came to the area when the match was going on and started firing indiscriminately at a black spot in the area. The team of policemen was reportedly led by one Akeem. “The next thing we heard was a gunshot that left Ismaila dead and two others injured,” he stated.
The death of the youth threw the area into pandemonium as residents ran helter-skelter to escape being hit by stray bullets.
Youths in the area later trooped out in their hundreds to protest the killing of the Manchester United fan.
When P.M.NEWS visited the father of the victim, Ramoni Sanni at his residence on 30, Awokpe Street, Alaba, Amukoko, Lagos, he expressed shock at the death of Ismaila who was his last child.
He accused the police of killing his son in cold blood and called on the authorities to bring the killers to book. He also described the late Ismaila as a peaceful man who loved football.
At the Pako Police Station, Okokomaiko, where the murder was reported, the DPO refused to comment, saying that he has not been briefed.
He advised that we should go to the Police Public Relations Officer for any information on the incident. Telephone calls to the Lagos police command spokesman, Mr. Frank Mbah, were not immediately answered.
US rapper Rick Ross got paid $100,000 (US) in a deal that was brokered on the night (11th Dec) of the 2010 MAMAs in Lagos, to perform at a 10 year old’s birthday party in Abuja. On the spur of the moment . The name Rick Ross is not a household name here and I am sure the Parents of this Child had no plans whatsoever in hiring the Rapper who calls women "bitches" in his lyrics .
100,000 USD big ones! Who are his parents?!
Well they must be from Edo or Delta State or environs the little fellows name is Igho which is usually a short form for Ighodalo .when we get the name of these "loving"parents we will give you a holla !
The news was tweeted by his official DJ – DJ Sam Sneak, who accompanied him to Lagos for his MAMAs performance. Rick & his entourage were flown to Abuja Sunday afternoon to surprise little Igho. I hope MTV cameras were on hand to capture it all go down…this is definitely one for Sweet 16 10 – Naija Edition!
I will not bother calculating the Naira equivalent. It’s Monday morning & I don’t want to add to the depression I’m feeling about being broke (again!).
And they say there is no money in Nigeria…this is a country were 70% of the population lives below the poverty line, living on less than a $1 a day. well i calculated it out of sheer spite it is 15million Naira ! Igho You are one lucky kid just pray your folks dont go the James Ibori way (prison) or you might have to kiss your college fund goodbye any day soon son !
Photos: Rick Ross & DJ Sam Sneak Role models for Naija kids .
Posted by 9jabook.com on December 14, 2010 at 10:27pm
The mayor of Springfield, Illinois, Tim Davlin, was found dead Tuesday morning from what apparently was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the State-Journal Register.
Illinois State Police are investigating his death..
Police Chief Robert Williams says officers responded to a 911 call shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday at Timothy Davlin's home and found the Democratic mayor dead.
Williams declines to offer details about how Davlin died, saying the investigation is in its infancy.
Springfield Alderman Frank Kunz, who will take over mayoral duties, tells the paper he is shocked and that "it's a sad day."
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin released a statement saying he was shocked by the news of Davlin's death.
"I was stunned and saddened by the news of Mayor Tim Davlin's passing. His work with my office always reflected his dedication to our hometown. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this tragic moment."
Mayor Davlin did not show up for a court ordered appearance Tuesday morning in a pending estate case involving his late cousin.
Records show that Mayor Davlin owes the federal government nearly $90,000 in unpaid income taxes and liens have been filed against his home.
The lien notice filed in the Sangamon County recorder’s office shows Davlin owes income taxes for the years 2003, 2005 and 2006.
The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports that the mayor blames the problem on a dispute with the IRS over taxes owed on investments he cashed in to buy the home.
Sangamon County property records show that Davlin bought the home for $237,500 in 2004.
City payroll records from earlier this year show that Davlin earns more than $119,000 a year.
Posted by 9jabook.com on December 14, 2010 at 10:14pm
Three Nigerians were yesterday jailed for a total of 18-and-a-half years for setting up a fake educational institution, called Bogus Colleges, to help illegal immigrants remain in the United Kingdom. The UK Border Agency’s London Immigration Crime Team, told the prosecution that its investigations revealed the dirty deals of the three, which include a husband and wife, Tiamiyu and Christiana Bello, aged 75 and 67 respectively, and a 39-year-old solicitor, Adeyinka Adeniran..
The couple were arrested following a raid on a property on New Cross Road in South London in July 2007, while Mr. Adeniran was later arrested following a search of his office on Old Kent Road. The sentence yesterday followed an 11-week trial at Croydon Crown Court, where the Bellos were found guilty of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration and conspiracy to possess articles for use in fraud. They were both sentenced to five years in prison each. Mr. Adeniran was also found guilty of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration, which the judge described as a “disgrace to his profession.” He was sentenced to eight and a half years behind bars..
Revelations
The UK Border’s Agency said its raid on Mr. And Mrs. Bello’s office, which was registered to the address of “Academic College of Education” and the “Academic College of Training and Recruitment”, institutions for which the Bellos were the principals, led to the seizures of documents.
“During a search, a large number of documents were seized, including letters purporting to be from the Academic College of Education and counterfeit qualification certificates. Many of the files seized from that address contained documentation from the Bellos’ college. Officers soon discovered that the building was a collection of bedsits and there was no evidence of lessons being taught there,” the agency said.
UK officers told the court that though the scam had been on for many years, the entirety of the business structure totally, “involved the supply of fake qualification documents which were then used to support visa applications to the Home Office. Many applicants were then represented by Mr. Adeniran through his legal practice.”
Just couldn't resist the urge to steal this... and share, of course!
Monday: We are back from honeymoon and settled in our new home. It's fun to cook for Chuka. Today I made moi moi and the recipe said, 'Beat 12 eggs separately '. Well, I didn't have enough bowls to do that, so I had to borrow 12 bowls to beat the eggs in. The moi moi turned out fine though.
Tuesday: We wanted a fruit salad for supper. The recipe said, 'Serve without dressing'. So I didn't dress. But Chuka happened to bring a friend home for supper that night. They both looked so startled when I served them. I think it was the salad.
Wednesday: I decided to serve rice and found a recipe, which said, 'Wash thoroughly before steaming the rice'. So I heated some water and took a bath before steaming the rice. Sounded kind of silly in the middle of the day. I can't say it improved the rice anyhow.. .
Thursday: Today Chuka asked for salad again. I tried a new recipe. It said, prepare ingredients, and then toss on a bed of lettuce one hour before serving.' I hunted all over the place for a garden with a bed of lettuce and when I got one, I tossed my salad into the bed of lettuce and stood over there for over one hour so the dog would not take it. CHUKA came over and asked if I felt all right. I wonder why? He must be stressed at work; I'll try and be supportive.
Friday: Today I found an easy recipe for cookies. It said, 'Put all ingredients in a bowl and beat it'. Beat it I did, to my mother's place. There must have been something wrong with the recipe, because when I came back home again; it looked the same as when I left it.
Saturday: Chuka went shopping today and brought home a chicken. He asked me to dress it for Sunday. I'm sure I don't know how hens dress for Sunday.I never noticed back on the farm, but I found an old doll dress and its little cute shoes. I thought the hen looked really cute.When Chuka saw it, he started counting to ten. Either he was really stressed because of his work, or he wanted the chicken to dance. When I asked him what was wrong he started crying and shouting out 'Why me? Why me?'
This saga echoes a scene from a Nigerian home video, except that it is real. Imagine going from first lady, with all the largesse, to homeless, where you now have to depend on government assistance to survive in a foreign land. It is sad tale, but is the fate of
Photo One Chief Prosecutor against own Family Former Governor Audu .
