Posted by 9jabook.com on September 23, 2009 at 1:41am
I will wear a crown in my fathers House
A song of Praise .Nigeria is our home .Most of us were born here , Most of us will die here .In the Apokalypto movie by Mel
Gibson and the Pathfinder film the Guirella Tactics employed by the protagonists showed the weakness of Strength and the ability to turn water into Wine using the simplest methods.
Everyday Nigerians realise one thing missing .The Pride of a Nation, The semblance of an American Statement "In God we Trust".The Leaders we despise so much are evidently scioned from evil branches .Branches that always lead us to the Stains of the Whitemans Colonial mentality of divide and Rule .
We have intermarried ,We have cross migrated We have shared resources and Coups and Floods and Religious Extremism and ASUU trikes . A lot of us have migrated but still yearn for the Solace of Home .
Where have we gone wrong ?
In National Pride , In the Unity of our Nation we have not slacked as we still realise it will take all of us Hausa ,Igbo and
Yoruba to continue to churn out this Oil we so Cherish . If we can extend this Unity of purpose in the Black Gold that enriches us .Why dont we unify our selves in the Pride of A nation .
Are we Beasts ? If indeed we are then lets sing the song of freedom together
"Beasts of Lagos,Beasts of Kaduna, Gbogbo Beasts of Every tongue in Nigeria , Hearken to my ..."
We are not Beasts but a Unique breed that has become one DNA unit .Unbeatable in our heart.
We are ingenious in Energy and utilities (Generators & Inverters and Boreholes) : Outstanding in Art .(Nollywood and Tuface)
Marvelous in Criminal Tactics (fill this one out yourself) , Much Ado about our psche is related to the uncanny ability we
have to Take Rubbish and retain it .An Even greater ability to Transform it into Gold !
We are used to seeing Rubbish in the streets , On our Television Sets that if given rubbish to eat we will only ask if it is
designer Dirt .I once was privy to the existence of Designers Rice a concoction of Pepper Stew with wicked looking meat that Can Turn into white man's Kryptonite
This rubbish further evident in A new Generation of Nigerian Females and the Olivia Twist Syndrome " Please Sir I want it all " Whatever happened to Womens
Lib ? It never was Womens Liberation but of Women Oppresion.Our Young ladies have become Experts and sages in their daily
Encounters of the Bizarre Kind .Young Future Mothers Transformed into Sex Workers for one single Reason. No one to wear the
Crown .
Thier Time draws nearer every Day .They shall be revealed and re dressed not just for the loot but most Definitely for the
portrayal of themselves as Strong Leaders when in Reality they are the weakest Cowards Who Care for nothing else but their
own slanted takes on the Position of office and Authority.
of the hand of Former President's Wife under the knife of a
cosmetic surgeon . The Continous trips of Alarm by a leader to Saudi Arabia under various guises of Statemanship .
An uninformed populace is a population that will go nowhere Fast .Is the President Ill ? Or Shall we collectively shout?
" But the emperor is not wearing any clothes ! !
The Real perpetrators silently float in the background Pray you are not indirectly related to them ! Worse things have
happened ! There is a God that loves such little ones far more than We could ever Curse the ignorant fools that do these
unspeakable acts to us daily without remorse .Like Jesus said, Father forgive them for they .....
We will forgive them BUT WE WILL NOT FORGET THEM to continue to forgive them again .God Forgives, We wont Forget .
BIAFRA CanonFodder Again ? Never ! We the People WILL not Fall for that ONE .SSG Kidnapped ,Bayo Ohu Assasinated.Yar'Adua
"abdicates" to Saudi AGAIN ! .. more Tactical Violence ? State of Fear .We are NOT AFRAID and we REFUSE TO KILL OURSELVES FOR
YOU !So what do we do you say ?
The Internet,Facebook and the Advent of the Super Loose Keyboard.Do you find yourself saying THINGS online that you will NOT be Caught DEAD talking about in Reality, face to face ? Does Social Media Promote "Promiscuity,Boldness and the next Hemmingway " ? or is it Strictly WIRED in us to "TalkALOT" from the safety of our keyboard tongues.THEN LET US TALK THEN ! LET US TALK until Even Gandhi turns in his grave and applauds .
We will not Die for you Rich Man ! Gani’s Spirit will rise and maybe then We will give him the crown to place on somebody living Someone that We Can Say as in the movie The Return of the King A day may come when the courage of men fails,
when we forsake our friends
and break all bonds of fellowship,
but it is not this day.
THIS DAY and everyday WE FIGHT with our computer mouse , keyboards
The Mystery of Karma will reveal itself not as the Judgement day of the society But the jugement of Directional shepherherdian Abuse
resulting in un-parrarelled "Genocide" .Where the blood of the people cry to the living
WE The people will Wear Crowns in our Fathers House ?
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Posted by Politics X on September 22, 2009 at 11:52pm
By Ehis OsajieTuesday, September 22, 2009Mega Party on Monday in Abuja announced the participation of international statesmen including revered former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa and JJ Rawlings of Ghana at its forth coming National Summit on Democracy initiated to give birth to a broad platform that will pursue unlimited political reform in the country.According to a statement by Alhaji Hamisu San Turaki, Director of Media and Publicity of the group, the event scheduled for 6th and 7th October will have in attendance not less than “95 eminent Nigerians, 45 political parties, 207 civil society/sectoral platforms and 12 associations of Nigerians in Diaspora have confirmed attendance at the summit, which promises to be the biggest independent political gathering since the 2006 PRONACO Confab.He added that “both Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar and General Mohammadu Buhari were among the first statesmen to confirm their presence at the summit.“The two day confab is also billed to also have either former President Nelson Mandella of South Africa or JJ Rawlings of Ghana as Chairman. But they are yet to confirm participation although they have been contacted by the MSM Secretariat to deliver keynote messages at the summit. Turaki saidAccording to him, “the confirmation of both Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and General Mohammadu Buhari last week is driven by a recent resolve by the two leaders that their best bet is to work within the proposed mega party, anchored by Mega Summit Movement so as to enrich the synergy with other prominent politicians from other geopolitical zones.”He also “debunked a false media report that the MSM secretariat is presently controlled by civil society component of the movement. He said “the claim is imaginary as the secretariat is currently being driven by seasoned politicians such as Engr Buba Galadima of The Buhari Organisation, Mallam Yinusa Tanko of National Conscience Party, Mr Sam Onimisi of Democratic Peoples’ Alliance, Mr Osita Okechukwu of ANPP, Sir Wale Okunniyi (HOS), National Reformation Party led by Chief Anthony Enahoro, Alhaji Hamisu San Turaki of Alliance for Democracy among others.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 22, 2009 at 10:56pm
Tragedy struck yesterday at the Lagos Bar Beach, Victoria Island, as no fewer than six persons lost their lives as they were swept away by a tidal wave where they had gone to celebrate the Ramadan feast.
Unconfirmed report said the sad incident occurred in the evening, and quickly drew the attention of residents and other people who were at the Beach to spend the evening.
An eye-witness account said that four other people whose identities could not be ascertained were equally hit by the tidal wave but managed to survive as they were rescued by local fishermen.
Sources said that those rescued were rushed to the General Hospital where they are receiving treatment.
Although details of the incident were sketchy as at the time of going to the press, eye witness account disclosed that the victims were at the Beach to spend their Ramadan holiday.
