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Chief of Army Staff, Major-General O.A. IhejirikaProminent Igbo politicians on Sunday, said the appointment of Major-General Oneabo Ihejirika as the new Chief of Army Staff was purely on merit.The politicians, under the aegies of Igbo Political Forum argued that appointing Ihejirika had no political consideration and that it was not meant to pacify the Igbo.The Forum, which spoke in Abuja, on Sunday, also condemned the sacking of the former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, describing the former IG as “a hardworking, efficient and dedicated police officer.”The Forum said Ihejirka’s appoinment was not a pacification of the Igbo to get their support for the 2011 presidential ambition of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, but that the new COAS appointment was purely on merit.The organisation, with membership that include former Senate President, Dr. Ken Nnamani; a former governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo; Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Senator Ben Obi; the Peoples Democratic Party’s 2010 governorship candidate in Anambra State, Prof. Chukuma Soludo; former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa; Hon. Dubem Onyia; former governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu; Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu; and Prof. Chinwe Obaji, among others, said the appointment was not based on political consideration given Ihejirika’s sound professional and strategic depth and his loyalty, commitment and dedication to the nation’s Armed Forces.The group, in a statement by its Secretary, Chief Chyna Iwuanyanwu, argued that the appointment was not a plus to the Igbo.It said, “We also want to place it on public record that before the recent changes, the Igbo people had two top military and security positions, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Inspector-General of Police: Air Marshal Paul Dike and Mr. Ogbonna Onovo respectively. With the changes announced, that number has dropped to one.”The Forum said they could not understand the rationale behind the removal of Onovo, who, according to them, did not only have a humane deposition but “is also appreciative of the necessity of community policing in Nigeria’s current democratic age.”The group said, “If, as the media have been disclosing, his removal stems mainly from the state of insecurity in the nation, particularly the South-East, it is surprising that his current replacement, IGP Hafiz Ringim was the AIG in charge of the South-East Zone 9, before his present elevation.“While we are not imputing any ulterior motive behind Mr. Onovo’s removal and his replacement with the former Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Ringim who was in charge of the Bayelsa State Police Command when DSP Alamieyesigha was impeached from office as the governor, we aver that the recent changes in the police command are unnecessary and un-called for.”
Authorities in the Philippines are trying to trace a mother who gave birth then dumped her baby on a flight from the Middle East.
The baby boy was found in a bin bag unloaded from a Gulf Air plane which had just arrived from Bahrain.
Bloodied and wrapped in tissue, he was rushed to an airport clinic, where he was examined, cleaned and given a bottle of milk..
He is now said to be recovering well and welfare workers are trying to trace his mother, who could face criminal charges.
"The baby is now under our care," said Celia Yangco, an official from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
"We'll look for his mother. We're giving his mother a chance to come forward."
If relatives of the mother can be traced, the baby will be entrusted to them, otherwise he could be adopted.
Social welfare secretary Corazon Soliman has spoken with anger about the incident.
"I was simply outraged, no infant should be treated that way," she said..
The baby - named George Francis, after Gulf Air's code name GF - was discovered by a security officer when he noticed something moving in a rubbish bag.
Airport doctors found the infant to be in good health, despite his ordeal.
"When we initially saw the baby, his colour was not right. His colour should be pinkish," airport doctor Maria Teresa Agores told reporters.
But she said that after the baby was cleaned, "he regained his natural colour."
Around one in ten Filipinos works abroad, many as maids and labourers in the Middle East.
Local media is speculating that the boy's mother could be a domestic worker returning from the area, however Manila airport manager Jose Angel Honrado said it is too early to draw that conclusion.
Economists peddling dire warnings that the world's number one economy ison the brink of collapse, amid high rates of unemployment and aspiraling public deficit, are flourishing here.
The guru of this doomsday line of thinking may be economist NourielRoubini, thrust into the forefront after predicting the chaos wrought bythe subprime mortgage crisis and the collapse of the housing bubble.
"The US has run out of bullets," Roubini told an economic forum in Italyearlier this month. "Any shock at this point can tip you back intorecession."
But other economists, who have so far stayed out of the media limelight,are also proselytizing nightmarish visions of the future.
Boston University professor Laurence Kotlikoff, who warned as far backas the 1980s of the dangers of a public deficit, lent credence to suchdark predictions in an International Monetary Fund publication lastweek..
He unveiled a doomsday scenario -- which many dismiss as pure fantasy --of an economic clash between superpowers the United States and China,which holds more than 843 billion dollars of US Treasury bonds.
"A minor trade dispute between the United States and China could makesome people think that other people are going to sell US treasurybonds," he wrote in the IMF's Finance & Development review.
"That belief, coupled with major concern about inflation, could lead to asell-off of government bonds that causes the public to withdraw theirbank deposits and buy durable goods."
Kotlikoff warned such a move would spark a run on banks and money marketfunds as well as insurance companies as policy holders cash in theirsurrender values.
"In a short period of time, the Federal Reserve would have to printtrillions of dollars to cover its explicit and implicit guarantees. Allthat new money could produce strong inflation, perhaps hyperinflation,"he said.
"There are other less apocalyptic, perhaps more plausible, but stillquite unpleasant, scenarios that could result from multiple equilibria."
According to a poll by the StrategyOne Institute published Friday, some65 percent of Americans believe there will be a new recession.
And the view that America is on a decline seems rather well ingrained inmany people's minds supported by 65 percent of people questioned in aWall Street Journal/NBC poll published last week.
"It is true: Today's economic problems are structural, not cyclical," argued New York Times editorial writer David Brooks.
He said the United Sates is losing its world dominance much in the sameway the British Empire began to crumble more than a century ago.
"We are in the middle of yet another jobless recovery. Wages have beenlagging for decades. Our labor market woes are deep and intractable,"Brooks said.
Nobel Economics Prize winner Paul Krugman also voiced concern about thefate of the fragile economic recovery if voters return the Republicansto political power.
"It's hard to overstate how destructive the economic ideas offeredearlier this week by John Boehner, the House minority leader, would beif put into practice," he wrote in a recent editorial.
"Fewer jobs and bigger deficits -- the perfect combination."
The Wall Street Journal, usually more favorable to Boehner's call fortax cuts, ran a commentary from another Nobel Prize-winning economist --Vernon Smith -- that failed to provide much comfort for readers.
"This fact needs to be confronted: We are almost surely in for a long slog," Smith wrote.
And it seems such pessimism has even filtered into the IMF, which warnedon Friday that high levels of national debt and a still shaky financialsector threaten to derail the global economic recovery.
"The foreclosure backlog in US property markets is large and growing, inpart due to the recent expiration of the home buyer's tax credit. Whenrealized, this could further depress real estate prices."
This could lead to "disproportionate losses" for small and medium-sizedbanks, which could in turn "precipitate a loss of market confidence inthe recovery," the IMF warned.
Ms James commenced her journey to the unknown when she responded to an advertisement that promised to help her in the choice of a life partner. However, by the time she realised what had hit her, she has lost millions of Naira, writes TOYOSI OGUNSEYE
![pix2010091224910[1].jpg](http://odili.net/news/source/2010/sep/12/punch/images/pix2010091224910%5B1%5D.jpg)
L-R: Daniel Adebanjo, Adebayo Olalere, Sesan Ajibode and Babatunde Alausa
Lola James (not real name) was worried that her parents had refused to approve of her fiancé. She simply couldn��t understand why almost all the members of the family disliked him. She had done everything within her power to convince her parents to bless the union, to no avail..