Mrs. Aisha Abubakar Audu, former first lady of Kogi state.
Thursday, lawyers to Prince Abubakar Audu, who has been on a warpath with his wife, Aisha, showed up at their holiday home in Potomac, Maryland and evicted Mrs. Aisha Audu and her three young children from their home.
In the words of the former first lady, "Prince Abubakar Audu owns houses in this town but could not provide a place for us to stay. Instead, he has evicted us from a home we have known for 10 years".
“We were thrown outside at a temperature of less than 30 degrees, while he waited around town to be handed the keys to his company home. He has claimed victory over his wife and children to vacate his home".
“He acted shamelessly and like we are NOBODY!”
“We are now homeless but have been provided temporary accommodation by the USA Human and Health Services, under the abused persons programs, where I and the kids have been attending therapy since this ordeal started".
"They have also provided school for the kids. The neighbors provided immediate help to cushions our plight before we were taken to a shelter as we were not allowed to take anything from the house”.
“Audu has a second house used as a guest house when he is in USA, It is located at 3928 Highwood Ct, there is another apartment which is not currently on rent (managed by his son, Bashir Audu, a student) at Unit N6F 1155 23rd street and unit N6M 1155 23rd street and Unit-PH3 1111 23rd street, all in NW Washington DC under the sham names of Goldwindow, Mercury Belside & Sunshine llc which he solely owns and operate”.
“He could give instructions to allow any member of his family use especially as he had locked us out in Abuja too leaving us with nowhere to go even if we were to return to Nigeria”.
“He also has refused even through his divorce attorney to accept temporary relief for the kids, claiming he is not agreeing to divorce me and has not been properly served”.
“Meanwhile all my personal belongings including that of the children has been confisticated by him in our home in the villa in Abuja, Jos, Kaduna, Lokoja, Alloma, Ogbonicha and London. We cannot get into any of these houses without his instruction to caretakers, police and guards and that was the only reason we came to the USA home believing that he will come to his senses eventually if I just hanged on a bit, but now it is obviously clear that my life has been in danger all along and it has all been a setup”.
“Before moving to our home in the USA which we had always used as a family for over 10 years without any approval from his sham company, eminent personalities like the Ohinohi of Ibira land, HRH Alhaji Ado Ibrahim, former Chief of Defence Staff, Rear Adimiral Ibrahim Ogohi, former Minister of Defence, Alhaji Kwankwaso, former Governor of Sokoto state, Alhaji Atahiru Banfarawa including family members, all got involved to talk to him to act responsibly and follow the Islamic rites instead of the ritual oath on his father's grave, based on allegation by his 35 year old daughter, Meimuna of my plot to poison her father (Audu)”.
“They solicited that he should make amends to the developing situation and where a divorce is the ultimate; he should do it properly instead of locking us out of the house without adequate provision”.“But he was adamant and will not listen or even agree to pay the children’s school fees towards the next school session so that that the kids could continue with their school at the America International School, Abuja”.
The revelations by WikiLeaks on US embassy cable leaks from Nigeria have confirmed one of my suspicions—that Nigerians are still firmly in the grip of colonial mentality. We easily let down our guard when we meet foreigners. Of course, many of the foreign journalists and diplomats in Nigeria are security agents. They are here to gather intelligence using different designations and doing different jobs. By virtue of the colour of their skin, they have access to key people in government who would prefer to talk to them rather than talk to a Nigerian journalist. The moment our leaders see a white skin, they open their doors wide. We Nigerian journalists have to endure the humiliation of relying on foreign media to report some of the happenings in our own country..
I was in Saudi Arabia two years ago for an oil industry summit. I was with a journalist who works for a foreign agency. As soon as she sighted an official of the NNPC, she excused herself, ran after him and came back a few minutes later. “Sorry Simon,” she said. “That’s the man who gives me the latest figures of production shut-in in the Niger Delta.” Inwardly, I was livid with rage. It is easier for a camel to pass thorough the pore of your skin than for a government official to oblige you with such information. It is “confidential”, they will tell you. Then you have to start quoting a foreign news agency to report the actual state of oil production in Nigeria. Colonial mentality!
All these funny guys come with all kinds of funny proposals to the Federal Government, agencies and the states. They usually call it “country report” or special report. They charge in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Our people rush down the cheques to them. They publish the report and the adverts. The next day, they begin to badmouth “Muslim North” and “Christian South”. They begin to paint Nigeria as a country you should never visit because of 419, kidnappings and violence. Yet we keep wasting millions of dollars paying for their special reports every year. Serves us right. A fool and his money are soon parted.
The leaked cables indeed refreshed my thoughts on how cheaply we sell ourselves to outsiders. It is amazing the amount of confidential information foreigners have on us. We willingly give it to them. In one of the cables sent from the US embassy in Abuja to Washington, former Shell's vice-president for sub-Saharan Africa, Ann Pickard, boasted of how embedded the company was in government. She boasted that Shell had seconded employees to every relevant government department and so knew "everything that was being done in those ministries". Shell knew of the deliberations of government officials in the innermost circle. Pickard related how they obtained a letter showing that our government had invited bids for oil concessions from China. The transcript of a private meeting between a Nigerian minister and his Russian counterpart was in the possession of Shell a few hours later!
I picked up at least three messages from these leaked cables. One, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is good for us and these foreign companies will go to any length to frustrate it and make sure it is not passed into law. What may eventually be passed will be a watered-down version. Two, oyour porous internal security extends even to the highest offices in the land such that private conversations of top government officials are being taped without trace. Three, despite all its claim to liberalism and democratic rights, the Western world could be as manipulative as the Chinese and African dictatorships that they so often criticise with relish. It is easier to preach a message of freedom when you are not at the receiving end!
The Pickard woman complained that PIB was "very flawed", saying it could reduce Shell’s overall value in Nigeria. She said PIB was “nationalistic”. Read between the lines. It means, essentially, that the bill is in the interest of Nigeria. These foreigners would never like it. Since we started exploring oil in 1956, the monstrous upstream industry has been in the hands of foreign companies. NNPC, Norway’s Statoil and Malaysia’s Petronas were all set up as state-owned oil companies in the 1970s.
Today, the now renamed StatoilHydro is the biggest offshore oil and gas company in the world. Petronas is ranked by Fortune as the 95th largest company in the world. It is the 8th most profitable company in the world and the most profitable in Asia. Petronas now has business interests in 31 countries. Our own NNPC remains a mere joint venture partner, nothing more. Without its partnership with Shell and co. in the upstream sector, NNPC is just an empty shell, a giant toddler. The IOCs love it that way. Many state-owned oil companies are conquering the world; our own NNPC is just a centre for distribution of contracts. Expect the IOCs to defeat the PIB, using our legislators who care more about their allowances than the national interest.
The second message I got is how porous our security is. Nigeria is a country where all kinds of things happen. Militants were building camps in the Niger Delta and amassing weapons of war and our security agencies did not pick it up. The killings in Jos and Boko Haram insurgency in North always make a fool of the security agencies. Armoured tanks are illegally imported into Nigeria via our ports. A consignment was discovered recently. Even the 18 containers bringing all kinds of arms from Iran were discovered recently and I have a haunch some must have escaped into the country in the past. Right under our nose, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) plotted and successfully carried out twin bombings in Abuja on Independence Day.
