Yar'Adua's Brother,Quits Military for Politics
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Nigeria’s secret service will hold four suspects in last week’s car bomb attacks for a further two weeks for questioning in an investigation which has ratcheted up tensions ahead of presidential elections next year.
According to Reuter, the State Security Service (SSS) won a court order allowing it to hold on to the four suspects, whom it did not identify, while it probes the attacks near an independence day parade in the capital Abuja last week, which killed at least 10 people.
“The four suspects should be remanded in the custody of the State Security Service for two weeks for further investigation,” Chief Magistrate Oyeyeola Oyewumi told a court in Abuja.
The bombs have brought regional rivalries in Africa’s most populous nation to the top of the political agenda ahead of what was already set to be the most fiercely contested presidential race since the end of military rule a decade ago.
President Goodluck Jonathan is fighting for the ruling party’s nomination, but his bid is contentious because of an unwritten agreement that power should rotate between the North and South every two terms.
The Abuja bombs were claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main rebel group in Jonathan’s southern home region.
MEND’s claim was an embarrassment to Jonathan, who helped broker an amnesty in the oil-producing region last year. He said the blasts had nothing to do with the Niger Delta and MEND’s name had been used as a cover.
The secret service declined to comment on whether the four suspects being held in Nigeria were Okah’s associates.
“Investigations continue. We can’t give you their names now because we don’t want other suspects who are not in our net to run,” an SSS official said, asking not to be named.
I am not a fan of retired military President, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. I told a few colleagues last week that perhaps it was God that knowingly frustrated my ambition to attend the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA). My reason: I am so sure that as a young officer I would have plotted to overthrow Babangida in his years as military president. This was because I was against most of the policies of his government. And that could only have resulted in either of two things: I succeed and I become a hero or I fail and I am sent to the world beyond.
I am convinced a lot of people feel this way about Babangida. But as a professional in any calling, personal feelings need be separated from professional calling. And that has guided my attitude towards issues relating to Babangida, especially since he made his intention to take a shot at the presidency in 2011 known. And my presumption is that anyone with a professional duty to perform must act in like manner.
As such, I find absurd the pronouncement credited to the head of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, yanking off his yearly State of the Nation address off African Independent Television (AIT) beginning from this October 1. And the suspected reason? The President of Daar Communications, owners of AIT, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, is the Director-General of the campaign organisation of Babangida, a man Bakare appears to hate with a passion. And his reasons for such are the same as those of others, with the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, won by the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, at the top of the list.
Bakare’s action raises so many posers: 1. has the pulpit become a political platform for scoring cheap political points? Agreed that God in the Old Testament appointed rulers for Israel among the prophets, it is very clear to everyone that those days are gone. Even now in Israel, democracy has taken root. And Bakare has failed to see a clear demarcation between the church and his human rights activism for a better Nigeria. The church obviously is not a platform such as that of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), where Bakare is a prominent member of a splinter group. 2. Does the word forgiveness exist in Bakare’s Bible? Even the Lord Jesus said in very clear terms that we needed to forgive those who have wronged us. Matthew 6 verse 12 of the New Century Version of the Bible could be a good reminder for Bakare: “Forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.” Watch the use of language: just as we have forgiven. It is not like we will forgive. 3. There is no doubt that there are staff and shareholders of Daar Communications in Latter Rain Assembly. Bakare is one of the few pastors who mentor their members in doing business the God way. And if by one careless pronouncement that can be seen by so many others as the way to go Bakare annihilates the sources of income of both the staff and the shareholders, of what use then are his teachings. This should not even be coming at a time that the AIT is in dire financial straits.
What Bakare did is not edifying to the body of Christ in anyway. It is rather capable of causing serious division and bringing untold hardship on those who are members of that body. Dokpesi did not go into the Babangida campaign organisation with AIT as one of the campaigners for the project. He only rather happens to be the owner of the company. This does not equate him with AIT. This is more so that Daar Communications is now a public quoted company. It is no longer solely his baby. And so also does the money for the airing of the State of the Nation address come solely from the pocket of Bakare. I am sure that it also does not come from the SNG. So why should it be the sole prerogative of Bakare to determine who benefits from the broadcast rights? Or is he saying that the staff and shareholders of Daar Communications who are members of the church can be treated with levity?