When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Frank Mba could not confirm the story but said that the Commissioner of Police. Mr Marvel Akpoyibo had detailed the Marine Police unit on a search and rescue mission.
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The Spanish surgeon who performed liposuction operation that led to the death of former first lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, has been jailed for one year for involuntary homicide by a tribunal in Malaga, Spain.
The tribunal has also suspended the doctor identified simply as AMM from practising medicine for three years, stating that “he lacked a serious commitment and carefulness required by his profession”.
The doctor and his insurers were equally told to indemnify the son of the deceased to the tune of €120,000.
At a trial held in July, the prosecutor had wanted a sentence of two years in prison and ban from exercising his profession for five years.
Stella Obasanjo, 59, was recovering from a routine liposuction at the Molding Clinic in the posh resort of Marbella, when her condition deteriorated suddenly a few days later.
She fell unconscious and the doctors could not revive her.
At the trial, the doctor had denied responsibility, asserting that the intervention and post-operative had been carried out “perfectly normal” and that the age of the patient, who suffered from hypertension and mild asthma, posed no danger to the exercise.
The court ruled instead that the process used to extract fat from the patient had been performed by mistake in her abdominal cavity, which had caused five incisions in the liver and colon of the patient.
The blood loss and internal injuries “could have been handled without problems” if they had been detected in time, the court noted.
During the trial, a Spanish forensic scientist declared that her death was avoidable had suitable treatment been administered during the fateful liposuction.
He was addressing a Spanish court conducting a trial on the death of the first lady in the country in 2005.
The police physician pointed out that the patient had perforations in her liver and abdomen.
According to him, the quantity of liquids administered on her after an intervention was "insufficient" and there were symptoms of a shock.
The expert indicated that the evidence of shock could have been detected "hours earlier" and with a blood test and an ultrasound scan it would have been possible for the doctor to detect the symptoms of a shock.
He said the doctor could have detected these complications approximately 10 hours before her death.
His opinion was shared by the forensic scientist brought in to serve as an expert witness.
On the contrary, four other experts told the court a blood test could not have contributed much and insisted that the symptoms were habitual and that the progression was "normal" until the night of the day before the death.
Nevertheless, one of the experts recognised that “a transfer at this hour could have led to an improvement of the patient’s health”.
He pointed out that the blood loss (half a litre of blood) does not produce a hemorrhagic shock.
On the other hand, one of the doctors who attended to the patient said while being moved to another clinic, he discovered that the woman became unconscious, had no pulse and at this moment the accused and he tried to revive her and “I observed a blinking”.
The district attorney maintained his initial accusation of a crime of imprudent murder, for which it requests the accused who is a specialist in plastic and aesthetic surgery to be imprisoned for two years and given five years disqualification for the death of Stella who came to the clinic of Marbella for abdomen reduction on October 20, 2005.
For the public prosecutor, the accused committed "a heap of negligence", since "it was not diagnosed appropriately".
The transfer of the patient to another hospital was done late. This indicated that although he did not have intention of causing the incisions in the vital organs neither did he wish her to become "unconscious", this does not suppose that there is minor gravity in the facts.
He said that the accused took "decisions completely opposite to those that he would have taken and, there was lack of follow up”.
According to him, the accused displayed lack of analytical strength, apathy and lack of interest for the patient.
The defender asked for the acquittal of the accused and emphasised the declarations of the doctor’s co-workers in the clinic who said they made sure some intervention took place in a normal way.
The doctor maintained that in spite of the age of the woman (59) and some occasional asthma, the risk for this type of interventions was catalogued as “I set sail”. Also, it indicated that the operation, which lasted three hours, developed "just as others that it had done until this baneful day and those that I have done later".
On July 10, the state criminal prosecution case against a plastic surgeon from the Molding Clinic in Marbella started.
At the court, the accused claimed that there was absolutely no evidence of any complications during the procedure nor during the post-op, and described how everything went normally until the early hours of the day after the operation.
Stella, the wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, died on October 23, 2005.
She was born in November 23, 1945. Born Stella Abebe, she met her husband when he was a military officer.
She became famous not only for being the first lady but also for being a political activist in her own right, supporting such causes as women's liberation and youths as leaders of tomorrow.
Stella established a non-governmental organisation, Child Care Trust, to take care of the underprivileged, the motherless and physically and mentally retarded children, with a focus on girls.
According to her, these groups of underprivileged children are usually neglected and they were often treated as if they were useless and seen as an affliction on their parents.
The former first lady was once quoted as saying: “Many of the underprivileged children if given the right care and love are capable of doing many positive things. They want to be appreciated. They do not see themselves as different from any other person.”
She died weeks to her 60th birthday, after experiencing complications in a routine cosmetic surgery.
The news came on the same day a Nigerian plane carrying 117 passengers and crew crashed, leaving no survivors.
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Posted by Politics X on September 22, 2009 at 7:55pm
With time they will grab one Governor and maybe then Someone will do something ! or maybe na im kidnap himself to make a quick one !SPECIAL BLOGGERSFEATURED BLOGS..NOLLYWOOD BLOGS..NETCHURCH BLOGS..GHANA BLOGS..LAGOS BLOGSPOLITICSThe Kaduna State Police Command has confirmed the disappearance of the secretary to the Kaduna State government Wajek Yayok.Mr. Yayok was kidnapped on Monday night at Manchok, his home town in the Kaura Local Government Area of the state, where he had travelled for the Sallah break.Family members said they are worried by his disappearance,although a relative and former editor-in-chief of the News Agency of Nigeria, Shehu Abui said someone had already called the family to demand a N40 million ransom for Mr. Yayok's release.The Commissioner of Police in charge of the state command, Tambari Mohammed, in a telephone interview confirmed Mr.Yayok's disappearance, but said for now the police still regard the case as one of a missing person.The command's Public Relations Officer, Aminu Lawali, said he was not aware that a N40 million ransom had been demanded from the family.The wedding ceremony for Mr. Yayok's daughter is already scheduled for October 10.This is the second time a kidnapping is taking in place Kaduna state - and in the northern part of the country. A Canadian woman, Julie Ann Mulligan was kidnapped in Kaduna on April 16 2009, during a Rotary International mission to the state.The kidnappers, who released her after two weeks, demanded a ransom of N20 million.Held to ransomThe state governor, Namadi Sambo, told journalists shortly after his visit to the Emir of Zazzau, Shehu Idris, that he would speak directly on the issue later.However, in a statement released by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Umar Sani, the state government said that it was not right for Mr. Yayok to be declared missing. "Members of the press, internationally accepted standards say a person cannot be declared missing until after 48 hours and because the rumours started this morning, we shall address you properly very soon on the matter," the statement said.Assignment gone awryMr. Sani's statement also indicated that the state was a bit wary of confirming what it still regards as a rumour. "We have been inundated with enquiries as to the whereabouts of the SSG of Kaduna State, Waje Yayok, over a case of abduction. These enquiries necessitated that we respond appropriately to these rumours, in order to set the records straight," it said. "While it is true that the SSG was on official assignment to the southern part of Kaduna, we are yet to get in contact with him over his supposed location. We believe he will get in contact with us soon."However, the gravity and the intensity of the rumours require us to take steps to ensure that everything is in order. The security agencies have been detailed to the place, the nature of the assignment and all his contact details to enable them trace his whereabouts and douse the tension created by such rumours."The government, however, asked the public to provide any information it may have on the whereabouts of Mr. Yayok,Police source said the Yayoks' house in Barnawa, Kaduna, is currently being guarded by men of Operation Yaki, a special security outfit, and other security agencies.