Another militant leader, John Togo, has emerged and has been bombing pipelines recently. Nigeria is a loose country, security wise. Yet we devote hundreds of billions as security votes every year, both at state and federal levels. And there is no local government in Nigeria without a security attaché. So how come we never pick up the signals? To make matters worse, even confidential government meetings and memos are in the hands of Shell. God save Nigeria. I imagine what is in the hands of foreign governments and even the militants themselves. We were once told that the arms being used by militants were from our military armoury in Kaduna. Incredible, this country. So now we know we are not safe. National security information is not safe. We are fully bugged and we know not.
Finally, the arrest and detention of the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, for despoil has confirmed what I always suspected: that there is no big difference between African dictatorships and Western democracies. If we are all subjected to the same temperature and humidity, we are likely to react the same way. Assange was curiously arrested for despoil when he started releasing the diplomatic cables. A British court refused him bail. Yet a man accused of murdering his wife while on honeymoon in South Africa was granted bail by a British court same week. If it was Robert Mugabe that did that to a journalist in Zimbabwe, there would be more and more sanctions for “political victimisation”. I love liberal democracy, don’t misunderstand me, but obviously every country watches out for its own interest. There are double standards sometimes, as we can all see.
I have never been a fan of WikiLeaks because I believe every country is entitled to state secrets, but I was very happy with the leaks on Nigeria. I am patiently waiting for the Chief MKO Abiola case. I want to know how he suddenly died in a meeting with Susan Rice and Thomas Pickering, two American agents who said they were in Nigeria to negotiate his release. It would be good to know who prepared the tea Abiola drank shortly before his death. For that, I’m falling in love with WikiLeaks!
And Four Other Things,
DDC Missing The daring raid on direct digital capture (DDC) machines at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, has further exposed the security lapses at the nation’s airports. It is the worst possible news you could hear about the sensitive equipment which is meant for voter registration. At a time when the whole world is so cynical about our ability to organise free and far elections, the last you want to hear is that the all-important equipment has been stolen. The excuse is that it is the “rats” who normally pilfer cargoes that stole the machines, thinking it was an ordinary cargo. How do these “rats” gain entry into security areas? Who works hand-in-glove with them? What kind of country is this?
Another Police Murder A trigger-happy policeman, this time around a whole DPO, allegedly shot and killed Citizen Femi Best last Sunday at the Mushin area of Lagos. His offence? Best was said to have brushed his car, so the DPO, who was in mufti, reportedly gave him a very good chase, caught up with him somewhere at Onipanu and snuffed life out of him. Femi was a 31-year-old man with a young child. He was said to be the bread winner of his extended family. Another life snuffed out by those who are supposed to protect our lives. The other day, it was Modebayo Awosika whose life was terminated by a trigger-happy policeman at Lekki. These things happen all the time all over the country. Only few incidents get into the media. Why does it keep happening? My guess: because justice is never done.
Aganga’s Shame What’s the difference between Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and Segun Aganga? One has balls; the other doesn’t. Sanusi, the CBN governor, has always had my respect, but the respect doubled when he was threatened and quizzed by the federal lawmakers over his statement that 25 per cent of Federal Government overhead (not the entire recurrent expenditure, not service wide votes) goes to the National Assembly. He refused to be cowed. “My name is not CBN governor. I am ready to quit,” he said. Oh my God! We need public officers who can be so sure of themselves and who are ready to leave office at any time. It is a shame that Aganga, the Minister of Finance, who reputedly made his mark at Goldman Sachs, allowed himself to be intimidated to the point of blaming the media for misquoting him over the decision to cut recurrent expenditure. He didn’t deny when it was reported. More curiously, a few days after his National Assembly encounter, Aganga said again that he would cut recurrent expenditure. Some people just don’t have balls.
Oshiomhole, Take Heart My heart-felt sympathy to the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, whose wife, Clara, lost a three-year battle with cancer last week. You need to know Clara. She fell in love with Oshiomhole when he was nobody. He was a mere textile factory worker in Kaduna! That is what I call true love. Are we ever going to find a cure for cancer? It’s a shame.
Editor of THISDAY, Mr. Simon Kolawole, has been named among the next generation of African leaders by The Banker magazine
James Ibori, former Delta State governor, who is on a wanted list in Britain over allegations of corruption, yesterday in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, lost his appeal against his extradition.
The Gulf Arab Emirates’ cassation court ruled against Mr. Ibori’s appeal. The former governor, who has also been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was arrested in the Emirates in May. The arrest was at the behest of the London Metropolitan Police, and a Dubai court later approved a British extradition request.
Convicted associates
A British court had in August 2007 frozen his assets, worth over $35 Million, based on the suspicion that they were the proceeds of corruption. Some of Mr. Ibori’s associates in Britain have been convicted.
Among these are his sister, Christine Ibie-Ibori, and his ally, Udoamaka Okoronkwo (nee Onuigbo). Both are currently serving jail terms in a United Kingdom prison. Mr. Ibori’s wife, Theresa Nkoyo, and his UK-based lawyer, Bhadresh Gohil, were also convicted recently.
A statement by Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson of the EFCC, yesterday said, “The ruling today of the appellate court in Dubai only goes to confirm our earlier position issued after the first ruling in October that justice is universal and applicable anywhere in the world.
“We have been cooperating with authorities in other jurisdictions on this matter and we will continue to do this until the cause of justice is fully served, irrespective of the ignorance and misrepresentation being peddled by mischief makers.”
The anti-graft agency had in April tried to arrest Mr. Ibori before his trip to Dubai, to question him over allegations that he looted N44 billion from Delta State coffers. However, a large number of his supporters prevented police from arresting him in his hometown, Oghara. Few days after, he fled the country for Dubai. How he fled the country without being apprehended is still unknown.
Mr. Ibori governed Delta State from 1999 to 2007. He was a big power broker in the Peoples Democratic Party after he left power, dismissing all accusations against him as political.
It is not clear yet how soon he will be flown to Britain to face further prosecution.
FCT - Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, is officially fed up. Reports reaching wazobiareports can confirm that the former General has officially sacked his “jazzman”.
A series of events involving Gen Obasanjo have led him to believe that he is paying the herbalist in question, for nothing.
Sources within the Obasanjo camp have confirmed to wazobiareport that the recent airport assault on the former General, and the public dispute with the former Gov of Ekiti state, has left the General physically shaken and irritated.
The source further stated that the former president has taken active steps to curtail the problem by firing his current herbalist and proceeding to India for “proper cooking”.
“You know that Baba must protect himself against all these enemies of progress around. If the Nigerian jazzman cannot keep little rats like Ayo Fayose away, then he has to turn to India,” the source said.
It is also being widely speculated that the former president may have challenged the former Ekiti State Gov to a second round of hostilities...
Eager to show off his newly imported Indian charms, pundits believe that the ex president will use the rematch to send a strong message to all “enemies of progress.”
A considerable amount of skepticism still remains as to the potency of Obasanjo’s jazz against that of Fayose.
Many believe that for Fayose to have been able to confront the former president in the way he did, he must have been packing some mad heat.
“Ayo must have been carrying something from either Bangladesh or Liberia for him to be able to confront Obasanjo like that without fear,” said a charms consultant.
Only time will reveal which man holds the stronger recipe and hence, greater political influence in the upcoming elections.
Posted by Angela Nkama on December 12, 2010 at 11:59pm
1. Make up fake acronyms. Online veterans like to use abbreviations like IMHO (in my humble opinion) or RTFM (read the fucking manual) to show that they're "hep" to the lingo. Make up your own that don't stand for anything (SETO, BARL, CP30), use them liberally, and then refuse to explain what they stand for ("You don't know that? RTFM").