Bakare should know that the church is now a very discerning one. People have gone beyond the level where they follow pastors blindly. Unlike the days of the Old Testament where only the leaders had access to the Bible, everyone now does. And they come in different translations, with the readers imbued with the ability to sift the wheat from the chaff. There is therefore no cover under which to hide again for pastors who assume that they can lord it over their followers, thinking that they will take all hook, line and sinker, as the saying goes.
And the same goes for the strongman of Kwara State politics, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, who, two weeks ago, said emphatically that his daughter, Gbemisola, will succeed his son, Bukola, as the governor of Kwara State next year. Saraki said that the political calculations in the state have not favoured him at other times when he allowed people that were not his children to rule the state. As such, the transition, this time around, will be from a Saraki to another Saraki.
What a serious issue. I find such a development in a state such as Kwara ridiculous. A state with high calibre individuals such as Kwara should not be in this quagmire that has now resulted in it being called a Sarakite State, where an individual, without consultation, determines its fortune. This is a major challenge to the likes of industrialist, Prince Samuel Adedoyin; his daughter and former minister, Princess Funke Adedoyin; the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Mohammed; and others with a firm stake in that state.
Kwara State, like any other state, has three senatorial districts. Logic dictates that another senatorial district should take a shot at the governorship after eight years of Bukola being in the saddle. But even if the other senatorial districts decide to concede it to the Central Senatorial District, must it be to the Sarakis again. Some have said the pressure to push forward Gbemi was from her mother who felt that after Bukola, who is from another woman, has ruled, her own child also should.
For some, it is heartwarming that Bukola has denounced the position of his father. For me, it is not. I will only believe his position when he carried out his so-called threat to oppose Gbemisola. I was a reporter in Kwara State in the month prior to the 2003 election that produced Bukola. It was the same method of denial that we witnessed from both father and son: Bukola was not interested in the governorship. A few months to the election, Bukola was, apparently, now persuaded to run. I will not believe that Bukola is not in the know about his father’s plot until the election has come and gone.
Text only (abbreviations not acceptable) with full names and address to: 08070991014.
What a shame to our Men in Black.
ABUJA - The Deputy Director of the IBB Campaign Organisation, Sen. Kanti Bello, Abuja admitted that the phone number to which suspected bombers on October 1, sent a message belonged to Raymond Dokpesi.Bello conceded to this during a press briefing at the IBB campaign office.
He, however, argued that Dokpesi’s phone number could be obtained by all manner of people without the knowledge of the proprietor of Da’ar Communications.
“Even I have people from Niger Delta ask me ‘senator, we are with you’, I don’t know how they got my number. He noted that the nation had relapsed into the days of repression of the opposition by the state.
“It appears that we are back to the dark days of executive brutality, intimidation, oppression, repression, harassment and deliberate use of falsehood and state power to hound the opposition,” Bello said.
He added that associates and supporters of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, deserved to be treated with decency as bonafide members of the PDP.
Bello recalled his earlier pronouncement that the lives of Dokpesi and other directors of the organisation were under threat.
According to him, supporters and followers of Babangida will remain law-abiding citizens.
“We join millions of Nigerians in condemning this bloody and unpatriotic act for which the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed responsibility,” he said.
Bello also urged the government to tackle the security lapses that led to the bloody event to forestall a re-occurrence.
The State Security Services (SSS) on Monday invited Dokpesi over a message linking him to the bombers.
Meanwhile the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the bomb explosions that rocked Abuja on October 1, while the nation celebrated its 50th independence anniversary.
Mr. John Odah, the General Secretary of the NLC, who condemned the act in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said it was a criminal and cowardly.
It recalls that while the nation celebrated its 50th independence anniversary, two bombs exploded a few meters from Eagles Square, venue of the national celebrations.
The act claimed some 12 lives and left many others injured.
According to the NLC, it is an act of terrorism which is “indeed sad, unfortunate and totally unacceptable to Nigerians.
“The Nigeria Labour Congress unequivocally condenms this dastardly act which has further traumatised our national psyche, especially on a day we were supposed to be celebrating our Golden Independence Jubilee.“
We also sympathise with the families of those who lost their lives and those who were wounded in the bomb blasts.