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Nigerian President, Umaru Yar’Adua, is returning to Saudi Arabia, the second time in about two months, sources at the presidency said on Monday. Consequently, he might not be present at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, which is currently on in New York, where more than 150 world leaders will be in attendance.
Again, Nigeria might just miss out on another opportunity to lobby for a permanent seat at the UN. African leaders are also expected to meet with the president of the United States, Barack Obama, to discussissues of concern to Africa and the US.
No representation named (Speculations are Turai The First Lady might be chosen as She did a "great"Job Represneting Nigeria in Vienna for the Atomic Energy Conference
The president, who had earlier planned to attend the Assembly with some of the ministers, has scaled back on his plan even though he was offered a slot to address the international forum. As of Monday evening, no one knew if the Minister of External Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, will still attend the event.
Mr. Yar’Adua was in the Arab country last month for a three-week break, during which he attended the lesser Hajj and also saw doctors in the country for medical examination. The trip was announced ahead, although presidency officials have refused to state what is wrong with the president and what kind of medical treatment he is receiving in Saudi Arabia.
The UN Assembly will, on Tuesday, start a session to salvage the climate, and on Wednesday, after the grand opening, the debates will begin, with the agenda of the international body ranging from Middle East Peace to Terrorism and Global Poverty. We gathered that instead of planning a trip to New York, aides of Mr. Yar’Adua were actually focused on a trip to Saudi Arabia, where one of them said he might have to attend to unfinished business.
Sources in the presidency said the president had planned to attend the grand opening of the Assembly on Wednesday; but as things stand, no further plans have been made for the trip to New York.
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SPECIAL 9jabook.com BLOGGERSFEATURED BLOGS..NOLLYWOOD BLOGS..NETCHURCH BLOGS..GHANA BLOGS..LAGOS BLOGSPOLITICSDuring last Friday’s airing of the ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’, Nigerian author, Uwem Akpan’s debut collection, ‘Say You’re One of Them’, became the first collection of short stories selected by the talk show hostess as the next choice for her widely-followed book club.It was not too much of a surprise as news from the grapevine had hinted at the selection some considered unlikely and unexpected.Describing the book on her show as “incredible,” Oprah said the stories in the collection had left her “gasping.” She said the book got the nod as her first short story pick because it was different from others she had read.In what has been known as the “Oprah Effect”, demand for previous selections have been sent skyrocketing, most times beyond even the authors’ expectations. Akpan’s case with ‘Say You’re One of Them’ has not been different with reports already shooting the book into Amazon’s Top 5 from an unattractive position at no. 165,769.For the Jesuit priest, who grew up in a storytelling environment here in Nigeria and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan, a trail of recognition for the book has preceded Oprah’s selection.A story from the collection, ‘My Parents’ Bedroom’, was a finalist in the 2007 Caine Prize for Africa, while the selection itself was a finalist at the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.The book won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Africa region) in 2009 and the PEN/Beyond Margins Award in the same year. Some of the stories in this collection have also featured in The New Yorker Magazine.Certain critics of Oprah’s selection of ‘Say You’re One of Them” say the book’s focus is stereotypical of Western beliefs about Africa as a bed of conflict and child soldiering amongst other evils: themes that seem to have been over-flogged by many African writers or writers about Africa.Uwem Akpan’s ‘Say You’re One of Them’ is a collection of five short stories based on the plight of African children with a focus on war, religious conflict, and human trafficking.The Oprah Book Club started in 1996, with 63 books selected so far, and a bundle of controversy in its wake. This selection is the first for a book by a Nigerian author.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 22, 2009 at 7:56am
The situation has gotten so out of hand that tiny Guinea-Bissau, the fifth-poorest nation in the world, is being called Africa's first narco-state. Others talk about how Africa's Gold Coast has become the Coke Coast. In all, officials say, at least nine top-tier Latin American drug cartels have established bases in 11 West African nations.
"The same organizations that we investigate in Central and South America that are involved in drug activity toward the United States are engaged in this trafficking in Western Africa," said Russell Benson, the Drug Enforcement Agency regional director for Europe and Africa. "There's not one country that hasn't been touched to some extent."
The calculus is simple: bigger profits in Europe
than in the United States, less law enforcement in West Africa than in Europe.
The driving force is the booming European market for cocaine.
"The exponential rise in the number of consumers has made Europe the fastest-growing and most-profitable market in the world," said Bruce Bagley, dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Miami.
While the European market has been expanding, use in the United States has declined from its peak in the 1980s, the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime said in its 2009 annual report, issued in July.
About 1,000 tons of pure cocaine are produced each year, nearly 60 percent of which evades law enforcement interception and makes it to market, the report said. That's a wholesale global market of about $70 billion.
Criminals traffic about 250 tons to Europe each year, though not all of it makes it there, the U.N. said. The European market totals about $11 billion. About 27 percent of the cocaine that entered Europe in 2006 came from Africa, the United Nations said.
Huge profits make Europe particularly attractive. Two pounds of uncut cocaine can sell for $22,000 in the United States but for $45,000 in Europe, analyst Ashley-Louise Bybee wrote in a policy journal this year. The Justice Department said the price in Europe can be three times more than in the United States.
"It's a significant market for them to exploit," Benson said.
A strong euro and weaker dollar also make Europe attractive to traffickers because of favorable exchange rates. There's also the fact that the European Union recently issued a 500 euro note, currently equivalent to about $700. The largest U.S. denomination in circulation is the $100 bill. Traffickers prefer the large euro notes because they are easier to carry in large quantities.
For example, Benson said that $1 million in $100 bills weighs 22 pounds, while $1 million in 500 euro notes weighs 3.5 pounds.
"It's a huge difference," he said.
Though Europe is highly attractive to traffickers, it can have tight, Western-style security. So the Colombian and Mexican cartels have discovered that it's much easier to smuggle large loads into West Africa and then break that up into smaller shipments to the continent -- mostly Spain, the United Kingdom and France.
West Africa is a smuggler's dream, suffering from a combination of factors that make the area particularly vulnerable. It is among the poorest and least stable regions in the world. Governments are weak and ineffective and, as a top DEA chief testified to the U.S. Senate this summer, officials are often corrupt.
Law enforcement also is largely riddled with corruption. Criminal gangs are rampant. Foot soldiers can be recruited from a large pool of poor and desperate youth.
"It's a point of least resistance," Benson said.
West Africa refers to Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
"This area of the world is ripe," Bagley said. "There has been very little attention paid to it. The United States is loath to give aid to these countries because they are corrupt."
U.S. authorities find themselves at a great disadvantage fighting cartels that have much more money and guns. The DEA has four offices -- in Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa -- to cover a continent that spans 11.7 million square miles and has nearly 1 billion people.
"It's a big place," Benson acknowledges, noting that there are 54 countries on the continent.
Local police also are vastly outgunned. Guinea-Bissau offers an alarming example.
"The Judicial Police ... have 60 agents, one vehicle and often no fuel," analyst Bybee wrote in a journal called New Voices in Public Policy, published by the George Mason University School of Public Policy. "As a result, when culprits are apprehended, they are driven in a taxi to the police station. They just recently received six sets of handcuffs from the U.K., which were badly needed. In the military, one rusty ship patrols the 350-kilometer (217-mile) coastline and 88 islands."