2. WRITE YOUR MESSAGES IN ALL CAPS AND DON'T USE RETURNS SO THAT EVERYONE HAS TO SCROLL ACROSS THEIR SCREENS TO READ EVERY LINE. ALSO USE A LOT OF !!!!! TO SHOW THAT YOU'RE EXCITED ABOUT BEING HERE!
3. When replying to your mail, correct everyone's grammar and spelling and point out their typos, but don't otherwise respond to the content of their messages. when they respond testily to your "creative criticism," do it again. Continue until they go away.
4. Software and files offered online are often "compressed" so that they won't take so long to travel over the phone lines. Buy a compression program and compress everything you send, including one-word e-mail responses like "Thanks."
5. Upload text files with Bible passages about sin or guilt and give them names like "SexyHousewivesI," then see how many people download it. Challenge your friends to come up with the most popular come-ons.
6. cc: all your e-mail to Al Gore (vice.president@whitehouse.gov) so that he can keep track of what's happening on the Internet.
7. Join a discussion group and tie whatever's being discussed back to an unrelated central theme. For instance, if you're in a discussion of gun control, respond to every message with the observation that those genetically superior tomatoes seem to have played an important role. Within days, all discussion of gun control will have ceased as people write you threatening messages and instruct others to ignore you.
Posted by 9jabook.com on December 12, 2010 at 10:02pm
In 1980s Afghanistan, a Tajik commander attended the funeral of a soldier who’d been killed in their war against the Soviet Union.
At one point, he picked up the dead man’s Kalashnikov rifle and presented it to his younger brother. With a ceremonial flair, he asked the man, “Do you want to be a mujahid?” The man took the gun and replied, “I am going to take my brother’s weapon. I am going to be with you.”
The importance of the weapon was more than simple ceremony. Later, when elements of the mujahideen evolved into al Qaeda, the first class taken by new recruits was a lesson on the Kalashnikov..
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mikhail T.Kalashnikov holds his world-famous AK-47 assault rifle
The Kalashnikov, or AK-47, is the gun that assassinated Sadat, armed the PLO and allowed Idi Amin to become the devil of Uganda. A favorite of both Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, the AK-47 and its offshoots are by far the most plentiful guns on Earth, with over 100 million in circulation — one for every 70 people on the planet.
In his fascinating book, “The Gun” (Simon & Schuster), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist C.J. Chivers shows how the world was forever altered by the pursuit of automatic weapons and especially the invention of the Kalashnikov — an easy-to-use automatic rifle that allowed any one man to possess the firepower of an army.
By the time the AK appeared, of course, military men already were enamored with the machine gun. In the 1860s, North Carolina’s Dr. Richard Gatling invented “the first reasonably effective rapid-fire arm” in the Gatling gun, which weighed about a ton and was operated by a bulky hand crank.
The Gatling gun proved effective in battle, although many rejected it for its size, fearing that it would slow an army’s movement. (Before the Battle of Little Bighorn, Lt. Col. George Custer was offered Gatling guns but opted for single-shot rifles instead, likely leading to his massacre.)
The world got a taste of the Gatling’s power in 1879, when the British faced down 20,000 Zulus. Outnumbered four to one, the Brits started shooting, and Zulu lines “began to melt away.” The Zulu’s were conquered in a half-hour, with only 11 British casualties.
The next advance came via New Englander Hiram Maxim, who sought to design a weapon with a trigger instead of a hand crank. Realizing that the energy from a gun’s recoil could be used to power the crank’s tasks, he created the Maxim gun, which weighed less than 150 pounds and became the world’s first truly automatic weapon.
With the Maxim, the British showed how easy killing had become. In 1893’s Matabele War in South Africa, they killed 1,500 natives without suffering a single casualty. In another battle, four dozen policemen with four Maxims reportedly killed 3,000 Africans.
Despite — or sometimes because of — their clear success as killing machines, the global verdict on automatic weapons remained divided.
Theodore Roosevelt, who had been a colonel in the Spanish-American War, wrote of hearing a particular sound in battle.
“I leaped to my feet and called, ‘It’s the Gatlings, men! It’s our Gatlings!’ Immediately the men began to cheer lustily, for the sound was most inspiring.”
But the ease and brutality of murder inspired opposition as well. In 1898, 23-year-old British journalist Winston Churchill watched his countrymen kill somewhere between 10,000-20,000 Sudanese in one day — all before noon, in fact — while losing only 48 of their own men.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mikhail T.Kalashnikov holds his world-famous AK-47 assault rifle
Churchill wrote of seeing men “destroyed, not conquered, by machinery.”
“At such sights,” he wrote, “the triumph of victory faded on the mind, and a mournful feeling of disgust grew stronger.”
Certain governments were too entrenched in tradition to truly embrace the leap forward. The US was still enamored by the romance of the frontier rifleman, and through World War I, the British — despite their own experiences — made bayonet training the priority for new soldiers, even though they caused only 0.5% of casualties in that war.
With Germany issuing 16 machine guns to their infantry battalions while the British offered only two, the Brits’ hesitation would have devastating consequences.
In one 1916 battle, the British marched in formation, equipped with bayonets, against a German army with machine guns. In the first hour, 30,000 British soldiers were killed or wounded.
One German soldier later said that, “The English came walking, as though they were going to the theatre or on a parade ground. We felt they were mad.”
While rifles changed little during World War II, the Soviets held a secret contest among their designers during the conflict, challenging them to create a light, compact, reliable gun that was made from few parts and easy to assemble and use.
Sgt. Mikhail Kalashnikov led the team that ultimately created the weapon that bears his name, and which became a much-touted tool for Soviet propaganda. The exact details of the weapon’s creation, though, are impossible to discern, due to the secrecy and lies of Josef Stalin’s government. It was surely more of a socialist team effort — possibly assisted by captured German weapons and designers — than the Kremlin ever let on.
The Kalashnikov’s critical feature was that, unlike most automatic weapons, its parts were designed to be loose fitting, which drastically reduced instances of jamming. It also consisted of very few parts, making it so easy to use that Soviet schoolboys — who were trained in these matters — could dissemble and reassemble the guns in 30 seconds flat.
Reliability and ease of use combined with two other factors to make the AK-47 the world’s most popular gun: Stalin relied on manufacturing the weapon to boost the Soviet economy, which led to eventual overproduction; and Nikita Khrushchev’s use of it as political currency, as he regularly sent arms to smaller nations in order to curry favor.
In 1955, the Soviets included in the Warsaw Pact the condition that all Eastern Bloc nations use the guns supplied by the Soviets. Many of those nations then set up their own factories for the production and export of the weapons, laying the groundwork for global saturation.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mikhail T.Kalashnikov holds his world-famous AK-47 assault rifle
In September of that year, Khrushchev made a massive arms deal with Egypt that delivered the guns to the Middle East, and which soon lead to deals with Syria, Iran, and Iraq.
By the time of Vietnam, the US had failed to keep pace in the world of small arms development.
The American military — which dismissed the AK as being of “limited value” — had long been addicted to heavy ammunition, and larger ammo required larger guns. In the 1950s, they developed the 12-pound, 4-foot-long M-14, thereby committing themselves to a big weapon for their next war. But by that point, modern warfare relied more on rapid fire than precise fire. That required bullets to be smaller.
It wasn’t until the 1960s, when the AR-15 — later the M-16 — finally was rushed into production to address the new reality of war.