As she thought about this matter that had been bothering her for months, she decided to read a soft-sell magazine (name withheld) to take her mind off her worries. When she got to page 18 of the magazine, she saw an advert with the title, ��Old woman with old power Mama Ijebu.��
The advert, which was full of grammatical errors, reads, "For your financial problem, love powder, do as I say, quick sales, favour soap, progress at work, for political appointments, love me only to stop your husband from extra marital affairs, win contracts, to receive money from relatives, home and abroad, loot winning, to win land cases and court cases, promised and fail, ill luck, to regain your husband or wife back, for you to marry the man/woman of your choice, protection against witches and wizards. We also cure fibroid, low sperm count, diabetes and stroke. Come and see the power of old."
Apart from two phone numbers on the advert, no traceable address was provided.
James became interested, especially when she read, "for you to marry the man/woman of your choice" part. She immediately called one of the numbers on the advert and spoke with an old woman who identified herself as Mama Ijebu. James told the old woman that her parents had refused to allow her marry the man of her choice. She was then instructed to pay N6,000 as consultancy fee into a bank account that was given to her by Mama Ijebu.
After confirming the payment, Mama Ijebu asked James for her residential address and sent her son to give her a black soap, which she was to use for three days. Mama Ijebu called James after three days and inquired if she had any dream. The lady told the herbalist that she did not have any dream while using the soap.
James said, "The old woman told me that I would need spiritual cleansing because my problems were deep. She asked me to go to Iyana-Ipaja Bridge, where I would meet her son who would take me to a river for the cleansing. When I got there, I met the young man that Mama Ijebu sent to my house with the black soap. He was holding a black polythene bag and he led me along a bush path to a flowing river. When we got there, he brought out a calabash and chanted some incantations. Then I heard a voice from the calabash that asked me to narrate my problems. I did, and I was asked to pay N100,000 for prayers to be a great woman."
That was the beginning of the scam that succeeded in making James to part with N3.6m. As the ritual progressed from one level to the other, she was either asked to put down money for the purchase of horses for rituals, or she was told to pay for an exercise aimed at chasing witches away from her. The syndicate sold all sorts of lies to get money from her.
She however did not know that Mama Ijebu was a con man until her fiancé, who suspected that something was amiss, raised an alarm. She said, "My fiancé noticed that I had become very secretive. One day, he looked through my phone contacts and saw Mama Ijebu��s number. He called her and was really shocked at the old woman��s voice. He asked me who she was and I lied that it was a former classmate of mine. He did not believe my story. Unknown to me, he had saved Mama Ijebu��s number on his phone and after some investigations, he discovered that I was being told lies. We then reported the matter to the Public Relations Office of the Lagos State Police Command."
A female police officer then called Mama Ijebu��s number and told her that she had a problem. The police woman was asked to pay N5,000 into another bank account, which she did. Mama Ijebu then sent someone with a parcel to her. That was how Daniel Adebanjo was arrested.
It was discovered through Adebanjo that Mama Ijebu is actually a man in his forties whose real name is Ishola Arowoya. Adebanjo told the police that he met Arowoya three years ago when he wanted to travel abroad. He said, "Arowoya collected N350,000 from me and promised that he would give me charms that would make the embassy to give me a visa. I did not get the visa or my money. It was when I was frequenting Arowoya��s house for my money that he sent me to three people, including the policewoman, to give them concoctions that he prepared for them."
Through Adebanjo, Babatunde Alausa, the man that played the role of Arowoya��s son, was also arrested. Alausa, 23-year-old furniture maker said, "I live at No. 8, Rafatu Street, Sasha, Lagos. I got to know Arowoya through my former boss, who was his friend. After my boss died, I started living with Arowoya in 2009 because I had nowhere to go. I knew he was always placing adverts in newspapers.
"In June this year, he sent me to give James a black soap in her house at Oshodi. After three days, he gave me a black effigy and asked me to meet James at Iyana-Ipaja. I took James to the river and the sound she was hearing from the calabash was Ikechukwu��s voice. Ikechukwu works with Arowoya. We connected a pipe from the other side of the river and it was I.K. that was speaking into the pipe, even though James thought that it was a god that was speaking. Arowoya was also in the bush, but James did not know. When we were in the bush, James asked the gods for long life and wealth. The first time, James withdrew N60,000 from an ATM for us. When she gave us the money, we showed her a ��Ghana-must-go�� bag that contained fake dollars and pound sterling. I.K. told her that she would need $1,000 and 1000 pounds to mix the money in the bag before she could take the bag away. I got N12,000 from the N60,000.
"The next time we saw her, she brought N350,000 to mix the money. She also paid N1.5m for us to purchase three horses for sacrifices. We told her that the three horses were necessary for the rituals that would make her family love her fiancé. We went to the abattoir and got the blood of cows, which we put in a calabash to deceive James that the blood belonged to the horses. Then, she paid another N500,000 for the ritual that will win the love of a lady in James family that hated her fiancé. In all, we collected N2.2m from her. On my part, I got N12,000, N35,000, N150,000, N75,000 and N70,000 respectively all the times James paid."
Alausa disclosed that Arowoya imitated the voice of an old woman by using a handkerchief to cover his mouth while speaking to his victims through the phone.
Two other suspects, Sesan Ajibode and Adebayo Olalere, were arrested when they went to the police station to secure Adebanjo��s bail. The police arrested them because Arowoya��s number was on Ajibode��s phone, while Olalere was suspected to be a member of the syndicate.
Ajibode denied knowing Arowoya. He said, "I don��t know Arowoya. It is Adebanjo that is my friend. His wife was the one that called me and said her husband was in detention. She also gave me Arowoya��s number and I saved it on my phone. I just came to the PPRO��s office to bail him."
Olalere also denied knowing Arowoya, "I don��t know him. I am a pastor and Adebanjo��s wife is a member of my church. That was why I came for his bail," he said.
The PPRO of the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Frank Mba, said the crime was challenging because it affected the victim materially and psychologically. Mba, a superintendent of police, said such adverts were also in regular newspapers. "These adverts are not restricted to soft-sells alone. The media must join the police in fighting this crime by making it a matter of compulsion for every advert to carry a full office or residential address. The advert that James saw did not have a full address.
"The media can also come up with internal rules that are patterned towards knowing your customer. For example, photocopies of identity cards, driving license, utility bills of the address in the advert should be collected. Finally, media houses can insist on making the advertisers sign indemnity notes. These rules may not be applied strictly, especially for well-known companies; but they may be important if the advert raises questions or suspicions."
Mba also said that the police are after Arowoya.
![[QODLink]](http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2010/9/13/20109138827675734_16.jpg "Inside Iraq's torture dungeons")
British national Ramze Shihab Ahmed went to Iraq to help his jailed son, but was arrested and tortured himself.
Iraq is holding an estimated 30,000 prisoners without charge or trial, in contravention of international standards [EPA
On a dull December day in 2009, Rabiha al Qassab, a 63-year-old Iraqi refugee living in a quiet residential area of north London, received a telephone call that marked the beginning of a new nightmare for a family already torn apart by Iraq's political upheavals.
Her 68-year-old husband, Ramze Shihab Ahmed, had been arrested while on a visit to Iraq, and no-one knew where he was being held or what, if anything, he had been charged with.