Even when criminals are caught, Bybee said, "the near absence of a judicial system allows traffickers to operate unimpeded." For example, she said, "because the police are so impotent, the culprits are often held for just a few hours before senior military personnel suddenly attain extraordinary judicial powers to demand their release."
The few officials who stand up to the traffickers receive death threats or are killed.
West Africa also is particularly attractive to traffickers because it is near "the soft underbelly of Europe," said retired four-star Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who was drug policy director for President Clinton.
Geography plays another role because West Africa is fairly close to the three South American nations that produce nearly all of the world's cocaine -- Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Many of the shipments depart from Venezuela, which shares a 1,273-mile (2,050-kilometer) porous border with Colombia and is even closer to Africa.
"They go right dead-ass across the shortest route," McCaffrey said.
Most of the cocaine shipments cross the Atlantic in large "mother ships" and then are off-loaded to small vessels near the coastline, the United Nations said. Small planes modified for overseas flight that can carry a 1-ton cargo also have been used. Most of those come from Venezuela, the United Nations reported.
A report issued in July by the Government Accountability Office said traffickers use go-fast boats, fishing vessels and commercial shipping containers as the primary means of smuggling cocaine out of Venezuela. McCaffrey also noted the use of go-fast boats and special planes.
DEA Assistant Administrator Thomas Harrigan testified before the Senate in June that authorities in Sierra Leone seized a cocaine shipment last year from a twin-engine aircraft marked with a Red Cross insignia. The flight originated in Venezuela, he said.
The GAO report noted that "U.S. government officials have observed an increase in suspicious air traffic originating in Venezuela." In 2004, the report said, authorities tracked 109 suspect flights out of Venezuela. In 2007, officials tracked 178 suspicious flights.
Then there's the crime connection in West Africa.
"Colombian and Venezuelan traffickers are entrenched in West Africa and have cultivated long-standing relationships with African criminal networks to facilitate their activities in the region," Harrigan told a Senate subcommittee on African affairs.
"These organizations don't operate in a vacuum," Benson said. "They have to align themselves with West African criminal groups."
The cartels also have aligned themselves with terrorists, Harrigan said.
"The threat of narco-terrorism in Africa is a real concern, including the presence of international terrorist organizations operating or based in Africa, such as the regional threat presented by al Qaeda in the Lands of Maghreb," he said, referring to al Qaeda activists in North Africa. "In addition, DEA investigations have identified elements of Colombia's Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia [FARC] as being involved in cocaine trafficking in West Africa."
Benson said the groups operating in Africa are "primarily narcotics organizations" but acknowledged that the Marxist FARC guerrillas in Colombia are a force to be dealt with. The rebels have waged war on the Colombian government for more than 40 years.
"The profit potential is such that the FARC is one of the largest cocaine-trafficking operations globally and is also a terrorist organization," he said.
Bagley and McCaffrey see less evidence of terrorist connections with the traffickers in Africa, both using nearly identical language.
"I'd be really skeptical of those kinds of assertions," McCaffrey said.
"I'm quite skeptical about linkages between cartels and terrorists," Bagley said. "The criminal groups seek profits. They're not interested in taking over governments."
Still, Bagley said, traffickers and terrorists may use some of the same criminal networks.
Analysts note that the surge of cartel activity in West Africa is a fairly recent development. The U.N. report said it started around 2005. Bybee places it around 2006.
McCaffrey, who was in the Clinton White House in the 1990s, said he saw the problem coming a long time ago.
"I've been warning people in Europe and Latin America starting 10 years ago where this issue was going to move," he said. "The Europeans absolutely blew me off."
The U.N. report offers some hope, saying that cocaine seizures in Europe peaked in 2006 and topped out in West Africa in 2007. Overall seizures have declined since 2006, the report said.
"This trend appears to be continuing in 2009 and includes declines in the number and volume of seizures made in the region and in the number of air couriers coming from the region in Europe," the report concluded.
For example, authorities seized 11 large shipments in Africa in 2007, four in 2008 and none so far this year.
The report does not specify whether there are fewer shipments or smarter criminals avoiding detection.
But if there is a decline, the DEA's Benson said he has not seen it.
"In the last three or four years, it's increased quite dramatically," he said. "The Colombian organizations have been active there longer than that. In the last two years, we've also seen Mexican involvement in the area as well."
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 22, 2009 at 3:57am
Forty-one year-old Bayo Ohu, an assistant political editor of The Guardian was shot in the early hours of Sunday by gunmen suspected to be assasins.
Police sources said the bandits stormed the journalist’s No 9, Oyeniyi Street, Odukoya estate residence at the about 7.00 a.m. and forced their way into his apartment. They were said to had demanded for cash and other valuables which the journalist readily obliged.
After collecting the cash he had, they picked his lap-top before releasing some bullets into his stomach. He was said to had slumped and died almost immediately.
According to witnesses, men dressed in white jalabia (flowing gowns) and wearing caps, arrived in a white Toyota camry at 6.53am, and stormed Mr. Ohu’s residence. When they eventually found him with a wrapper tied around his waist, one of the armed men began to shoot at him. The assailants allegedly followed him as he stumbled back and kept pumping bullets into him.
Neighbours say during this attack, the deceased’s wife, Ochuko, had gone to church with her sister who lived in with them, leaving the late Ohu, his daughters and one other relative at home. None of them was however around the compound when the killers entered.
According to his daughter, 15-year-old Omolara Ohu, “We were coming from where we had gone to fetch water, when we heard the gun-shots and ran back. Later, we came to the compound and found blood everywhere. The neighbours now came and brought out his body. There was blood everywhere,” she said, crying.
She said a neighbour who saw the shooting told her that the initial hail of bullets left Ohu shouting: “E gba mi o! E gba mi o! (Please save me, please save me). Afterwards, she said one of the armed men was heard saying: “Olori buruku yen ti lo” (That idiot is gone).
Miss Patience, the late journalist’s sister said nothing was taken apart from his laptop and his cell phone.
“They took the laptop he uses at home, but they left his office laptop and midget recorder,” she said.
However, reports said while the attack was going on, a neighbour had put a call to the police, but the bandits had successfully made good their escape before the police arrived.
But a team of anti-robbery squad on routine patrol in the area were reported to have given the armed gang a hot chase, forcing them to abandon their get away vehicle and fled.
Ochuko, wife of the late Bayo Ohu. The deceased inset.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, confirmed the incident but said it might be a case of assassination. Mba said the police had recovered the vehicle, an unmarked Toyota Camry used for the attack, assuring that a manhunt for the perpetrators had since begun.
In a related development, a team of anti- robbery squad from the Area E Command, Festac town Lagos has arrested two armed robbers in the area.
The suspects identified as Andrew Ilouere and Chinedu Nwokolie were arrested along the Lagos-Badagry expressway moments after they had successfully robbed one Paschal Anyawu.
They were said to have collected an un specified amount of money and other valuables from the victim but ran into the waiting hands of the patrol team.
Reports said when they were searched, a locally made Guardian Newspapers with some live cartridges were recovered from them.
The police image maker also confirmed the arrest, adding that the suspects would be transferred to the SCID Panti, Yaba, Lagos for further investigation.
This is the third time in as many years that a Nigerian newspaper journalist has been shot dead in similar circumstances.
In 2007 and 2008, Godwin Agbroko and Abayomi Ogundeji, both of the private Thisday Newspaper, were also shot dead by unknown gunmen in Lagos.