Furthermore, we wish those who were injured in the unfortunate explosions a speedy recovery to full health,’’ Odah said.
He said the incident was another sad reminder of the grave state of insecurity currently prevalent in Nigeria.
The secretary general said the latest introduction of bomb explosions in the nation was a pointer that security was spiralling out of control.
He said the upsurge in crimes in Nigeria must be nipped in the bud immediately and urged the Federal Government to strengthen the intelligence and crime prevention capacity of the security agencies.
“The Nigeria Labour Congress called on the Federal Government to leave no stone unturned in unmasking the perpetrators of this devilish act and take drastic steps to bring them to justice.
“We also call on the Federal Government to publish the names of Nigerians who paid the supreme price as a result of this barbaric incident.
The government should also initiate steps to compensate the families of both the dead and wounded,’’ he said.
Former military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, has again come under intense pressure to quit the 2011 presidential race, following indications that his camp is being linked with the Abuja bomb blasts of October 1.
Sources in Abuja’s political circles confirmed that besides the arrest and interrogation of the Director General of the Ibrahim Babangida Campaign Organisation, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, in connection with the bomb blasts, there have been other sources linking the former leader’s camp with the incidents.
The former military ruler said on Thursday that it would be idiotic to link him with the bomb blasts.
Before the bomb blast incident, some former loyalists of the former General popularly called IBB Boys were said to have asked the former head of state to back out of the presidential race so as not to avoid being rubbished by a non-General.
It was also gathered that some northern politicians have calculated that the negative effects the bomb blast saga could have on Babangida may add to the political burden he already has to carry.
“Those seeking the consensus option among northern presidential aspirants appeared to be getting worried about what they called political liabilities of the former military ruler. They are coming to the realisation that somehow, the General has to be made to face the reality of dropping out of the contest,” a source close to the political settings in Abuja said.
Sources also said that the General is under pressure to quit the race as a result of his alleged misdeeds in office.
It was gathered that the man is coming under pressure even from unusual quarters, following what is called unabating hostility to his presidential bid.
“Several persons are pointing attention to the fact that everywhere Babangida turns, he seems to be facing hostility. If you talk of his economic sense, people will easily point to the $12.4 billion Gulf Oil windfall. When you talk of political experience, people will easily remind you of the June 12 election annulment and when you talk of his experience in security, people quickly remind you of the bombing of Dele Giwa and the killing of a crop of soldiers in the Hercules C130 plane crash in Lagos. It is an all round crisis for us at the Babangida front,” a source said.
Another source said that the bomb attacks on Abuja on October 1 had not only reawakened the concerns about security in Nigeria, but also appeared to point some fingers at Babangida.
“People are saying that why should he be the one to lament insecurity in the land when bombing was introduced to Nigeria during his regime when Dele Giwa was bombed,” another source said, adding that the arrest of Chief Dokpesi was another dent on the IBB 2011 campaign.
Only recently, the security agencies were said to have discovered of $20 million traced to the account of one politician who is involved in the presidential campaign of an aspirant.
Another week, another Facebook controversy — this time, over the site’s just-relaunched "Groups" feature, which lets you create instant private or public spaces for your friends, co-workers, fellow hobbyists, you name it.
Personally, I think the idea behind the new Groups feature is an excellent one. By designating smaller circles of friends within your overall list of Facebook pals (which, for some online social butterflies, can easily run into the thousands), you can post updates, photos, videos, and URLs to your individual subsets without bothering everyone on Facebook with the minutiae of, say, your breakfast menu, or how quickly you crossed the finish line in your latest half-marathon..
Indeed, I might start actually posting to Facebook again now that I’ve created a tiny group of friends (three, to be exact) who (a) I trust, and (b) won’t be annoyed by any pointless musings that I'll be tacking onto our wall. (Uh, guys — you don’t mind, right?)
But it didn’t take long for a controversy to flare up: namely, the fact that your Facebook friends can add you to any group they so choose — as long as they’re already members of said group — without your permission.