Nine months later, Ramze is still languishing in legal limbo in a Baghdad prison. His story lays bare the horrific abuses and lack of legal process that characterise post-Saddam Iraq's detention system, which human rights groups say has scarcely improved since the darkest days of the dictator's rule.
Up until his arrest, Ramze had been living with Rabiha in the UK, leading a quiet life of trips to the park, the local mosque and making ends meet on modest benefits provided by the British government.
But even in London, events in Iraq caught up with the couple. In September 2009, Ramze heard that his son, Omar, had been arrested by government security forces and several weeks later he travelled to Iraq to try to help. Within a month, he too had been arrested.
"Ramze was very worried about Omar. We didn't know why he had been arrested, and he said he must go to Iraq to help him," Rabiha says. "He didn't think he would be in any danger at all."
Shadowy forces
When the former Iraqi army general, who had fled the country after attempting to organise a coup against Saddam, arrived back in Iraq, he quickly found himself pitted against the shadowy forces of the country's security apparatus. His inquiries into the fate of his son attracted their attention; before long they were actively seeking to arrest him.
"He heard that the soldiers were coming to arrest him, but he didn't think it would be a problem," Rabiha explains. "His family told him to leave, to go to the north, but he said he had done nothing wrong. He stayed at his brother's house and waited for them to come. He was going to tell them it was a mistake."
The day they came was the last time Ramze's family saw him. For months, they had no idea where he had been taken. When she heard about Ramze's arrest, a panicked Rabiha contacted her local MP, who alerted the British foreign office. Their inquiries were met with silence from the Iraqi authorities.
"As soon as we heard of Mr Ahmed's arrest, we made repeated efforts to access him," a foreign office spokesperson told Al Jazeera. But it took months before Iraqi authorities allowed them to see him.
"When the embassy asked about him, the Iraqi government said he had Iraqi nationality first and British second, so they had no right to information," Rabiha says. Then, on March 25 this year, Rabiha's telephone rang. It was Ramze.
"The guards had given him a phone. He said I had to pay $50,000 dollars and they would release him. Then he told me he was in a prison in Muthanna, and I should tell the embassy. Then they cut the phone."
Torture and abuse
Rabiha called the embassy, and by April, a consular official had been allowed to meet with Ramze. Rabiha's initial relief at having found her husband quickly turned to horror as she learned he had been subjected to brutal torture to make him confess to involvement in terrorism.
 |
| Ramze Ahmad says he has been viciously tortured in an Iraqi jail |
"They beat him. They put a plastic bag on his head until he lost consciousness, and then they woke him with electric shocks. They told him that if he didn't confess, they would make his son rape him. They put a wooden stick into his anus," she says. "They have abused him in every way."
After days of torture, Ramze signed a confession admitting to being a member of al- Qaeda in Iraq, a claim Rabiha says is absurd. "He would see the bombings on television and say 'what sort of Islam is this?'" she says. "He was very sorry for all the people who died."
Human rights experts say that Ramze's story is far from unique. In a new report on mistreatment in the Iraqi prison system, entitled New Order, Same Abuses, Amnesty International estimates that around 30,000 people are currently being held without charge or trial in Iraq. Many are being tortured with impunity, the group says.
"The problem for people who have been held incommunicado and tortured a long time before they appear in court is how to prove those allegations," says Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director.
Prisoners who have not been charged with any crime are left with no means to challenge the accusations being laid against them. "There is nothing in the law or in practice that allows them to challenge their detention. It's a very, very, difficult situation," Smart says.
Part of the problem has been the lack of international oversight of Iraqi detention facilities since the US-led invasion of the country toppled Saddam's regime in 2003. Amnesty's report contains accounts of prisoners being handed over to the Iraqis after being arrested by US troops, and subsequently being tortured.
"The over-riding concern is that the US must be aware that torture at the hands of the Iraqi security forces is endemic," Smart says. "There may be individual cases of officers following up, but there doesn't seem to be any policy on ... welfare. The systemic approach has been to just hand prisoners over to the Iraqis."
Government pressure
Once in the limbo of Iraqi detention without charge, prisoners are often tortured into making confessions that will help secure convictions when their cases make it to court. Iraq's human rights institutions are deliberately kept in the dark about the fate of prisoners, meaning there is no accountability for the abuse taking place.
"We are not aware of any cases of torturers being brought to justice" Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa programme director |
"The problem is the lack of access to the secret prisons, which have been discovered from time to time. We are not aware of any cases of torturers being brought to justice," Smart says.
For Ramze, hope may lie in his British nationality. Amnesty want the British government to increase pressure on Iraq to charge him with a crime and investigate his allegations of torture. "They have been taking some action, but they have not been getting the answers they want," Smart says. "At a political level, they should put pressure on the Iraqi authorities to either charge him with a crime or release him."
British authorities say they share Amnesty's concerns over unlawful detentions and torture in Iraq, and have "repeatedly" raised Ramze's case with the Iraqi government.
"We are very concerned by Mr Ahmed's allegations of mistreatment, and raised them with the Iraqi authorities at a senior level as soon as we were aware of them," a foreign office spokesperson told Al Jazeera. "We have repeatedly made clear to the Iraqi authorities how seriously we take such allegations, and have requested that they be investigated."
Meanwhile, Rabiha can only wait and hope that her husband will be reunited with his legal rights soon. "You can't believe how I miss him," she says. "My heart is broken. I feel like I am in prison with him. What they have done to him is not human."
What is the worth of a mans scrotum? This is the question that Mr. Toyin Ibitoye has been battling with. After losing all his investments in a business transaction, he attempted suicide by piercing his own scrotum. While the police prepare to charge him to court, his medical doctor describes it is as a psychiatrist case. AKINWALE ABORISADE writes
Ibitoye on his sick bed. Inset: Stone battered head.
For Dauda Abimbola, a night guard at Oke-Offa area of Ibadan, Oyo State, every night comes with a peculiar horror.
But the horror that struck in the wee hours of Sunday, August 5, 2010 was such that kept him brooding all day long. This is because of the absurd manner in which it came.
It was night as usual in the area. At 12:30 a.m. the rustic city had gone to sleep. Baba Isale area of Oke-Offa was calm and still, with no humans on the street but for the guard on patrol. Only the intermittent chirping of birds and crickets intruded the tranquillity of the night-time. Suddenly, a long, painful groan rent the air. Abimbola cautiously walked down to the direction of the noise. A huge figure (a man) was lying helplessly on the floor, writhing in pain in the pool of his blood.
Could it have been a gunshot or a knife stab? The stranger was soaked from the buttocks down to his feet. Toyin Ibitoye was obviously not calling for help; rather, he was only groaning as a result of the excruciating pain.
Abimbola made a distress call to the police. Soon after, a patrol team came to convey the agonising young man to a hospital in the neighbourhood. There, the doctor confirmed that the young man was actually on a suicide mission. He had inflicted some injuries on himself, using every object that came his way.
Ibitoye said, "I attempted to take my own life by throwing up huge stones that landed on my head." As each stone landed on his clean shaven head, it left a deep sore on it. But not done with that, Ibitoye broke a bottle, stripped himself naked and pierced his scrotum with it. He forcefully removed the two testes in a manner that caused him much agony that made him to cry and quiver.
Police investigation however revealed that this is not the first time Ibitoye would be making an attempt to take his own life.