The two deaths have yet to be unravelled. Bullet hole at Bayo Ohu's house
Mr. Ohu joined The Guardian in 1993 after completing his national youth service in Katsina State. He was the correspondent of the paper in Katsina until 2002 when he became assistant news editor and was recalled to the head office in Lagos. He was seconded to the politics desk in 2008. He is survived by a wife and children.
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Alaba Can’t Be Shut Down! Onyeka Onwenu and Tony Okoroji are expired artistes! The Coalition of Nigerian artiste are fighting for the shutdown of Alaba, believed to be a pirate haven.They presented a letter to Governor of Lagos, Babatunde Fashola, informing him of “an urgent need to address the debilitating effect of piracy in Lagos State especially the infamous situation in Alaba International Market which has gained the world wide notoriety of being an international hotbed of piracy” and that was what was needed to nail it and get a response from the occupants of Alaba kicking off with an accusation of the musicians being the problem.The president of the Alaba Marketers Association stated that Alaba International market cannot be shut down because “The market is 99.5 per cent known for electronics, electrical and industrial parts, and not for music and home video only.We want to debunk the talk that Alaba market is the capital of pirated, counterfeited and sub-standard products. Precisely on 29th of July 2009, we signed here an MOU with the Federal Ministry of Trade and Commerce, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, the Consumer Protection Council and the National Environmental Protection Agency, NIRA as well as the Nigeria Police Force. I use this medium to tell our numerous costumers that Alaba market is safe for your business; we are assuring you that whenever any product is bought here in Alaba and if it is found wanting, please come back to the association, you have the right to derive utility from any product you bought. Alaba is saying NO to all the negative vices associated with the market including piracy.Big Artistes such as 2face Idibia, 9ice, Timaya, Psquare, Ruggedman, M.I, Face, Olu Maintain, Idris Abdukareem, 2Short, Terry G to mention but a few, all market their works in Alaba market. Also, top comedy stars market their works here. So, who is fooling who? Is it Onyeka Onwenu and Tony Okoroji who are expired artistes? Okoroji sang last in 1983. In fact, the musicians are the real pirates of their works because they come everyday begging us to include their songs in illegal compilation CDs.Truly I am not saying that Alaba is totally free from piracy, what we are saying is that even if it is only one per cent of piracy that exists in Alaba, in unison we are saying NO to that one per cent.The government of Alaba International Market including myself and other executive chairmen like Chief Wilson Ozoemena; Chairman, Fancy and Furniture Dealers Association, Chief Ezeani Celestine; Vice Chairman Electronic Sections And Chief Ogonna Nkemdilim, Chairman, CD Dealers Association, all say NO to piracy.”
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ASSU AND STUDENT LET’S FORCE OUR GOVERNMENT TO DO SOMETHINGIT’S TIME FOR US TO MOVE IF GOVERNMENT IS NOT READY FOR ASSUIt’s time to make the federal government understand our pain,Our government is not ready to call off the strike so if we fold our handsTo this situation Nigeria will not move forward, Come to think of it there ownChildren are studding abroad so they do not care If we go to school or not,And many of us are suppose to write one Exam or the other, many of us are waitingFor school to open for us to collect our certificate, for how long can we wait?Please I beg all students and ASSU to Come out and let’s force ourGovernment to do some thing about this issue,What can we do?Fine, all we need to do on Wednesday work resume let’s gather togetherVery early and block the main road like for us resident in Lagos oshodiAnd CMS so that those in power will not be able to go to their office or work place since we can’tGo to school, they too should go to work. Then they will no we are very serious.Please add your comment if you think this will help us go back to school toDaniel.john15@yahoo.com or callMe on 08030771868 DANIEL JOHN
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IT’S TIME FOR US TO MOVE IF GOVERNMENT IS NOT READY FOR ASSUIt’s time to make the federal government understand our pain,Our government is not ready to call off the strike so if we fold our handsTo this situation Nigeria will not move forward, Come to think of it there ownChildren are studding abroad so they do not care If we go to school or not,And many of us are suppose to write one Exam or the other, many of us are waitingFor school to open for us to collect our certificate, for how long can we wait?Please I beg all students and ASSU to Come out and let’s force ourGovernment to do some thing about this issue,What can we do?Fine, all we need to do on Wednesday work resume let’s gather togetherVery early and block the main road like for us resident in Lagos oshodiAnd CMS so that those in power will not be able to go to their office or work place since we can’tGo to school, they too should go to work. Then they will no we are very serious.Please add your comment if you think this will help us go back to school toDaniel.john15@yahoo.com or callMe on 08030771868 DANIEL JOHN
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Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has shown little remorse for the stamp on Arsenal's Robin van Persie for which he received a three-game, claiming that he can't feel sorry for something he did not intend to do.He has also asserted that the abuse he received from Gunners players and supporters had pushed him to the limit of his self-control, contributing to the 90 metre sprint to celebrate his goal in front of the Arsenal fans for which he received an additional charge of improper conduct which is yet to be judged."I am sorry Robin got hurt, but I can't regret something I did not mean to do," Adebayor told The Sun."Anybody who knows me knows I would not set out to hurt anybody and I would especially not mean to hurt an old team-mate."I really am glad Robin was OK because I know my stud was close to his eye, but there was really nothing I could have done - there was no way I could have got out of the way in time."As for his celebration, the Togolese asserts that he felt justified simply because of the sheer volume of invective which had been directed his way over the course of the game. He added: "People talk about us as being football players and the money we earn, but just because we are fortunate it does not mean we need to take abuse."If you were to abuse a man in the street for over an hour he would react and it would be a worse reaction than a goal celebration!"There is only so much abuse a man can take until he reaches breaking point. I was being abused by people who six months ago were singing my name and the abuse was for no reason."I scored and I wanted to show people it is not a good idea to abuse me. I really didn't understand it at all. I was running on pure emotion and when you take emotion out of football we are going to have a big problem."People say I had time to think because I ran the length of the pitch, but that is not true. I was abused all match and scored a goal I knew would win the game for us. Ten seconds is nothing. Your emotion is going to last a lot longer than that."Adebayor also claims that some of his former colleagues at Arsenal were less than civil with him ahead of the game, refusing to shake his hand before kick-off."There were players from Arsenal who refused to shake my hand before the match," he explained."I don't want to give you their names - that is not my style - but there's more than one of them."My friends, like Eboue, were fine with me. They are decent people. But I could not understand some of the Arsenal players being disrespectful towards me."Thierry HenriBarca forward surprised by Adebayor's actions.Former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has been the latest player to slate Emmanuel Adebayor for his behaviour in the 4-2 win over the Gunners last weekend.Henry, now at Barcelona, condemned Adebayor for showing a lack of respect to Arsenal fans and players, but most of all, to manager Arsene Wenger. The French striker also reminded Adebayor that he would not be where he is today if not for the Gunners manager.“You have to remember, no matter where you end up, the people who helped make you along the way and gave you the chance,” Henry said, according to The Daily Mirror.“I won the treble with Barcelona last year, but I know if it wasn’t for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal I would not be the player I am today.“I think the same has to be true of Adebayor. He might be one of the world’s top strikers today, but he wasn’t before Arsene got hold of him and gave him that chance.“When he came from Monaco he wasn’t even getting games back in France and then within two seasons he was a player who was wanted by a lot of top clubs in Europe.“Arsene puts a lot of investment in you when he sees talent and I don’t think it would hurt for Adebayor to show him, the club and the fans a little more respect.”Adebayor was suspended for three games for violent conduct after making contact with Robin van Persie’s head with his boot. He will miss today's Manchester derby and may also face further repercussions after being charged with improper conduct for sprinting the full length of the pitch to celebrate his goal in front of a vocal visiting Arsenal contingent.Henry said that he had never seen such a furious response provoked from the Gunners faithful, and felt that Adebayor would have earned a lot more respect had he chose to keep his celebrations in check.He said: “The fans at Arsenal were great. They were and always will be my family. I never saw them behave badly so to react like they did at the weekend shows just how angry and upset they were.”“They will show you love and respect, but like any relationship they will ask for that love and respect back.“No matter what Adebayor’s emotions were, he could have earned himself a lot of respect by not celebrating the goal.“That would have shown real class, and that to be honest is what most players choose to do when they score against their old clubs. I don’t really understand why he didn’t do that.”