Why did Facebook make Groups go the "opt-out" rather than "opt-in" way? "To make the product simple" is the official line. Another likely reason for the policy, I’m guesssing, is that it encourages the rapid growth of ... well, new groups. Without the necessity of waiting for invitees to accept an invite, Facebook’s groups are free to grow quickly and exponentially. The more — and bigger — groups there are, the more Facebook members will use them — and that’ll make groups more attractive to app developers and advertisers. Hey, that’s business, like it or not.
Of course, the downside is that you might find yourself suddenly signed up into a Facebook group (or groups) you hadn’t bargained for, such as the "Underwater Basket-weavers of America," with your inbox suddenly flooded with email notifications for each and every snapshot, comment, and update posted to the collective group wall.
That’s a side-effect I’d count as more of an annoyance than anything else, although there’s always the more worrisome possibility that one of your frenemies will add you to a group of a more, ah, unsavory nature.
So, here are five questions — and answers — for how to weather the current Facebook Groups storm (or tempest in a teapot, depending on how you look at it).
1. Who can add me to a Facebook group?
Not just anyone can add you to a group — in fact, only someone who’s already one of your Facebook friends can do so. Still, it’s a bit disturbing that any of your Facebook friends can add you to, say, the "Bald Eagle Hunters Club" without getting your permission.
Then again, your friend would already have to be a "BEHC" member before he or she could invite you to the group ... and besides, who is this so-called friend, anyway? Indeed, the story that sparked this whole debate about the Groups feature involves someone with more than 4,000 Facebook friends. I don’t think I’ve even met 4,000 people in my 41 years on Planet Earth, much less know 4,000 people whom I’d be willing to "friend" on Facebook.
Suggestion: If you’re seriously worried about people adding you to groups that you’d rather not be a member of, maybe it’s time to pare down your Facebook friends list, starting with anyone who added you to a group you didn’t want to be a member of. The "Remove from Friends" button can be, in fact, your friend.
2. How do I leave a group — and prevent someone from adding me again?
Wait — so, you didn’t want to be a member of the "Underwater Basket-weavers of America"? Just visit the group page, click on the "Leave Group" link under the list of members, and you’re outta there — simple. After that, no one will be able to re-add you to the group in question without your explicit permission.
3. But even if I remove myself from a group, won’t the fact that I got added in the first place pop up in my Facebook news feed, for all to see?
Yep, you’re right. You can always delete the notification from your wall, but that won’t stop your Facebook friends or other users (depending on your privacy settings) from seeing the update before you were able to delete it.
One proactive (if extreme) measure, is to deny the Groups app permission to publish stories to your wall; just click on Account on the top-right of the Facebook interface, then select Application Settings. Find the Groups app, click Edit Settings, then click the "Additional Permissions" tab (almost there), and, finally, uncheck the box that reads "publish content to my wall."
4. How do I cut down on all these email notifications from my groups?
Getting inundated with a flood of email messages every time someone posts a "Cute photo!" comment onto a group snapshot can quickly grow tiresome. If you’d like to keep your inbox as uncluttered as possible, just tweak your Groups notification settings: Visit the specific group page, click the "Edit Settings button" in the upper-left-hand corner of the page, and select the radio button next to the option you prefer (for example, you can get a notification each and every time a member posts or comments, only when a friend posts, or only when someone comments on one of your posts). You can also visit the email notification page in your privacy settings and turn off all notifications if you wish.
5. Can the other members in my new group see all my Facebook info?
So, the worst has happened: Your now ex-friend just added you to the "Bald Eagle Hunters Club," and all of a sudden you’re unwillingly mingling with a bunch of ... well, people you wouldn’t normally invite over for tea. Since you’re in a group with these guys, do they now have access to all your Facebook info?
Here’s the good news: not if you’ve limited access to your profile in Facebook’s privacy settings. If you’ve restricted your updates, photos, and personal data to "friends only," your fellow "Bald Eagle" members won’t be able to see anything about you except your publicly accessible profile info (which, again, you can customize in your privacy settings).
On the other hand, if your privacy settings allow anyone and everyone to see your Facebook info, other, non-friend members in your new Group will be able see your data too — then again, they already could, even before you (unwittingly or not) joined the group.
Bonus: What can I do to ensure my privacy is completely secure in a group — or on Facebook in general?