Weary and utterly disappointed as a result of a business deal turned sour while living in Lagos, the embattled man was said to have made several attempts on his own life. He had lost his life savings, with barely nothing left. He also lost his customers�� monies in the failed oil business.
To him, all hope was lost. And the only way out, he opined, was to end it all by committing suicide. He had, ever since, been trying to kill himself; but it had been unsuccessful. Worried by Ibitoye��s dangerous behaviour, his parents relocated him to their base in Ibadan so that he could be under their close watch. But, the huge burden in his heart outweighed what parental love could cure. He continued to look for a way out.
The last attempt he made in a desperate quest for death was in the early hours of Sunday when everybody was fast asleep and no one could interrupt him. Again, he did not succeed. Rather than lose his life, he only lost his testes. He presently nurses a festering sore between his legs on the hospital bed. He said, "After removing my testes, I threw them away somewhere at Ode-Aje (area of Ibadan)." When SUNDAY PUNCH visited Bembow Hospital, Ibadan, where he was receiving treatment, Ibitoye was writhing in pain, with swollen scrotum. He painfully recalled the desperate action he took in an attempt to kill himself in order to be ��free from life��s challenges,�� saying, "I pierced my scrotum with broken bottle and forcefully removed my testes."
Four hours after committing the dastardly act, Ibitoye was wheeled into the theatre at Bembow Hospital. He underwent a four-hour surgical operation, and though he came out alive, he was still in a depressed mood. His grief was not just as a result of the pain he went through, but especially because of his failed efforts to end his own life.
Now, he lies on the hospital bed almost half-minded. His words are incoherent: This minute, he will reflect on his ordeal; the next, he will bring up a topic that is totally unrelated to what he said earlier, especially when attempting to answer questions posed to him.
While responding to questions from our correspondent, he said he attempted suicide but he did not explain what led him to it. He said, "I jumped into the well, but they brought me out. I did many things but death would not come. It was painful but they treated me and the pain has reduced."
His father, a native of Ajase-Ipo, Kwara State, told the police that Ibitoye had a failed deal with some of his business partners in Lagos. According to the old man (name not given), his son��s capital (amount not mentioned) and his customers�� money were involved in the business.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Ms. Olabisi Okuwobi, said the man��s action was criminal and the act was typical of a man who is incapable of facing the challenges of life.
The Divisional Crime Officer 1, Agugu Police Station, Ibadan, Mr. Ayoola Olawole, who noted that the man had the tendency to attempt to take his own life again after recuperating, said the suspect would be charged to court. He explained that there was no basis for anybody to make an attempt on his own life or that of others, irrespective of the circumstances; as such actions are against the law.
The Medical Director, Bembow Hospital, Dr. Abimbola Kuteyi, who explained the procedure carried out on Ibitoye said, "We did surgery on the two sides of the scrotum, though he pierced himself on just one (right) side. He caused harm to the sperm duct. In medical term, we carried out bilateral orchiectomy �� repair of sperm duct."
According to Kuteyi, Ibitoye can still have sex but can no longer make babies. If the session was not carried out on him, the doctor said, he might bleed to death. He explained that the patient suffered secondary inflammation of the scrotum because of the unsterilised broken bottle he used to pierce it.
The doctor, who said that not less than 20 per cent of the world population had one psychiatric problem or the other, said Ibitoye obviously had psychiatric problem. Kuteyi said, "In my diagnosis, I indicated that there was a stressor that gingered the psychiatric action in him. The patient still behaves irrationally and cannot easily identify people now.
"What happened in his case was as a result of depression. He suffered what we call loss of mood and self respect. He is fed up with the environment, so he wants to commit suicide. This is, however, treatable with anti-depressant."
Will it then be right to charge Ibitoye to court, being a mentally unbalanced and traumatised individual? The doctor said no; while the law enforcement agents have a different perception.
Lagos — President Goodluck Jonathan may have scored an own goal with his choice of Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State as his campaign co-ordinator in the South-west, THISDAY has learnt.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who led the South-west Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to endorse Jonathan for the 2011 presidential race a fortnight ago, is said to be unhappy with the choice of Daniel who is at loggerheads with Obasanjo and virtually every political heavyweight in the state where the former president hails from.
Obasanjo is also reported to be unsettled by the imminent trial of his former aide and confidante, Mr. Adeyanju Bodunde, over the $180 million Hallib-urton bribe scandal.
"The former president believes it is trial by proxy," the source said, hinting that the zone might come up with another position to declare itself "neutral" in the presidential race..
The endorsement of Jonathan two weeks ago had created ripples in the camp of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who is also interested in the race.
In a statement by the Media and Communication Director of his campaign, Prince Kassim Afegbua, Babangida had accused Obasanjo of going back on his word to be "neutral", stating: "The recent reported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan who has not declared his intention to run defeats the earlier neutrality position of former President Olusegun Obasanjo on choice of aspirants. As one of the leaders of the party, a former president and elder statesman, we expect that his word should be his bond. We will not be drawn into any argument with those who easily suspect the political moves of former President Obasanjo, but we insist that a true leader should stand by his word."
But former presidential spokesman and PDP chieftain in Ogun State, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the endorsement was a joint decision by the leaders of the party in the South-west as "anybody who was somebody was in attendance".
Last week, Jonathan finally informed 11 PDP governors at a meeting in Abuja that he would be stand in the January poll.
He appointed six governors from the geo-political zones to co-ordinate his campaign.
They are Governors Ibrahim Shema for the North-west, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State for the North-east, Gabriel Suswam of Benue for Nort-central, Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State for the South-east, Liyel Imoke for the South-south and Daniel for the South-west.
Daniel is to be assisted by a close associate of Obasanjo and former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu.
Daniel, meanwhile, had openly canvassed the candidature of Babangida in the past.
Speaking earlier in Abeokuta at his 50th birthday, Daniel called on Nigerians to forgive Babangida for his "past errors of judgment", saying the ability to forgive would enhance development and harmony in the country.
In what was understood to be a subtle campaign for IBB's presidential ambition, Daniel urged Nigerians to erase the sins of the former military ruler from their memory.
The governor said though Nigerians may fault IBB, "some of his achievements while holding the exalted office, his passion for the progress and peace of Nigeria could hardly be faulted".
In the meantime, Obasanjo is said to be unhappy with the president over the the trial of Bodunde, his former PA.
Bodunde is to be tried over an allegation that he received $5 million in cash payments from six other suspects - George Mark, Jeffrey Tesler, Hans George Christ, Heinrich J. Stockhausen, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Bilfinger Berger GMBH.
A new page in Nigeria's history was written yesterday as President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Major-General Onyeabo Azubike Ihejirika as the Chief of Army Staff. Ihejirika is the first Igbo to occupy the highly strategic military position since the end of the Civil War.
The last time an officer from the South-east occupied the position was 44 years ago. The late Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi was General Officer Commanding the Army (as Chief of Army Staff was then known) before he became head of state following the failed coup led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu.
Ihejirika, a former General Officer Commanding 83, Division, Lagos, replaces Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau.Ihejirika is now in a position to become the first four-star General of Igbo extraction in the history of the Nigerian Army.
President Jonathan dropped all the service chiefs as well as the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of State Security Service (SSS).
Air Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, former Chief of Air Staff, has been appointed the Chief of Defence Staff, replacing Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike.Rear Admiral O. S. Ibrahim, Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command replaces Admiral Ishaya Ibrahim as the Chief of Naval Staff while Air Vice Marshal M.D. Umar takes over from Petinrin as the Chief of Air Staff..
Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 9, Umuahia, Alhaji Hafiz Ringim, is the new Inspector General of Police. He takes over from Mr. Ogbonna Onovo.
Mr. Ita Ekpeyong, former SSS Director in Lagos, replaces Mr. Afakiriya Gadzama as the director general of the State Security Sservice (SSS).Ringim's elevation is expected to lead to the retirement of the six Deputy Inspector-Generals of Police (DIGs) who are all his seniors.
They are: Uba Ringim (Administration and Finance), Israel Ajao (Operations), John Ahmadu (CID), Declan Uzorma (Works), Olusegun Efuntayo (Training), and Udom Ekpo Udom (Research and Planning).
In a six-paragraph statement, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ima Niboro, said the appointments, which take immediate effect, "are however subject to the confirmation of the National Assembly, in line with the provision of the armed forces act section 18, Cap A20, laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria".
Niboro said Jonathan thanked the outgoing service chiefs, "whose tenure expired in August, for their loyalty and dedication to service. He particularly commended them for defending the Nigerian constitution at all times and for successful command of the armed forces during their tenure".
Since the current democratic dispensation in 1999, no service chief has spent more than two years in office, with the exception of former army chief Gen. Martin Agwai, who spent over two years.
The tenures of the former chiefs were said to have lapsed last month.A Defence source told THISDAY yesterday: "This is the first time a democratic government is following laid-down rules in the appointment of service chiefs. In the past, their names were announced and they assumed office without recourse to the National Assembly."
A Presidency source said the service chiefs had not been removed before now because the president believed there was no need.
"There were pressures on him to change the chiefs, but he insisted that he was on a joint ticket with the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and would not remove anybody except it was absolutely necessary. Their tenures have expired now so there is no issue with that," he said.
Asked if the appointment of an Igbo as army chief would not be interpreted as a political move, he said: "The ethnic origin is of no significance to the president. We must accept that Nigeria belongs to us all. We must send the signals out clearly that there are no positions in the country that cannot be occupied by a particular person because of his or her ethnic origin."
Significantly, there is no service chief from the South-south where the president comes from, but an insider said it does not matter "because the biggest position in the land is already occupied by a person from that geo-political zone".
The removal of Onovo, THISDAY learnt, was not unconnected with the unchecked crime wave in the country, especially kidnapping.
His refusal to obey a court summons recently is also said to have irked the president who was said to have described the incident as an affront on the rule of law and an embarrassment to the government.
If you were one of those ladies (like me!) that was wondering when a good looking, suave, smooth, articulate dreamboat of an actor was going to walk in and sweep you off your feet (in the movies, mind you! lol) then you need to wonder no more. Infact, I say you can finally exhale, ladies! This is introducing… Joseph Benjamin. The new generation of martinee idols just got a kick start from the fine looking, chocolatey brown brother. (Well, I was always partial to chocolate though I know its bad for you.. the waist line that is). Never one to miss out on a good thing, nollywooduncut.com caught up with the fine actor and this is what transpired. Enjoy!
NWU: Hi Joseph.
J.B: Hi Bola. How are you?
NWU: Fine thank you. First of all, where have you been all our lives? (general laughter)
J.B: I’ve been there, I’ve been there but not necessarily in Nollywood.
NWU: You do know you’re a dreamboat, don’t you? (general laughter). Can you tell us a bit about your professional background?
J.B: I first started as a child actor on NTA’s ‘Tales by Moonlight’.
NWU: No kidding!
J.B: Yes, I did several of those production, then I acted in ‘Super Story’, ‘Edge of Paradise’,168, and Mnet’s ‘Tinsel’.
NWU: Has anybody ever told you you look a lot like Desmond Elliot?
J.B: I get that a lot. I guess it’s the dark complexion.
NWU: Have you ever acted in a Nollywood movie?
J.B: Funny enough yes but that was a long time ago. It was called ‘Travels of Faith’. I was an extra. I also acted in Zeb Ejiro TV series but I have been doing more of modeling.
NWU: When can you say you had your big break? When the world took notice of you
J.B: It was definitely ‘The Project Fame’ gig.. I was a presenter on the MTN Project Fame show and it certainly opened doors for me, being aired all over Africa.
NWU: So what projects have you been doing film-wise?
J.B: I’ve shot a film with respected director, Mahmood Ali Balogun called ‘Tango with Me’. It was a big budget movie, shot on celluloid and all that. I acted with Genevieve.
NWU: I see… I hear you got to kiss her too… how was that? (laughter)
J.B: Great! She’s a very good kisser that I can tell you! (laughter)
NWU: What other films should we expect to see you in?
J.B: A film called ‘Spell Bound’ and ‘Bursting Loose’… both produced by Emem Isong.
NWU: Hmm.. you got called back a second time… you must have impressed her. You know she is fond of discovering new talent… Stella Damasus, Dakore Egbuson, Nse Ikpe-Etim are just a few names of people she is said to have discovered. Do you think you are the next anointed one?
J.B: Let’s wait and see… let the audience decide.
NWU: I hear you sing as well.
J.B: Yes I do.
NWU: What kind of music?
J.B: Soul… anything jazzy too.
NWU: You sing, you act … is there anything else you do that we should know about?
J.B: I do Voice Overs for commercials too.
NWU: I repeat, where have you been all our lives? (sigh)
J.B: (in deep, baritone voice over mode) I’ve been right here… and Im here to stay!
NWU: Yipee! (Do I hear an ‘Amen, somebody?)
NEW YORK: A 
Ok - I know this is a gossip, but dont act like you dont like we not all guilty, so remember the MTV, Mobo award winning artist 9ice and his esntranged wifey and all the BJ thing with rugged man and phone call recording, well the two have decided to go to war on twitter with 9ice assuring a diss song coming out to hit his ex and rugeddy, checkout the tweets:
Toni Payne started with:
Quote
Its like a bad joke! Yeah silence is Golden but sh!t not wen its concerning d mother of ur ONLY kid. Like!
With dat said I’m finna finish my Ice Cream, take a nice warm bath and enjoy me sum Africa Magic Yoruba!
21 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Sept 20! Ki olorun da emi gbogbo wa si. That day I will fully understand d type of person I said “I do” to.
25 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Release dat diss track for Rugged and I will officially know u don’t know or fear God. Let dat fake manager of urs push u till u can’t move
26 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Let dis issue die a natural death! Let me av my peace! Money isn’t and can never be worth my peace of mind! Especially if I NEVER offended u
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I shut my mouth and took it all 4d love I had for my son, for d love I had for him. Now its being pissed on in d most ridiculous way!
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Whore! Bitch! Ashewo! Av heard it all and hez seen it all yet integrity wasn’t dashed d day my love was born. Too bad and too sad.
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
One more getting bak story and ill FLIP! Without an apology as public as dat stupid bad idea Press Release! It aint gonna happen! Nuff said!
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
So continue spending all dat time and energy on him o instead of sortin out ur life! Talk I’m listening! av talked and I no ur listening
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Sall good! Upon it all! I’m soaring higher! Working harder! Achieving my dreams! Yall cudnt kill what’s inside me! God dint let yall
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
My silence has been taken 4 granted, my love has made me out to be d fool. Now u f-ing talk I’m listening.