Chivers’ section on the subsequent development of the M-16 is enough to make any American’s blood boil. While today the world’s second-most prominent automatic weapon, the M-16 was far from combat ready when it was made standard issue for soldiers in Vietnam. It was shockingly susceptible to rust and, worse, jammed with alarming and deadly frequency.
Developed in a non-competitive environment — the AR-15 was chosen because it was the only automatic rifle available — the gun was tested with different ammo than it used in the field, and decisions about it were made by systems analysts who had no experience in weaponry or combat, and who failed to test it for possible rusting.
Politics also played an odd role in saddling our soldiers with the weapon. An arms dealer working with Colt’s Firearms Division, the AR-15’s manufacturer, arranged for the Air Force vice chief of staff, Gen. Curtis LeMay, to sample the gun at an outdoor party.
Three watermelons were set up as targets, and when struck, the first two “exploded in vivid red splashes,” leaving the general so impressed that he didn’t bother shooting the third, which was eaten instead. LeMay was promoted to chief in 1961, and in 1962 the Air Force bought 8,500 AR-15s from Colt.
In 1966, soldiers arriving overseas found their rifles “hard to clean, fussy and prone to untimely stoppages.” Inspectors from Colt later reported that the weapons were in such bad shape that they were “literally rotting in troops hands.”
By the summer of 1967, the Viet Cong were killing 800 US servicemen per month, with the majority of deaths coming from small-arms fire: the VC’s far-more-reliable AK-47s.
Chivers lays out numerous scenes in which trapped American soldiers faced enemy fire while trying to revive jammed weapons.
In one, a gunner with no counter fire to cover him is shot in the head. As the assistant gunner moves to take his place, he’s hit as well. Another company sees 40 rifles jam during one battle, leaving a quarter of them unable to return fire.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mikhail T.Kalashnikov holds his world-famous AK-47 assault rifle
Increasingly, as Marines faced enemy bullets, they needed to “thread together several sections of narrow metal pipe . . . and plunge the rod down the barrel” to dislodge trapped shell cases — the same movement, Chivers notes, that “Revolutionary War soldiers had to do to reload muskets nearly 200 years before.”
Marines began to develop cuts on their hands from using their M-16s as clubs.
The situation got so bad that healthy Marines would walk among the wounded, asking if their guns still worked so they could trade. Others bought black market M-14s from rear echelon and aviation units. One platoon commander, conceding to the M-16’s ineffectiveness, ordered his company to “fix bayonets” before advancing on the enemy.
Chivers quotes a soldier, in an interview with the Asbury Park Evening Press, saying, “You know what killed most of us? Our own rifle. Practically every one of our dead was found with his rifle tore down next to him where he had been trying to fix it.”
Meanwhile, the AK-47 continued to spread around the world, as Eastern Bloc countries, now with massive stockpiles, sold off some and simply lost track of many others. When Palestinian terrorists took the Israeli Olympic team hostage with AKs in 1972, the world got its first horrifying look at the automatic weapon’s next fans.
In the ensuing years, the Kalashnikov became the weapon of choice for Middle Eastern terrorists and African despots, with AK coming to mean “Africa Killer” as African nations increasingly found themselves embroiled in brutal, oppressive and nightmarish civil wars.
Chivers includes a blood-curdling section on Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army, which not only terrorized the nation through the arming of soldiers as young as 9 — who had no trouble mastering the simple-to-use AKs — but had these children intimidate villages by choosing citizens at random and slicing off their noses and lips as a warning to others.
In 2001, the UN did a study that found that small arms had been the main weapons in 46 of the 49 major conflicts in the 1990s, in which 4 million people were killed — 90% of them civilians.
Toward the end of the book, Chivers includes a horrifying seven-page scene detailing an assassination attempt in Iraq in 2002 that — at a time when more than 50 nations and countless terrorist groups rely on the weapon to further their causes — illustrates the Kalashnikov’s human cost from a victim’s point of view.
Chivers says that today, the AK has achieved a point of full saturation, with even the American military, understanding that their soldiers will have to face it in battle, training their people in its use.
As with nukes and land mines, the reduction of automatic rifles is hoped for, but ultimately futile. With some of the first AK-47s ever made still in service in Afghanistan, it’s a gun that has altered global politics for multiple generations.
There is only one factor, Chivers says, that will bring about the end of the AK: time. Perhaps a century from now, when enough rifles have been backed over by trucks, exploded in war zones, or simply erode with time, only then will the violent legacy of the Soviet Union’s most lasting accomplishment finally come to an end.
YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION?
The proliferation of the cheap, dangerous AK-47 has contributed to Third World instability. Got four grand? You have a militia.
Troops: In the Congo, 4 million have been killed in ongoing wars between the army and local warlords. A regular government soldier makes only $10 a month, double that (with the promise of spoils) and you have a happy mercenary. Get a dozen. Initial cost: $240
Transportation: Your choice here will be a Toyota Hilux pickup truck, popular for being indestructible and big enough to carry all your men. (There was even a conflict named after them, the Toyota War between Libya and Chad). Doesn’t matter if it’s 20 years old, it will still run. Cost: $1,000
Weapons: Prices vary, with some (likely apocryphal) reports saying an AK can be bought for $30 in parts of Africa. But one reliable figure is that when US troops seized the hard drive of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, it showed that he planned on arming 2,000 fighters with AKs at a cost of $202 per. Cost: $2,424
Dress: A good scarf, bandana or keffiyeh protects soldiers from dust, obscures identities and generally instills fear. Cost: negligible.
Posted by 9jabook.com on December 12, 2010 at 9:34pm
If you know me personally, or even digitally , then you know that I am a physical fitness and athletic enthusiast. I find that there is a certain level of determination that is built up by being physically fit and sticking to a regimen. Athletics and exercise are the purest physical expression of true mental discipline that one can find. As an entrepreneur, I don't think I would be able to do what I do without the mental preparedness a daily workout routine brings. With so many parallels between athletics and entrepreneurship, I asked myself "Who is the Steve Jobs of athletics?" This question can certainly be debated, but at the end of the day I arrived with an answer of Michael Jordan. A recent ad campaign by Nike with Michael Jordan is focused on the phrase "Be Legendary." and the quotes that come from them are absolutely golden. In truth, some of the best entrepreneurial advice I have ever received has come from Michael Jordan and this campaign. Here are 23 insights that I've learned from Michael Jordan:..
It's About Knowing Where You're Going
You have to have a clear path as to where you want to go. As a startup, things change along the way. Your execution might make you pivot or implement a different solution. At the end of the day, you need to stick to a clear vision and problem that you're trying to solve. If you're lucky enough to succeed, the road to where you're going may look a lot different than it did when you first started. Take a look at Google- make the world's information freely available. That has been the goal from day one, and despite solutions consisting of email, maps, video, operating systems, and more, that is still their goal at the end of the day. Never forget where you are going as an entrepreneur with your company.
Don't Forget Where You Started/Came From
This holds true for you as a person as much as it holds true for the company itself. Though we do it for more than the money, money can often change people to forget their humble beginnings. Many great entrepreneurs came from absolutely nothing - just an idea that might change the world one day. Don't ever forget that child like desire you had the first day you started. If you harness that essence, no money or fame can ever change you. Never forget your family and your close friends that were there before you started upon this journey. The best thing a company can do is keep a list/wiki of company lore that will remind them of their adventures. The long flights, the growth in employees, the launches, the failures, and more from the early days. Andres and I have been traveling the country with PadPressed. We've encountered some victories and many failures along the way, but we're keeping a record of it through writing, tweets, and pictures.