You probably already know all this, but it bears repeating in light of the new Groups controversy: Facebook isn’t about keeping your personal info safe. It’s a (for-profit) business that does everything it can to get people to share their personal information. That’s not an excuse, it’s just a fact.
If you’re really worried about your privacy on Facebook, please — don’t post your personal details, photos, videos, street addresses, or phone numbers on Facebook. Seriously! It might even be time to delete your account, or just don’t join at all. Trust me, you’ll still be able to make friends in the real world.
But if you still want to be on Facebook, you’ll have to accept the fact that you’re putting your personal information in Facebook’s hands. Don’t trust Facebook — or your friends on Facebook, for that matter? Then maybe Facebook isn’t for you.
— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.
THURSDAY, 07 OCTOBER 2010 00:00 FROM LAWRENCE NJOKU, ENUGU NEWS - NATIONAL
IRKED by the alleged insensitivity of South East governors to the plight of lecturers in the zone, the national leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared a nationwide strike from Monday, Oct 11. It affects all universities.
“That will be the first in a series of strong and telling actions which will follow shortly after, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, declared in Enugu yesterday at a press briefing..
“For the avoidance of doubt and as a measure of our commitment to the struggle for the emancipation of the South East state universities in particular, and for the proper implementation of the Federal Government and ASUU 2009 agreement and the better funding of Nigerian Universities in general, the Academic Staff Union of Universities had directed academic staff in all Nigerian Universities to proceed on strike from October 11.”
Flanked by other officials of the Union, Awuzie stated that the three-day (October 11 to13) strike was in sympathy and solidarity with their colleagues, the affected institutions as well as students of the state-owned universities.
Academic activities have been paralysed since July this year in all state-owned universities in the zone following the inability of the state governments to meet the terms of the renegotiated agreement reached between representatives of Federal Government and leadership of ASUU.
Although governors of the zone had met on two occasions to discuss the over three months old strike, nothing concrete had been achieved as the meetings ended with them asking the teachers to go back to the classrooms.
Awuzie who lamented the ugly development stated that the governors had ignored the demands as well as the welfare of the generality of the people of the zone, stressing that ASUU would not renege in her effort to ensure the full implementation of the agreement.
He said: “The governors of the South East states have basically ignored the demands; they have completely ignored the sad and dangerous fact that over two hundred and fifty thousand of their youths have been idle, roaming the streets and merging with the hundreds of thousand other unemployed in the regions; they have ignored the fact that it is their duty to ensure that such a crisis never occurs; they have ignored the dangerous crisis completely and with impunity.”
Awuzie, who painted a gory picture of the situation of the state-owned universities in the South East said the rot arising from the criminal underfunding of the institutions was unmatch anywhere in the world.
In Abia State University (ABSU), according to him, staffing is utterly dismal as a result of conscious government policy not to attract or retain the appropriate staff in number and quality, adding that for a student population of about 30, 000, the university has only 63 professors out of whom only 32 are permanent members of staff.
For a student population of 21, 000, Anambra State University can only boast of five professors, four readers, and 49 lecturers, while government subvention to the institution had remained abysmally low.
With a student population of 20, 000, Ebonyi State University has 61 professors most of whom are borrowed either as adjunct or contract staff. At Evan Enwerem University in Imo State with a student population of 30, 000, there are only 32 professors.
While lambasting the Enugu State government for dragging members of the ASUU in its university to the National Industrial Court over the lingering dispute, Awuzie said the union was no longer ready to tolerate the situation and would engage Governor Sullivan Chime’s administration in a showdown.
Awuzie added: “It’s obvious that the political class in the South East has collectively failed their people. They include the governors, legislators at the state and federal levels, ministers and other government political appointees because they have all refused to ask the governors to address the problem. The interest of the people is completely abandoned.”
“ASUU wishes to make it clear to the governors of the South East and their conniving political associates that the crisis in their universities is one responsibility that they can neither shirk nor wish away. The current strike will continue as long as they compel it to, even if it takes them five years to make up their mind to either run their universities or totally abolish them.
Justice Served ?Armed Robber Robs a Bank Get Executed ,Bank MD Robs Bank Gets Six months.
Cecilia Ibru, the former managing director of Oceanic Bank PLC, is to spend six months in jail and forfeit over N150 billion naira in assets and cash.