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Consider every unit sold a tear drop from me n trust me God don’t like ugly, what sort of dude doesn’t consider his child or d woman had him
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Yeah it will sell d Album o but consider it blood money for every insult av gotten, for every tear I’ve shed, 4 every pain av felt
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Instead of apologizing 4 d pain n drama dudes PR team started dey r busy dragging the issue further instead of lettin it die a natural death
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I shud get a flippin ACE bloody award for most patient woman in flippin lagos. Another chick wuda gone buck wild on dude
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Talk I’m listening! WTF is dat? Waaay childish! Yeah dumb move to record ur call n make it public but dumber move offending God
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
All dat bloody energy spent on recording a stupid diss track for sum1 who helpd u along d way cuda bin spent telling d bloody truth!
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Its like a bad joke! Yeah silence is Golden but sh!t not wen its concerning d mother of ur ONLY kid.
With dat said I’m finna finish my Ice Cream, take a nice warm bath and enjoy me sum Africa Magic Yoruba!
21 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Sept 20! Ki olorun da emi gbogbo wa si. That day I will fully understand d type of person I said “I do” to.
25 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Release dat diss track for Rugged and I will officially know u don’t know or fear God. Let dat fake manager of urs push u till u can’t move
26 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Let dis issue die a natural death! Let me av my peace! Money isn’t and can never be worth my peace of mind! Especially if I NEVER offended u
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I shut my mouth and took it all 4d love I had for my son, for d love I had for him. Now its being pissed on in d most ridiculous way!
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Whore! Bitch! Ashewo! Av heard it all and hez seen it all yet integrity wasn’t dashed d day my love was born. Too bad and too sad.
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
One more getting bak story and ill FLIP! Without an apology as public as dat stupid bad idea Press Release! It aint gonna happen! Nuff said!
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
So continue spending all dat time and energy on him o instead of sortin out ur life! Talk I’m listening! av talked and I no ur listening
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Sall good! Upon it all! I’m soaring higher! Working harder! Achieving my dreams! Yall cudnt kill what’s inside me! God dint let yall
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
My silence has been taken 4 granted, my love has made me out to be d fool. Now u f-ing talk I’m listening.
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Consider every unit sold a tear drop from me n trust me God don’t like ugly, what sort of dude doesn’t consider his child or d woman had him
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Yeah it will sell d Album o but consider it blood money for every insult av gotten, for every tear I’ve shed, 4 every pain av felt
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Instead of apologizing 4 d pain n drama dudes PR team started dey r busy dragging the issue further instead of lettin it die a natural death
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I shud get a flippin ACE bloody award for most patient woman in flippin lagos. Another chick wuda gone buck wild on dude
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Talk I’m listening! WTF is dat? Waaay childish! Yeah dumb move to record ur call n make it public but dumber move offending God
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
All dat bloody energy spent on recording a stupid diss track for sum1 who helpd u along d way cuda bin spent telling d bloody truth!
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Its like a bad joke! Yeah silence is Golden but sh!t not wen its concerning d mother of ur ONLY kid.
***
And 9ice fires back with this:
Quote
So I will use d medium I av 2 address any wrong doin 2me. Dat I will release a song is nt even questionable.
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
4. Dis is nt in any way a threat! It is an assurance! 5. I'm Abolore Adegbola ALapomeji Akande 4rm Ogbomosho
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I av facts 2 cum @u wit, so cum @me wit facts n let's see where dat goes
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
3. I nid u2 cum @me wit facts, I will nt b drawn in2 these rants,
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I dare u 2put d meg out here on twitter 2, n I will respond 2 dat!
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
2. I'd like 2 knw d pple sendin u msgs 2 beg u 2 get bck 2geda, cos definately dat isn't me, n if u say it is me I dare u(cont)
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
N u av decided 2 throw dat away by comin @me and in public 2. So I will respond 2u! Ask ow respectable parents bhave 4u av no idea
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I'm gona address d things u av said, 1. D fact dat ure my childs mother is wot gave u immunity in d 1stplace!
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I wud nova dis 2 twister! But since u Ah decide 2 address me on a public forum. I'll leave d facts out there.
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Let No One Send Me Any Private Msg. Whether U Av My # Or Pin. I Just Wanna Listen To Toni Payne While She Talks. Bring It On!
about 9 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Once I Again I Am Abolore Adegbola Adigun ALapomeji Akande
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
4. Dis is nt in any way a threat! It is an assurance! 5. I'm Abolore Adegbola ALapomeji Akande 4rm Ogbomosho
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I av facts 2 cum @u wit, so cum @me wit facts n let's see where dat goes
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
3. I nid u2 cum @me wit facts, I will nt b drawn in2 these rants,
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I dare u 2put d meg out here on twitter 2, n I will respond 2 dat!
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
2. I'd like 2 knw d pple sendin u msgs 2 beg u 2 get bck 2geda, cos definately dat isn't me, n if u say it is me I dare u(cont)
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
N u av decided 2 throw dat away by comin @me and in public 2. So I will respond 2u! Ask ow respectable parents bhave 4u av no idea
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I'm gona address d things u av said, 1. D fact dat ure my childs mother is wot gave u immunity in d 1stplace!
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I wud nova dis 2 twister! But since u Ah decide 2 address me on a public forum. I'll leave d facts out there.
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Let No One Send Me Any Private Msg. Whether U Av My # Or Pin. I Just Wanna Listen To Toni Payne While She Talks. Bring It On!
about 9 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Once I Again I Am Abolore Adegbola Adigun ALapomeji Akande
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
What do you think, shouldnt they handle their sh*t like grown ups? or maybe just 'enemies' at work
I dont talk am and by the way any media person copying my story should give me damn credit!!! if you dont want trouble!
Our first London derby of the new season pits top versus bottom and many against former employers. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton release the pause button on the club season...
As you were, number one. The league campaign resumes following the ill-timed international action, with the champions the only English league side among the 92 to maintain a 100% record, and the only among that number yet to concede a goal.
Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in two of the most recent three visits of the Boleyn Ground, too, but the only really important goal is earning three points. As porous as West Ham currently appear, this fixture always produces a hostile atmosphere.
Despite the title success last season, this is the second opportunity for Carlo Ancelotti's players to improve on their points haul compared to the same match a year earlier. The previous one, Wigan away, was emphatically taken: a 6-0 drubbing succeeding 2009's 1-3 defeat.
Two sons of east London, John Terry and Frank Lampard, should return from injury recuperation and minor surgery respectively, rather than England duty, in time for the traditional Green Street welcome.
It does not faze them: former Hammer Frank's bizarre three-times-taken penalty earned the draw on the Blues' last visit (though he did miss one in the 2-0 win over Stoke a fortnight ago).
The pause for so many of our internationals to represent their countries across the globe might arguably lead to a loss of momentum, and it's true that at the corresponding stage last year Chelsea laboured to a last-minute 2-1 win at Stoke City courtesy of Florent Malouda.In context, though, it was not that out of place, coming after a 2-0 victory at Fulham and before that defeat at Wigan.
An earlier Fifa break in August 2009 came ahead of another late, hard-earned win over Hull at the Bridge, while the one in early October was followed by a disappointing 1-2 defeat at Villa Park.
With most international matches brought forward a day so that players are back in training earlier ahead of the weekend, the impact may have diminished, but Chelsea will have to be on our mettle.