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Have you ever been mad at God? Certainly, everyone has had anger rise up against a person. And there are a lot of people who are angry with themselves. Anger is a problem all of us have to deal with.
Many people come from backgrounds where strife was just normal. Our culture is so full of envy and strife that it's become part of life. We don't realize how deadly it is. But realize it or not, strife will kill you. Listen to what James had to say about envy and strife:
"For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." (James 3:16)
Think about what this verse is saying for a moment. Envy and strife bring EVERY evil work. That is quite a revelation! You could be giving tithes and offerings and trusting God in the area of your finances, but if you're living in strife, you are opening the door to poverty. You could be trying to take care of your body and meditating on healing scriptures, yet envy and strife will negate all of that and bring sickness and disease. No one who is trusting God for victory in any area of their life can ignore dealing with anger and expect to succeed. It's that important.
This doesn't mean we are supposed to be emotionless or totally passive people. There is a proper use of anger. If we don't understand this and try to completely do away with anger, we will not succeed, and we will become passive in a way that allows Satan to run over us. There is a godly purpose for anger.
GODLY ANGER
Think of this: Every person on the planet has a temper. Why do you think that is? Do you think the devil created anger? No way! Satan never created anything. He doesn't have the power to create. All he does is pervert the godly things God created.
It's God who gave us the capacity to get angry. Anger has a godly function. But with most of us, it's been perverted. We don't need to get delivered of a temper; we need to learn how to manage that anger and direct it the way God intended — not toward people, but toward the devil and evil.
There is a well-known passage of Scripture that talks about a positive use of anger. Yet this passage is most often interpreted in a way that loses the true intent of what Paul was saying. Ephesians 4:26-27 says,
"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil".
This is usually interpreted as, "God knows you are only human, and you will sometimes get angry. That just happens. But it doesn't become sin unless you let it persist. So make sure you confess and forsake your anger every night before you go to bed."
There is no doubt that getting over anger quickly has great benefit. Confessing and forsaking anger before you go to bed every night is a good thing to do. But that is not what this verse is teaching. It's nearly the opposite.
Paul is saying there is a godly anger that is not sin. God gives us a command to get angry with a righteous anger. Then he says, "Let not the sun go down on your wrath". What happens when the sun goes down? Typically we stop working. The day winds down, and we rest and go to sleep. Paul is saying, "Don't let this godly anger ever stop working. Keep it awake. Stir it up and keep it active!" Then verse 27 continues, "Neither give place to the devil". If we don't keep a godly anger active within us, we are giving place to the devil. What a revelation!
There is a righteous use of anger. Not understanding this has rendered many Christians so passive, they don't get mad at the evil in this world. Therefore, Satan is having a free shot at everything we hold dear and holy. Our society is under attack, and our righteous anger that God has given us as a weapon is kept in its sheath and not used. This needs to change.
Look at what the Word of God has to say about a right use of anger:
"Ye that love the LORD, hate evil". (Psalm 97:10)
"The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate". (Prov. 8:13)
"The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom". (Psalm 111:10)
"The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge". (Prov. 1:7)
"Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good". (Rom. 12:9)
These are just a few of the scriptures that speak of a righteous use of hate and anger. Look again at Proverbs 8:13: "Pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward [literally, perverse] mouth, do I hate". Do we really hate those things? We should, but Christians as a whole do not hate evil. We don't like evil, but few would argue that we literally hate these things. Some Christians don't believe that we are supposed to hate anything, but that's not what God's Word says.
Jesus was sinless, but He had hate and anger. In John 2:14-17, which took place at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, and then in Mark 11:15-17, which took place the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry, Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple. He didn't approach them meekly and say, "Guys, I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt any of you, but I have to do this to obey my Father." NO! He made a whip and beat the people and animals and turned over their tables. He was mad.
Where were the temple guards? I'm sure they were there, but Jesus was in a holy rage that paralyzed them from action. It's certain that Jesus never sinned, but it's also certain that He got very angry to the point of action. Therefore, there is a righteous anger. We need to discover the righteous use of anger and channel all of our aggression in the proper way. So, there is a right place for anger. But what about the wrong use of anger? All of us have to deal with getting mad at people. How do we overcome our unforgiveness and anger toward people?
UNGODLY ANGER
Have you ever prayed that the Lord would remove someone from your life who makes you angry? Have you ever prayed that your circumstances would change so that you would be delivered from those things that make you mad? If you have, you are not alone. But it's not what others do to you that makes you angry. You will never be able to remove all aggravating things and people from your path. That's unrealistic. Satan has more than enough people under his control to keep an endless parade of annoying people coming across your path.
You can't always change circumstances, and you don't have the authority to change others. But you can change what's on the inside of you that makes you angry. That's right. Our anger comes from the inside, not the outside. I know most people don't like that. At first, it's comforting to think that it's what someone else did that made you angry, but that's not true. If what other people do makes you angry, then you will always be angry because there will always be someone that treats you wrong. That makes you a victim and not a victor.
Accepting responsibility for your ungodly anger puts you in the driver's seat. You only have total authority over yourself. You are the only one that you can really change. If you are trying to remove all the people and things that make you mad from your path, you will never win. But if you deal with the things inside you that cause your anger, you will never lose, regardless of what others do. That's the example that Jesus gave us. He was able to look at the very ones who crucified and mocked Him and say,
"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do". (Luke 23:34)
Jesus not only suffered more than any of us ever have, He suffered more unjustly than we have. As God, He could have come off the cross at any time and wiped all of His accusers out. Yet He humbled Himself and even forgave His enemies. Some people think, "Well that was Jesus. I'm certainly not Jesus." But Jesus wasn't the only one who forgave those who wronged him. Stephen acted just like Jesus in Acts 7:60. As he was being stoned to death, he knelt down and cried with a loud voice,
"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep".
Paul commanded us to do the same thing in Ephesians 4:32:
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you".
Not only are we supposed to resist anger, but we are commanded to forgive those who trespass against us. We can't control others, but we can control what's inside of us that makes us angry. The key is found in Proverbs 13:10:
"Only by pride cometh contention".
It's not what others do to us that makes us angry; it's the pride inside of us that causes us to get mad. I know that's not what most people believe, but that's what God's Word says. This verse doesn't say that pride is one of the major reasons for anger — it's the only reason. What a statement!