Have the courage to fail
Failure is a part of anything in life, but having the courage to face it head on is what makes you stronger. We hear so much talk about "it's okay to fail", but I don't think there's enough clarification. You shouldn't let your startup as a whole fail, that's not something you should easily let happen. Startups are really a compilation of many small instances of victories and failures. It's embracing those small instances of failures that will let you learn and adapt better. Think of embracing failure as the entrepreneurial equivalent of an immune system. By embracing failure, you learn what went wrong, what's bad, and how to prevent it from happening again. You build up a resistance to that specific instance of failure.
Don't break when broken
What goes up, must come down. Starting a company is a roller-coaster ride like none other. YCombinator actually has a graph here about this exact subject . You will feel broken inside and figure it's time to give it all up. That might be quitting yourself, selling the company, taking a weak deal, or even calling it quits on a smaller scale. DON'T. Emotions are fleeting and cloud your judgment. For the most part, something that makes you feel broken, should not break you. The true also holds same for the opposite.
Take everything given to you and make something better
Society is all about evolution, especially in technology and software. The greatest technologies take the fundamentals of what already exists in some form, but improves them with the new pieces that have evolved. I wrote about this earlier in a piece called "Build What Was Previously Not Possible." As an entrepreneur you will continually find new tools and innovations brought forth by other entrepreneurs. Take every single relevant thing you can find and bake it in to your product to make something better. For some that might be mobile, social, local,etc. Always ask yourself: "Am I using all the resources that are available and making something better?" We literally get nowhere with complacency, but get everywhere with advancement. Don't change the game, evolve the game.
Work Before Glory
The best entrepreneurs are humble and don't really care about the glory. One of the things that Dharmesh has taught me over the past few months is to keep a level head and be humble. Don't worry about the next press article that comes out about your company. Eventually there will be too many of them that it won't matter. It should be about the work you produce instead of the side benefit of glory. Your work will live on forever, but the glory will fade away when the next acquisition or rumor pops up. Legends are products of their work, NOT their glory.
Do what they say you can't
The competitive nature of entrepreneurship is a fun one. Many people will tell you that it can't be done or that it is too crazy. They will tell you that a better X can't be built or you won't be able to accomplish a small goal like fundraising or hiring. The people telling you this might not even be strangers, but close friends and family members. The only way to prove them wrong is to do it.
It's not about the tech, it's about what you do with it.
The tools and technology that is available to entrepeneurs just keeps on growing. Whether it's social, HTML5, geolocation, node.js, cloud services, or whatever else, that's not what this is about. Those tools by themselves are cool, but not that useful. The technology tools are like an artist's paint brush or a baseball players bat. It's about what you decide to create with those tools.
Be Scared Of What you won't become.
As an entrepreneur, you probably have a very big long term vision that you want to accomplish. It can't happen right now, but over time it eventually will. I always point out that Facebook started at one college, with one photo, no wall, and a mediocre design. Look at decisions as if they might compromise what you could become. If you take the easy route and make the wrong decision, you will not become what you should be. That should absolutely scare you. What if Zuck sold to Yahoo! many years ago? That has to be a scary thought as Facebook would not have become what it is today.
Make Others Scared Of What You Could Become
Entrepreneurs are often asked "So what if Google enters your market?" That's a worthy question, but at the end of the day, your vision should be so mind numbingly amitious and huge, that it scares Google or someone else. Today you might be something small, but if you play your cards right, what you end up becoming is scary. The really smart entrepreneurs aren't scared of the bigger guys as much as they are of the smaller, more nimble startups that COULD BECOME who they are now. At some point, everyone was no one.
Don't finish where you began
Startups are all about momentum and forward moving progress. Every task, project, or new feature should be able to take you forward. It might even be okay if it took you backwards, as the journey backwards is still a journey. Spending a ton of time on something and just ending up where you began is something you should avoid as an entrepreneur.
Know what is within you, even if others can't see it
Sadly, too many people in our industry disregard others that aren't in the in crowd or very visible. They look at who an entrepreneur is now, but not at the true future potential of who that person will become. The same way a smart person knew that Facebook would be something big in 2004, is the same way a smart person knew that a 19 year old unknown kid from Harvard would change the world. Some people ask me why I put my phone number and other contact information out there publicly (fyi- it's 201-305-0552). It's simple- You never know who you might meet. They might not be somebody now, but over time they might become somebody legendary. If you can help them get there, it benefits everyone involved. By helping others, you eventually start to develop pattern recognition for finding great talent, which is a key component of being a leader.
Patience is more important than courage
We always want success now or even yesterday. It's hard for us to realize that things won't happen as fast as we want them to. Courage is certainly a very important trait, but more important is having the patience to see things through. When we look at the success of others, we only see the end result. Even if we see the journey along the way, it is still a small snapshot. Take in the whole picture and realize that there are no overnight successes.
Fulfill your destiny.
It takes a while to get to this point, but you eventually realize what your destiny is in life. You clearly know what you were meant to do with your life and what the end result will be. It takes a lot of trial by fire to get there, but once you do, you will become unstoppable. The real key to fulfilling your destiny is figuring out exactly what it is. Once you figure out what that specific destiny is, it's a long journey, but the fire it generates inside, will put you on auto-pilot.
The press leads us to believe it is easier than it is
The press' job is to write about stories that generate pageviews, since pageviews generate more advertising dollars. Failure and the grueling times don't really get too many pageviews. Success, money, glory, and the end result of hard work certainly does get pageviews. This skews us to think that raising money, selling your company, or launching is just so easy. I'd wager a fair amount of money that you will almost never hear a story titled:"Startup X Fails To Raise $2,500,000 Dollars" unless there is some juicy gossip backstory attached to it. Get back to work and close the RSS reader.
The real work starts at the keyboard and with customers.
If you're in a startup you're either making something or selling something. If you haven't made anything or sold anything, then I sincerely have no clue what you're doing at a startup. Sure there are operational tasks that need to be handled, but all founders can bear that burden. As a whole, founders + early employees need to make sure their actions have a direct impact on something be made and/or something be sold.
Not every product or feature launch is a winner
Remember Beacon? Remember Google Buzz? Remember Yahoo! Live? Remember AppleTV V1? Well, you might, but not for good reasons. Not every feature or product launch is going to be a slam dunk. Even the giants in our industry like Apple can have products launch that don't perform well. It's impossible to shoot 100%, but what matters is that you take 100% of the shots that you should be taking.
Fire over flash
Pretty interface and nifty features are not the path to success. They are certainly a great advantage to have, but the product also has to have fire behind it. If you have a pretty application that provides no real "fire" aka utility to the user, then it won't be used for long. Make sure you have fire before you have flash in your product.
Find Strength In Your Weaknesses
More and more, I'm finding out that my weaknesses are my strength. Weaknesses can be identified and attacked. If your company has a hole in its team, business model, or customer acquisition model, you can attack it head on. Find your weaknesses and figure out how to attack them in order to make your company stronger. It's simple: the less weaknesses you have, the stronger your startup becomes.
Be motivated by your pain
Some athletes hit their high points when they reach the area of most pain. The pureness of facing the most difficult parts of your journey should be the most rewarding as they allow you to level up. When Facebook first started in the college market, they didn't go after the schools where they could gain market share the easiest. Instead, Facebook actually went after universities where they would experience the most resistance and have the most pain ie- schools with existing social networks. If they could conquer this pain, they could easily conquer everything else.
Treat entrepreneurship like a privilege, not a right
I'm lucky to live in a country where entrepreneurship is something that anyone can get into. Many people often forget that other countries are not as lucky and have oppressive governments. We often talk about entrepreneurship as a way out of poverty, but this isn't even possible in some countries. Don't treat this as a lackadaisical experience. Many people would literally kill to be an entrepreneur, because it meant their survival. Be grateful for the opportunities you have and never take it for granted.