Avram Grant has reached his 100th day in charge (Friday 10th) and will be aiming for the first points of his managerial career at the Boleyn Ground. Chelsea have not lost to West Ham for more than seven years, however, and he was actually in charge of the west Londoners when we recently recorded our biggest ever win in the east, 4-0 in March 2008.
Previously at his clubs in England - Chelsea and Portsmouth - he has taken over a set of players and a tactical approach with which he was already somewhat familiar through a 'director of football' role.
At the Boleyn everything - defender Tal Ben Haim aside - is new. Even the new board that appointed him is still getting its feet under the desk to an extent, and yet to bond with all the club's supporters.
In ten days it will be three years since Grant took over the reins at Stamford Bridge from José Mourinho. A controversial appointment, he remains the only manager to steer Chelsea to a Champions League final. But for the width of a post, he would be honoured as an all-time great for winning it.
Early on this weekend, all eyes and jeers will be on Wayne Rooney and his return to boyhood haunt, Goodison Park. The Toffees have had a sticky start to the campaign, but won the fixture 3-1 last season.
The Gunners, though hit by key injuries, have won their last four at home to Bolton with some ease.
Man City have put seven past Rovers in their two most recent encounters at Eastlands, and Birmingham-Liverpool has been a drawn game for the two seasons.
The youngest child of late reggae star Bob Marley has pleaded guilty to a drug charge after police caught her growing
marijuana in her Pennsylvania home, her lawyer said.
Makeda Marley pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two charges, including manufacture
of a controlled substance, after police were called to her West Chester,
Pennsylvania home for a dispute two years ago and discovered almost a
dozen marijuana plants in the basement, her lawyer Thomas Schindler
said..
Sentencing has been scheduled for October. In return for her guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a minimum one-year prison
sentence that would normally be mandatory for the amount of marijuana
found in Marley‘s home, Reuters reports.
The 29-year-old, who was born several weeks after her father died of cancer, faces a
likely sentence of between probation and nine months in prison.
She told the court at a hearing in February that the proceeds of a fund
granted by her father‘s estate had dried up and she now worked as a
waitress, according to the Daily Local News of West Chester.
July 20 2010, Concord House, London: The inauguration of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), UK Chapter. In attendance was Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly; Yinka Odumakin; Nasir El Rufai; pastors from the Gain Group and other activists that formed the SNG, UK chapter. I was representing the Transform Nigeria Movement. I listened carefully as these gentlemen enunciated their vision and mission to cleanse the atmosphere of Nigeria politics so that - quoting Mr Odumakin - “a Mr Elombah can come back to Nigeria one day and contest for the House of Representatives and be assured that the votes of the people in his constituency will count.”
It was a moving occasion, as Mr Bakare - who has this extraordinary ability to speak with such force and emotion that turn your eyes misty - narrated how Nigeria has been held in the jugular by thugs that have captured our nation, allowed by a seemingly docile populace whose “social mobility” has quenched. What I heard that day seems to hold out hope that, at last, some people are determined to bring forth the change we all desire. At the end of the launch, I attended another meeting with a journalist from Nigeria, where I confirmed what Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State, said at another gathering of the SNG - that Nigerian politicians look at activists as “wooly-eyed dreamers”. This journalist (I will call him Mr J) said if we are hoping for a Nigeria where the people will freely elect their leaders in a free and peaceful election, we still have a very long way to go. Some of the things Mr J narrated cannot simply be published. Suffice it to say he pointed out that “Nigeria is not a country, but an organized criminal outpost for crooks whose interest is personal aggrandisement and not the business of taking care of its citizens”.
Mr J further told me that whatever I read is merely a tip of the iceberg and that if I get to know the actual amount of looting that goes for governance, or the debauched life lived by some of the people I admire in government, I won’t sleep at night.
Recently, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, and governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, publicly engaged in fisticuffs over a dispute of who should cut the ribbon announcing the opening of a simple bridge in Sango-Ota, in Ogun State. How did thugs get to capture governance in Nigeria? Mr Bakare said at the inauguration that he will never encourage any sane human to go into Nigerian politics in this polluted environment. But he added that members of the SNG might go into politics, “after the atmosphere has been cleansed”.
The RSVP process
I think what we are seeing is a civilian version of the military in power. Or the militarised version of the civilians in power. Who killed Bayo Ohu and Godwin Agbroko? IBB felt challenged by Mamman Vatsa and charged him with coup plotting and killed him...now tell me who felt uncomfortable with former Attorney General, Bola Ige and had him murdered? Who killed Harry Marshall, Dikibo, Odunayo Olagbaju? Who killed Ahmed Pategi and his police orderly? Who killed Victor Nwankwo, the younger brother of Arthur Nwankwo? Who killed Kudirat Abiola, John Nunu, Funsho Williams, Chimere Ikoku, Ayodeji Daramola, Dele Arojo and Isyaku Muhammad? With the passing of each year, the list grows longer and longer..
Mr Bakare believes no good Nigerian can succeed as a peoples’ politician and serve the people within the polluted waters of Nigerian politics because the others will change him into one of their kind. Mr Bakare also believes that only when the people exercise their rights and take powers back into their hands, by selecting their candidates and ensuring free, credible and peaceful elections, will such a cleansing begin. He called this cleansing process RSVP: R-Register to vote, S- Select your candidates, V-Vote, P-Protect your votes.
Dumb Blonde eh ?
A Playboy centerfold tried to bust out -- midair -- from a jet amid a bad case of high anxiety.
Law enforcement officers met a JetBlue plane at its arrival gate in Newark Liberty International Airport Thursday afternoon because of a passenger who was causing a disturbance on board, the airline reported.
The passenger was identified as 21-year-old Tiffany Livingston. She was aboard JetBlue Flight 522 from Florida to Newark, N.J., on Thursday when she bolted from her seat and tried to open the door of the plane.
She had become agitated because of turbulence and appeared to grab the handle of an emergency door, a source told Fox 5 News. Then two off-duty police officers who happened to be on the flight stopped her.
The plane, Flight 552 from Fort Myers, Florida, landed safely and without incident, said Alison Croyle, a spokesperson for the airline. "JetBlue will cooperate fully with local authorities, who are investigating this matter," she said in a statement..
"She said she's gone through this before, but never this bad, and didn't have ... her medication," one source told the New York Post .
Livingston was detained but she was later released and no charges were filed.
She was the centerfold for the debut edition of VIP, the Singapore version of Playboy, in which she was described as "not just another pretty face."
"Tiffany boasts the immaculate poise of a mature model wrapped with a bubbly demeanor," the profile said.
Asked if she believed in destiny, Tiffany Livingston posted, "I'm the kind of person, who needs to feel like everything happens for a reason. When you date a guy and it goes badly, that's horrible. But if you can write a song about it, then it was worth it."
Nigerian leaders used the occasion to exhort citizens to support next year’s election and exercise tolerance with one another.
Spiritual purification
Nigeria’s Vice President, Namadi Sambo, urged Nigerians not to lose sight of the spiritual and historical significance of the period.
“At this occasion, there is need for us to imbibe the spirit of obedience, sacrifice and total submission to the will of Allah, as exemplified by Prophet Ibrahim. This way, the fear and love of Allah will increase and fill our hearts. This is a guidance to righteousness,” he said.
He advised citizens to be their “brothers’ keepers” and shun all deviant behaviour, work towards promoting peace and good neighbourliness. Mr Sambo thanked all Nigerians for their continuous support and cooperation and promised that the government was resolute in its “commitment to the provision of adequate infrastructure, free, fair and credible elections and guarantee the security of lives and properties as well as maintain law and order for sustainable development.”