I ministered this in Pueblo, Colorado, many years ago, and a man came up to me after the meeting and said, "I've got a lot of problems, but pride isn't one of them. If anything, I have such low self-esteem that I hate myself. Yet I have a lot of anger. I just don't understand how my pride is the source of my anger." What this man was missing was a proper definition of pride.
Many people think of pride only as arrogance. But that's only one manifestation of pride. Timidity and shyness are extreme manifestations of pride. Pride, at it's core, is simply self-centeredness or selfishness. Timid and shy people are extremely self-centered people. I know this to be true because I was an introvert. I couldn't look at people in the face and talk to them. I was so consumed with me that I was always thinking, "What are they going to think of me? Am I going to make a mistake and look foolish?" That self-centeredness made me shy.
If you have a testimony about what the Lord has done for you that could help someone, yet you would be timid about getting on radio or television and sharing it because everyone would be looking at you, then you have some pride issues that haven't been settled. You may not be called to broadcast on radio or television the way I am, but we are all called to, "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." (1 Pet. 3:15)
So, pride is not only thinking we are better than others; pride can be thinking we are worse than others or just being self-conscious. It doesn't matter if self is always exalting itself or if it's debasing itself. It's all self-centeredness, which is pride. Like it or not, understand it or not, pride is the source of all of our anger. As we deal with our own self-love, anger toward others will be defused. The only reason we are so easily offended is because we love ourselves so much. As we die to ourselves, we will be able to love others the way that Jesus did.
I have a lot more to share on this than what I was able to put into this article. I have a teaching entitled Anger Management. This is a three-part album that deals with truths I've never heard anyone else teach. I'm sure others teach this, but it's certainly not common. The first teaching, entitled "Godly Anger," will show you the proper use of anger. This is necessary in resisting Satan and his evil. The second teaching, entitled "Ungodly Anger's Source," will explain how self-love is the root of all of our ungodly anger. This is a must for anyone who struggles with a temper (all of us). The third teaching is entitled "Anger Toward God, Others, and Self."
by Andrew Wommack http://www.awmi.net
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Posted by Danladi Usman on September 20, 2009 at 1:47am
Today is Sallah
The month-long fasting period of Ramadan ended yesterday with the announcement of the sighting of the moon of Shawwal by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, at 10.15 pm yesterday.
The Sultan said he got information of the sighting of the moon from the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, at Kwanduga and Maiduguri. The Shehu of Dikwa, Alhaji Kyari El-Kanemi, also reported sighting the moon at Bama, also in Borno State. The Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmuminu Kabir Usman reported sighting it in Katsina State. Others reported to have got the reports of sighting the moon in their areas include the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Jibrin Mai Gwari, the Emir of Dutse, Alhaji Nuhu Mohammed Sanusi, and the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, who reported sighting it at Makarfi in Kaduna State.
The Sultan said: “Consequent upon this information and in line with laid down Islamic injunction, I declare tomorrow the first day of the month of Shawwal, 1430 after Hijrah of our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from Mecca to Medina which is equivalent to September 20, 2009. I congratulate all Muslims for the successful completion of the month of Ramadan. May Allah accept all our religious deeds, and may He give us the courage to live in peace with one another.”
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Posted by prosper on September 19, 2009 at 12:05am
Love is so Great.. and Feels good...But Love can make you sick, if you store so much Love in you, without letting it out...it Pains to Love, and not being Loved in return.. Trust me, i know how painful it is..so save your Loved ones the pain of not being Loved in return..Show them Love... Let them know that they have your Love....give them the assurance... Make them know what it feels like to be Loved...Love is a bird... and needs to fly.But remember.. that you can not give what you dont have...this means that you cant give Love if you dont have love inside you...all you need to do to have Love inside you.. is to Believe in Love...Cause Love comes to those who believe it...So all i say is SHOW SOME LOVEhave this to say to the Ladies.. : Don't Say "NO" to a guy, when you know your heart wants to say "YES"don't pretend not to Love Him. when you know your Hearth Longs for Him...dont make him go through hell before he gets you.. cause that is not a grantee that he will respect you...dont Struggle to Get respect, but Let Respect come to you... all you need is to show it.. and it will come to you..i'd always say : Dont try to get in the Game.. but let the Game come to youTKIARead more…
Posted by Politics X on September 18, 2009 at 11:43pm
Washington has rejected the appointment of Tunde Adeniran as Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States, nearly five weeks after his son, Adedamola, was arrested in Baltimore for gang rape.News of the rejection broke on Thursday, two months after U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, visited Abuja and pledged a tough stance against the inconsistencies of Aso Rock functionaries.Adedamola was arrested last month alongside two other Nigerians for the offence highly loathed in civilised societies, including the U.S, where sexual immorality costs Americans their political aspirations.The arrest was reported on August 25.Neither Adeniran nor Foreign Ministry officials could be reached for comment on Thursday.He was appointed to replace Oluwole Olurotimi, whose racial row with Foreign Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, ended his sojourn in the U.S.It was learnt on Thursday night that Washington has communicated its decision to Abuja.Aso Rock sources said the decision puts the government in a quandary, and efforts are being made to see if the U.S. Government could be persuaded to rescind it.The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria neither confirmed nor denied the rejection story.But what is known is that police arrested Adedamola, 20, resident in Halethorpe, and others and charged them with gang raping three women in separate incidents that took place in the parking lot of Seton Keough High School in Southwest Baltimore.The attacks occurred two weeks apart and shared similar characteristics.Detectives determined the attackers' identities after the most recent victim remembered the tag number on the vehicle of one of the suspects.Charged alongside Adedamola are Anthony Oisediamen Edoror Jr., 19, and Opeyemi Adigun, 20, both of Gwynn Oak.Police responded at 6:45 a.m. on July 27 to Mercy Hospital, where two girls said they had been raped by three unknown males, according to charging documents posted online.The girls narrated that they were walking on Fayette Street downtown when they were approached by two men. After a conversation, the men agreed to give them a ride.But the ride quickly turned frightening, according to court records.The driver got onto Interstate 95 South, and when one of the girls told the driver he was going the wrong way and asked to be let out, the man in the passenger seat told her to be quiet.He brandished a hunting-style knife and threatened to "stab her up."The men drove them to the 1200 block of S. Caton Avenue and parked in the rear of Seton Keough High, a private, all-girls Catholic school, where a second car pulled up.One of the girls tried to run away but was caught by the hair and thrown to the ground.The men then took turns raping them over the course of about an hour, according to charging documents.Afterward, the men took one girl's shorts and both girls' purses, shoes, and cell phones, and left.The victims flagged down a driver, who called police.Police received another report of a rape on August 8 that shared the same characteristics of the first incident.The victim in that case, a 26-year-old woman, said she was leaving The Block and asked for a ride home from two men she had spoken with earlier.She was picked up at North Calvert and East Fayette Streets and said the men spoke in an African dialect to each other as they drove her to Southwest Baltimore.She was taken to an area behind the high school, where she was dragged onto a field and raped, according to court records.She collected two of the men's condoms and took down a tag number, which police traced to Edoror. The police report indicates that at least part of the incident was captured on the school's surveillance cameras.Edoror, who was working at a Home Depot in Baltimore County when he was taken into custody, gave a full confession and identified his accomplices as Adigun and Adedamola.He said in the August 8 incident, the men were looking for a prostitute to have sex with without paying and that the victim willingly went with them to have sex for money.But he also acknowledged that they raped her after refusing to pay her.After the suspects' identities were established, the women picked all three men out of photo arrays.The suspects were arrested on August 13 and have been ordered held without bond.A preliminary hearing was scheduled for September 15.According to electronic court records, only Adedamola has a prior criminal record.He was charged in Howard County with car theft, and in Baltimore County with identity theft and fraud. Both charges were thrown out by prosecutors.Adeniran, a native of Ekiti State, was Nigeria's Ambassador to Germany under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.He has a diplomatic experience spanning decades, including membership of the Nigerian delegation to the 40th Session of the United Nations in 1985.He was Education Minister between 1999 and 2001.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 18, 2009 at 11:35pm
Dumped in dirty gutter, now Baby Fashola
The birth of a new baby usually evokes joy in the proud parents who sometimes roll out the drums to celebrate the happy event, especially if the baby is coming after a long wait by the couple following their wedding. Among some families, the celebration may entail them barricading an entire street, especially if they are well-to-do and the baby is the first child of that union.