You must work for it every single of your day
Work/life balance is important, but there is no off switch for being an entrepreneur. You can't just turn it off and come back to it 3 weeks from now. If you really want to do this. If this is your destiny, which for many many people it just isn't, then it is something you have to keep at every single day of your life. Some are lucky enough that their first thing takes off. Your first, second, or even third thing might not take off. Stick with it and keep working at it every single day of your life.
Do not make excuses
Accomplishing something is a binary outcome. You either accomplished it or you did not. A lot of the times the end result will be the former, but don't sugercoat it. It happened for a reason and don't make excuses that act as scapegoats. Face success or failure head on. We often associate excuses with failure, but I think they can also be present in success as well. Though it's good to be humble, you shouldn't also make excuses for your success. Realize your what you did right and the hard work associated with it. Excuses are exactly just that- excuses. What other athletes and sports references have helped you become a better entrepreneurship? Instead of Michael Jordan, who might you pick and what has been their advice?
One More Thing...A FREE Special Event And Gift To The OnStartups Community
==================== OnStartups is helping put on a free "virtual event" in conjunction with the PlusConf crew on December 7. It starts at 12 pm EST, is 100% free, and all you need is a computer with an internet connection. Speakers include some awesome Boston natives such as David Cancel of Performable and Todd Garland of BuySellAds. OnStartups Presents PlusConf
killz . Rapper Ikechukwu who is rumoured to have beaten up Dbanj and then kicked out of the mohits stable is at it again.
A report from Linda Ikeji's blog below explains more !
My goodness, I witnessed this with my own eyes...and what a sight it was. After the MAMAs last night, a few friends and I decided to end the night at Rehab Club on Ajose Adeogun and well, a few minutes after we got there...the fight with Ikechukwu and a bouncer ensued. They wouldn't let him through the gates and he flipped. (They let Naeto C and Sauce Kid in a few minutes before Ikechukwu arrived). It looked like it was deliberate...!..
Ikechukwu's such a nice fellow but when he gets angry...wow! During the fight, he took his shirt off, his very expensive sun glasses fell (btw, I have the pic of the guy who took Ikechukwu's glasses incase anyone wants it back...:-)). The bouncer he fought with bled through the nose...I hear Killz has a black belt...or maybe the bouncer didn't really want to fight him back?
Anyway, the rapper has since apologized for his behaviour. Ikechukwu addressing the issue on twitter this morning and more pics when you continue...
Ikechukwu's tweets about the incident... If u party at rehab pls don't talk to me. That club is dead to me. A bouncer put his hands on me for what ?? fcuk REHAB aNd all its fcuking people
"I stOpped going to rehab cos not only does the club just suck as far as space is concerned but it always has one funny smell. Then I just can't stand the people running the club. Feel among dey vex them. If I no gree be ur friend no be by force na. Ah jo oo"
Just wanna apologize to my fans for bringing myself so low yesterday. This is not the kind of character I portray or expect anyone else to. People will always test u. Show strength with restraint. God bless
Ocean Boys recorded a long overdue first win of the season when they defeated Niger Tornadoes 2-0 on Sunday. But the victory came at a cost as the club’s left back, Emmanuel Ogoli died during the match.
Ogoli slumped on the pitch in the 39th minute of play and after efforts at resuscitating him failed, he was rushed into an ambulance. He was confirmed dead on the way to the hospital.
photo:late Ogoli & okwaraji
The former Bayelsa United skipper only recently returned to first team duties with the former league champions after suffering a knee injury in a week two Premier League game against Plateau United at the Samson Siasia Stadium on November 14 following a clash with Plateau United’s Obinna Nwokolo..
He subsequently missed his side’s 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Rangers in Enugu but resumed training way ahead of schedule and even got to play a part in his club’s 1-1 draw at home to Sharks.
He also featured in penultimate weekend’s 1-0 loss at Gombe United and returned to the starting line-up in yesterday’s game against Niger Tornadoes, which turned out to be the last of his career.
Teammates in shock
“I still can’t believe what happened to Emma. One second he was standing and the very next he was lying flat on the pitch,” narrated Ocean Boys goalkeeper, Femi Thomas amidst tears.
“There was no challenge of any sort; no one touched him. He just went down in the (penalty) box not too far away from where I was standing,” recalled the former Nigeria junior international who, like the rest of the Ocean Boys squad, didn’t get to hear the sad news until the end of the game.
“We weren’t told anything until after the match. We were all shocked; we are still in shock and there’s no way we can celebrate,” added the former Nasarawa United shot stopper.
But for Ogoli’s death, there would have been every reason to celebrate Sunday’s win at the Samson Siasia Stadium as it was the first win of the campaign for the side from Brass and lifted them off the bottom of the league table ahead of the Jos based duo of Plateau United and JUTH, who both suffered defeats at the weekend, the latter, a 2-0 home loss to Kwara United.
History of deaths
Ogoli’s death won’t the first time a Nigerian player will be dying while on club or national duty with one of the earliest cases occurring back in August 1989 when Nigerian midfielder Samuel Okwaraji collapsed and died while playing against Angola in a World Cup Qualifier. An autopsy later showed that the 24-year-old had an enlarged heart and high blood pressure.
In the Nigerian league, back in October 1995, Julius Berger forward Amir Angwe, who five years earlier was the star of BCC Lions’ CAF Cup Winners Cup success, collapsed and died at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos.
He was later diagnosed to have died of a heart attack which was the same diagnoses for John Ikoroma who died while playing for Middle East club Al-Wahda in February 2000.
There was also the case of Warri Wolves goalkeeper Orobosa Adun, who slumped and died during a training session in May 2009, as well as Endurance Idahor, who in March this year collapsed while playing for his Sudanese club Al Merreikh and died on the way to hospital.
For the first time, a Nigerian artiste came clean on the financial value of his album. "This is not to prove any point, it's only to inspire someone that we are doing this. Mr Abhu can you step up please" said M.I, and with that intro, CEO Abhu ventures, a strong force in .the Alaba 'conglomerate' presented a N20million cheque to M.I in exchange for distribution rights to his MI2 album through out West Africa. - Vanguard Newspapers
I remember sitting in Mr. Kayode’s geography class in secondary school, an atlas in hand looking at political boundaries; countries way beyond my reach. “I will reach the North Pole,” I often said to friends and family, oblivious to the fact that I was sitting in tropical sub-Saharan Africa and had never seen snow at that time.
Never in my wildest thoughts would I have imagined realizing my specific childhood dream was a few votes and judges away.
Reaching the Arctic Circle seemed a precursor; this imaginary line I’d only traced fingers across on a map. Over the summer, I took a road trip along Sweden’s eastern coast towards the Arctic Circle with my parents.
We finally arrived unceremoniously at the “sign”. Getting out of the car, Mom casually tossed her black scarf over her shoulders, sunglasses resting on her face.
“Where is it?” she asked.
“This is it,” I responded.
“The Arctic Circle?” She wasn’t sure..
“Yes!”
“But where is the thing?” She prodded.
“There is no ‘thing’. It’s an imaginary line.” I tried to explain.
“Hmm…Ok then, let’s get back in quickly before a moose gets us…”
--
As an experienced travel writer, blogger, and photographer, documenting our polar expedition exceptionally through engaging narrative reports and vivid photography will be an absolute honor and once-in-a-lifetime experience for me and Quark Expeditions.