Call to piety.
The Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, called on Muslims to carry the devotion and piety displayed during the Ramadan into their daily dealings and interactions with their countrymen.
He said a time like this calls for prayers, especially as our country begins the process of electing new leaders to pilot its affairs, adding that all Nigerians, irrespective of their faith, must come together as one and ensure that they contribute their own quota to ensure the success of the forthcoming polls.
The Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda, encouraged Muslims to always follow the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, especially on how he maintained good relationship with non-Muslims and promoted peace throughout his life. He said there is need for all Muslims to copy the good deeds of the Prophet, as he always promoted peace among his followers. He also charged Muslims to adopt the good teaching of the Ramadan, which entails abstinence from some basic human needs such as food, drink and sexual intercourse during the day.
Nuhu Ribadu, former chair of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said the period has provided Muslims an ample opportunity to have a sober reflection on the state of things in our country. “This should serve as a challenge to Nigerians not only to fully be involved in the electoral process, but to do the right things at all times, particularly as the 2011 elections draw near,” he said.
He called on Muslims to use the occasion of the Eid-el-Fitri to pray for free and fair elections, and also ensure that they work towards achieving it.
Anambra State governor, Peter Obi said the successful conclusion of the Ramadan is an apt reminder that human society must be imbued with those values that lead to and reflect the brilliance of God.
‘Greatness will come to nations that consciously plan and work for it through consensus and confidence-building,’ he said.
The Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, told Muslims yesterday not to deviate from the strict adherence to selflessness, forgiveness, generosity and peaceful co-existence with their neighbours, which were the hallmark of the holy month of Ramadan.
Mr. Mimiko urged Muslims and Nigerians in general to use the occasion of the celebration to reflect on their spiritual lives and on what could be done to uplift the nation to the heights dreamed for it by its founding fathers.
Rising prices
Prices of food and livestock rose on Wednesday across the country, as people thronged markets to purchase items for the celebration.
The increased patronage made the price of a medium-sized ram to go from N25,000 to N30,000, while a big ram sold for between N45,000 and N50,000, as against N38,000. A big turkey sold for N11, 000 instead of N9,000, while the prices of a medium and large sized chicken increased from N1,200 and N1,500 to N1,500 and N1,700 respectively.
Haruna Usman, the Secretary of the Livestock Traders Association, Allah Margrima Market, Iganmu, Lagos, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the hike in prices was not only owing to increased demand but to the high transportation costs. He also blamed it on alleged extortion by some revenue collectors and law enforcement agents.
“Transporting a trailer-load of ram from the north to Lagos costs between N100, 000 and N120, 000 because of the money we pay at checkpoints,” he said.
He appealed to states, and the federal government, to address the extortions, to reduce the prices of goods and services.
The aid was made through the Dangote Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dangote Industries Limited, West Africa's leading manufacturing conglomerate.
“The Dangote Foundation and the entire management and staff of Dangote Industries Limited feel a real need to make a modest contribution to help make life a little more bearable for the survivors in Pakistan,” said Dangote, President of the Dangote Foundation.
“The hearts of all Africans go out to the people of Pakistan as they go through this ordeal. Africa is not only a recipient of humanitarian aid, but is also able to help her brothers and sisters in Pakistan and elsewhere where there is suffering. Helping our family, in this case our global family is part of Africa’s traditional values,” he added..
The donations are expected to provide life-saving food relief to the millions of Pakistanis whose lives have been turned upside down by this disaster as well as help with the logistics of the entire humanitarian community working to supply urgent food and other supplies to the estimated six million Pakistanis WFP is serving who have lost their homes and livelihoods due to the heavy monsoon rains that have hit the country.
Commenting on the donation made by Dangote Foundation, Sandy Westlake of the WFP Private Sector Partnerships said: “We are completely humbled by the Dangote Foundation’s generous donation on behalf of WFP and the people of Pakistan. Your contribution will make a life-saving difference and allow WFP to continue its important work on the ground. The funds for Pakistan are absolutely critical and will do a lot to further WFP’s focus on saving lives in the flood zone.”
Westlake, who also described the donation as a testament to the Dangote Foundation’s commitment to broadening its philanthropic reach globally, said support at this level was crucial towards providing immediate food relief to those most affected by the flood.
High Commissioner for Pakistan, Rtd. Major General Asif Duraiz Akhatar, expressed profound appreciation to the Dangote Foundation, saying: “the people and government of Pakistan will forever remain grateful to the Dangote Foundation for this big sacrifice that will greatly address the needs of the people.”
The foundation also last week donated 50 trucks of different food items, with a total value of over N100 million, to the government of Niger Republic. The move, according to the foundation, was also meant to assist the government in addressing the acute famine, currently plaguing the country.
Niger faces the worst hunger crisis in its history, with almost half the population in desperate need of food.
For 2010, the foundation has provided food items to the victims of Jos and Bauchi crisis to the tune of over N70 million; provided dialysis machine to Lagos Island General Hospital and also sunk boreholes in various communities in the country, totalling over N100 million.
In making this donation, the Dangote Group, whose activities include cement, sugar, salt, flour and pasta, said it is staying true to its statement goals.
“Our mission at the Dangote Group has always been to touch the lives of people by providing their basic needs. Our vision is to be a world-class enterprise that is passionate about the quality of life of the general populace and high returns to stakeholders,” Dangote said.
One of Dangote Foundation's guiding principles is to provide humanitarian relief to victims of natural and man-made disasters.
In the past, the Dangote Foundation had provided relief materials and food to victims of civil strife in Nigeria. Since its establishment in 1993, it has worked to provide drinking water and health facilities in partnership with various Nigerian state governments and through grants to individuals and groups for health, education and economic development projects.
The Group’s core business focus is to provide local, value added products and services that meet the “basic needs” of the Nigerian population. Through the construction and operation of large scale manufacturing facilities in Nigeria and across Africa, the group is focused on building local manufacturing capacity to generate employment, prevent capital flight and provide locally produced goods for local people. The Dangote Group has a workforce of over 14,000 employees.
•The late Elizabeth Odey
A snake has killed a teenager while she was asleep in Ijegwu village, Yache in Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria.
P.M.NEWS gathered that 18-year old Elizabeth Odey was bitten on her legs by a snake at night and she died a few hours after she was rushed to a health centre near her parents’ home.
According to Maria, the elder sister of the deceased, “she was sleeping when the snake crawled up to her bed and bit her on the leg. It was her screams that awoke our mother who was sleeping in the next room.”
She said snake bite was common in the area because it was snake infested but it was rare for a snake to be found inside the room let alone biting someone while asleep on the bed.
“Snake bites are common here especially in the farm but this one came into the room and climbed the bed to bite my sister and at that same moment the lantern went off yet there was still kerosine in the lamp. That is why we said the snake bite is spiritual,” Maria added.
Maria said when light was brought in by neighbours who heard her scream, “we searched everywhere but did not find any snake. Yet, blood ws gushing out of the marks on her legs.”
She said the girl, who was a senior secondary student of Ochumode International School, Ogoja, was rushed to the health centre located close to their house but she died a few hours later.
“She was a very humble and obedient girl. Often when I am not around, she took care of my shop,” Maria said sobbing.
—Emma Una/ Calabar