At such an event, the celebrants and their guests may be seen donning fashionable uniformed wears as is usually the case with Nigerians in the South West who often settle for their trademark Aso ebi. Also a party of this nature can never be complete without abundance of food and assorted drinks with enough music to tease all present to the dancing floor.
Children, the Christian Holy Book says, are blessings from God and therefore should be treasured and treated with care and love. In fact, Jesus Christ, the Biblically acclaimed son of God, had cause to rebuke his disciples for scolding those bringing little children to Him for blessing.
But it will appear that one woman’s bundle of joy is another woman’s burden of pain. For instance, a certain mother somewhere in the sprawling slum community of Tolu in Ajeromo Ifelodun Local Government obviously did not believe in the Biblical statement that a child is a special blessing from God when she decided to dumped her newly born baby rather than celebrate her birth like some happy parents are doing.
In fact, it came as a big shock to some residents in the area when they stumbled on a black polythene bag dumped inside a dirty gutter which on close examination was found to contain a baby girl with a cellotape across its mouth, apparently to prevent it from crying.
A middle age man was the first to recover from the shock and subsequently took the ‘strange package’ to the Tolu Police Station
When Policemen at the station later freed the baby from the bag it was discovered that its umbilical cord had not been cut. According to a Vanguard Metro source, the baby was taken to the nearby Tolu Medical Centre for attention 30 minutes later. The hospital took custody of the child.
Vanguard Metro’s initial efforts to see the baby ran into a brick wall as the Police were not initially forthcoming on its whereabout. A senior Police officer at the Station declined information pertaining to the baby and referred all enquiries to the Police Public Relations Office, Ikeja.
When our reporter visited the Tolu Medical Centre, the Medical Director, Dr. Sodipo Gbolahan, confirmed the story that an abandoned baby was brought to the hospital in the morning by policemen from the Tolu station, with the umbilical cord still intact. He later led Vanguard Metro to the ward where nurses taking care of the baby assured that she was doing well.
The card with which the baby was registered read: Fashola Joy Tolu. According to Dr. Gbolahan, the baby was christened after Fashola because he is doing well as the Governor of Lagos State. Speaking to Vanguard Metro the midwife saddled with the responsibility of taking care of Joy said: “From my own experience as a midwife, the baby was delivered that very day she was thrown away, because we separated the umbilical cord and treated it as usual.
We also pierced her ears and fixed earrings in them. But up till now nobody has come forward to lay claim as the mother”. She also informed that the baby was not on breast milk, which exposes her to risk. She, however, assured that since she was in hospital there was no problem.
But the State Command Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, an Assistant Superintendent of Police(ASP), Chris Onyeisi told Vanguard Metro that Baby Fashola was later transferred to the Juvenile Welfare Centre(JWC) at Alakara, Munshi. Vanguard Metro learnt that she was later taken to an undisclosed orphanage homer.
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All seem not to be well for the Togolese superlative striker, Emmanuel Adebayor just as FA confirmed recently that Manchester City striker is facing two charges after his controversial behavior during the Citizens' 4-2 victory over Arsenal (Adebayor’s former club) at the weekend.Adebayor faces a charge of violent conduct for his alleged kick to the face of Gunners forward Robin van Persie. A statement on the FA's official website explains: "The Football Association today issued two charges against Manchester City's Emmanuel Adebayor following Saturday's Premier League fixture between Manchester City and Arsenal.""Under the fast-track disciplinary process, Adebayor has been charged with violent conduct following an incident with Robin van Persie, which resulted in the Arsenal player receiving facial injuries. "Referee Mark Clattenburg has advised The FA that he did not see this incident, but has confirmed that had he done so, he would have sent Adebayor off for violent conduct. The player has until 6pm on Wednesday evening to respond to the charge."The Togolese striker is also facing a charge of improper conduct, for sprinting 90 metres to taunt Arsenal's fans after scoring City's third goal in the Eastlands win. This caused outrage in the away section, with a steward being knocked unconscious in the ensuing melee in the stand."Adebayor has also been charged with improper conduct following his actions when turning and running the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal supporters after scoring," the FA statement continues."The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have written to The FA with their views on this incident. A separate date will now be arranged for a commission to consider Adebayor's goal celebration."We have also asked the GMP and the clubs to identify those supporters involved in any violent and aggravating behaviour. The FA would like to see anyone found guilty of such behaviour face action through the legal system and banning orders from football."The FA would like to thank the Manchester City FC stewards for the way they managed a very difficult situation and to pass on sincere best wishes to the steward who was injured during the game."We will continue to work with the LMA and PFA in particular to help remind players of their responsibilities, especially in highly charged situations."However, the teeming fans of the Togolese striker especially those in United Kingdom have been crying foul over what they called ‘‘cruel decision’’ made by the FA officials, saying they over publicized and over blown the little error committed by their man owing to the fact that he left Arsenal for Manchester City and because of racial background. But they consoled themselves with the hope that no matter what the seeming travails could be presently will soon come to an end.
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About 80 Nigerians on Wednesday left for several universities in the United Kingdom as part of Overseas Scholarship Scheme of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) aimed at improving local participation in the oil and gas sector.
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Another 320 are expected to depart the country in the coming days to bring the total of those being sent out on overseas scholarship this year to 500.
Assistant General Manager, Training and Education Division of the PTDF, Aminu Galadima, disclosed this to Daily Independent during an interview in Abuja.
He said the scholars are being sent to top 20 universities in the UK with excellent training facilities on oil and gas related fields.
Galadima explained that while 60 of the scholars would study for their PhD, the remaining 340 would be in the UK for their master's programme.
He added that the scholars who are expected to be in the UK for 12 to 36 months would upon completion of studies boost the country's quest for increased participation of its citizens in the oil and gas industry.
He stated that PTDF has a Memorandum of Understanding with several universities in the UK such as the University of Aberdeen, University College, London, University of Newcastle, University of Leeds and Crown Field University, among others that allow it to send up to 50 Nigerians to each intituction.
While saying that the universities were not arbitrarily selected, Galadima disclosed that their facilities and programmes were inspected by officials of PTDF led by its Executive Secretary, Muttagha Rabe Darma to ascertain their suitability to handle the students.
He said the beneficiaries were selected to meet specific gaps discovered by PTDF in the oil and gas industry where Nigeria does not have prerequisite training to man such positions.
To this end, he noted, the beneficiaries would specialise in process engineering, sub-sea engineering, reservoir engineering among others.
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