The wind will bellow in an eerie yet welcoming fashion. Frigid waves will trash against the ice breaker, intimidating yet slowly guiding us north. We will sail past dramatic towers of icebergs, awe struck. Whales will surface to observe us visitors, ensuring we proceed reverently. Voyeuristically taking in fluffy white polar bears and corduroy brown walruses through my lens, a glimpse into the wonders of our world will be offered up.
I will blog, tweet, photograph, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook like crazy too...sharing our incredible expedition through social and traditional media outlets with everyone who dares to dream beyond the status quo.
I will scribble "epiphanies" into a spanking new journal, filling pages with dreams and experiences leading up to this grand moment.
Finally landing on centuries-old ice at the top of the world, I will scream at the top of my lungs… “I’m a loooong way from Africa!”
Please cast your fair and honest vote to fulfill this once unreachable dream.
Three security guards with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, working in Mowe area, Obafemi Owode Local Government, Ogun State, are currently fighting the battle of their lives after being arrested for robbery. The trio of Segun Sunday, Alimi Rafiu and Rotimi Adekoya were arrested by the men of the Mowe Division of the Ogun State Command of the Nigerian Police after a fleeing suspected thief, Femi Ahmed, reported that he had been attacked and robbed by the guards. The 22-year-old Ahmed was said to be on the run after allegedly stealing N50,000 belonging to his employer, a bakery owner in Mowe, before he was apprehended by the security guards, who inflicted machete cuts on him before dispossessing him of N78,000. Crime Digest gathered that the guards, however, showed the fleeing thief some “mercy” by “refunding” N8,000 to him before he was allowed to leave their den...photo: 2 of the Guardian Robbers A police source said matters got to a head when Ahmed reported his ordeal in the hands of the guards at the Mowe Police Station, seeking their intervention for being robbed of his “hard-earned” money. The source said, “The suspect (Ahmed) claimed that he was robbed around 11 pm by a group of armed robbers who attacked him and collected the sum of N78,000 from him after beating him with a cutlass.” Unknown to Ahmed, the bakery owner, who had employed him as one of his workers, had reported at the same Mowe Police Station that Ahmed had fled after stealing N50,000. The police source said, “This came unexpectedly for Ahmed who was planning to escape to Kwara State, where he was still schooling before he came to work at the bakery in Mowe. He went to the police to report not knowing that his boss had already reported him to the police the same day and that they were looking for him. So, he was promptly arrested after identifying himself.” Crime Digest gathered that the police mounted a manhunt for the unsuspecting NNPC security guards based on the report and description given to them by Ahmed, who was able to identify Sunday as the one who collected the money from him. The suspect told Crime Digest, that he came to Mowe to raise some funds so that he could complete his Senior Secondary School education. Ahmed said, “I live in Okerele in Kwara State. I’m still in SS 2 at Okerele Secondary School in Kwara State. I wanted to raise money for my education; that was why I decided to come here and I have been here for six months. “I was able to steal my oga’s (boss) N50,000 and was escaping with it when the man stopped me and told me he was a security man. He said I should bring all the money I had on me. I was reluctant, but he brought out a cutlass and hit me with it. I gave him the N78,000 and he returned N8,000 to me.” But Sunday claimed he only “arrested” the boy and collected the money he saw with him. “I was the one that arrested this boy when I saw him that night, but I gave him N8,000 out of the N78,000 I collected from him,” said Sunday, who could not offer any explanation on why he attacked the boy he claimed to have arrested with a cutlass. Adekoya claimed that Sunday came to meet him that night and gave him N6,000 after telling him what he had done. “I returned the money to him because I felt what he did was not good, but I did not bother to report him; all I did was to tell Rafiu about it and Rafiu said it was a good thing that I did not collect the money from him. If we had reported him that day to our oga, we won’t be here now,” he said. The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Daura, confirmed the incident, saying the suspects would soon appear in court for prosecution.
Posted by 9jabook.com on December 12, 2010 at 8:22pm
The suspected leader of kidnap gangs in Abia State, Obioma Nwankwo, popularly known as Osisikankwu, was yesterday killed by the military task force deployed to the state by the federal government. The news of his killing led to wild jubilation among residents of Aba and Umuahia. His death marked another success in the efforts of the military task force to rid the state of gangs that have made life difficult for the people of the state and almost destroyed social and economic activities in the area. Deputy army public relations officer and spokesperson of the task force, Sagir Musa, confirmed the death of Mr. Nwankwo yesterday. He said the alleged kidnapper was shot dead at Obokwe market, in Ukwa West Local Government Council, by a joint police and military patrol team.
A broken myth..
Mr. Musa said that the military had laid an ambush for the kidnapper for some days after they learnt of his presence in the bush near the market. The kidnapper’s killing brought to an end a myth surrounding him in Aba that the man could neither be caught nor killed. The commissioner of police in Abia State, Jonathan Johnson, also told NEXT that the body of the gang leader will be displayed to reassure residents of the state that he was truly dead.
Another source said the task force got closer to Mr Nwankwo two days ago when his accomplice who used to supply him arms was arrested. After his arrest, arms including two GPMGs, three RPG bombers, 20 pieces of RPG bombs, 93 empty magazines of AK47 guns, 150 litre keg filled with live ammunition and eight pieces of AK47 guns, were recovered from the accomplice. Mr. Musa said last night that the body of the notorious kidnapper had been taken to Umuahia to be shown to government officials and would be publicly paraded today in the city. Hundreds of people trooped to the military barracks in Aba last night waiting to see the body, but they left disappointed when the body was not presented. Mr Nwankwo, who was arrested a few months ago, was inexplicably released by the police and since then, had tormented the people, who ascribed daredevil abilities to him. Mr Musa described Osisikankwu’s killing as a landmark achievement of the military operations in the state and promised that the task force will not relent until it flushes out the remaining kidnappers in the area.
State of anarchy
Kidnapping in Abia State reached new heights on July 11th when four journalists and their driver were kidnapped on their way from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, after attending the National Executive Council meeting of the Nigeria Union of Journalists. Among the journalists was Wahab Alabi Oba, the chairman of the Lagos State Council of the NUJ. The Senate president, David Mark, subsequently demanded that a state of emergency be declared in the state. He also advocated the application of ‘jungle solution’ to the rising level of kidnappings and armed robbery to serve as a deterrent to others, saying the rule of law could not be applied in a jungle situation. Senior officials of the International Police Organisation (INTERPOL) were invited by the federal government to help track down the kidnappers. The journalists were later released although an initial ransom demand of N250 million was not paid...
A few days before the nation’s 50th independence anniversary, gunmen seized 15 primary school children on their way to school. The abductors had contacted the owner of the private school and demanded a N20 million ransom before the children could be released. However, the students were set free on the day of the nation’s independence anniversary. Mr. Nwankwo’s gang was reportedly responsible for the kidnappings.
This saga echoes a scene from a Nigerian home video, except that it is real. Imagine going from first lady, with all the largesse, to homeless, where you now have to depend on government assistance to survive in a foreign land. It is sad tale, but is the fate of
With so many parallels between athletics and entrepreneurship, I asked myself "Who is the Steve Jobs of athletics?" This question can certainly be debated, but at the end of the day I arrived with an answer of Michael Jordan. A recent ad campaign by Nike with Michael Jordan is focused on the phrase "Be Legendary." and the quotes that come from them are absolutely golden. In truth, some of the best entrepreneurial advice I have ever received has come from Michael Jordan and this campaign. Here are 23 insights that I've learned from Michael Jordan:..