The former managing director was convicted of bank and securities fraud earlier today by a federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos, presided over by Justice Dan Abutuin .
The judge said Mrs. Ibru will not get one month credit for time already spent in EFCC custody during her arrest and interrogation. Her six months jail time would run concurrently. She was convicted on several counts of bank and security fraud.
Mrs. Ibru has vast assets throughout the world and some of the properties at stake include:
1. Good Shepherd House, IPM Avenue , Opp Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers)
2. Residential block with 19 apartments on 34, Bourdillon Road , Ikoyi (registered in the name of Dilivent International Limited).
3. 20 Oyinkan Abayomi Street, Victoria Island (remainder of lease or tenancy upto 2017).
4. 57 Bourdillon Road , Ikoyi.
5. 5A George Street , Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited),
6. 5B George Street , Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).
7. 4A Iru Close, Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).
8. 4B Iru Close, Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).
9. 16 Glover Road , Ikoyi (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).
10. 35 Cooper Road , Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).
11. Property situated at 3 Okotie-Eboh, SW Ikoyi. 12. 35B Isale Eko Avenue , Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi.
13. 38A Isale Eko Avenue , Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi (registered in the name of Meeky Enterprises Limited).
14. 38B Isale Eko Avenue , Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi (registered in the name of Aleksander Stankov).
15. Multiple storey multiple user block of flats under construction 1st Avenue , Banana Island , Ikoyi, Lagos , (with beneficial interest therein purchased from the developer Ibalex).
16. 226, Awolowo Road , Ikoyi, Lagos (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers).
17. 182, Awolowo Road , Ikoyi, Lagos , (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers)
18. 12-storey Tower on one hectare of land at Ozumba Mbadiwe Water Front, Victoria Island .
19. 5, Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island, Lagos (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd).
20. 18A, Adetokubo Ademola Street , Victoria Island, Lagos (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd).
21. 270, Ozumba Mbadiwe , Victoria Island, Lagos (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd)
22. 270, Ozumba Mbadiwe , Victoria Island, Lagos (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers Limited).
23. 15,000 square metres of land at Okunade Water Front, Lekki Peninsula .
24. 7,000 square metres of land at Okunade Water Front, Lekki Peninsula - (registered in the name of Melake Properties Limited).
25. 8,000 square metres of land at Okunade Water Front, Lekki Peninsula - (registered in the name of (Casi Properties Limited). 26. 1,000,000 square metres of land in Lekki.
27. 101 hectares of land along Lekki Expressway behind Chevron Nigeria .
28. 103 hectares of land bought from Dom Gas
29. Plot 5, Igbo-Efon, Off Lekki/Ajah Expressway, Victoria Island, Lagos by 1004 (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd)
30. Block 6, Flat 1 &2, Femi Okunnu H/Scheme Phase IV- Lekki (registered in the name of Oceanic Homes Savings & Loans Ltd)
31. One storey building at 50 Marina , Lagos .
32. 10 storey building at 60 Marina , Lagos .
33. 60, Marine View, Apongbon, Marina , Lagos (registered in the name of Dele Oye & Associates)
34. 10, Sobo Arobidu Street , Ikeja, GRA (registered in the name of Jeedab Fibre Limited).
35. Property at 10A Sobo Arobiodu Street , Ikeja (registered in the name of Chiaroscuro Limited).
36. AP Filling Station (Beside Former Hotel Bobby) Onipanu Lagos , (registered in the name of Vivi Oil Investments Limited).
37. Building at 154, Ikorodu Road , Lagos (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd).
38. Ilemba Hausa Road , Ajamgbadi, Lagos (registered in the name of Vivi Oil & Gas Company Limited).
39. Land at Iyana Ipaja Round About, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos , (registered in the name of Vivi Oil Investments Limited).
40. Building at 7, Randle Road , Apapa, Lagos , (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers Limited)
41. Block 34, Flat 6, LSDPC Housing Estate, Ebute-Metta Lagos (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers Limited)
42. Three residential towers at Port Harcourt , GRA. 43. 22 Sani Abacha Way, Port Harcourt, GRA (registered in the name of Velvox Investment Company Limited).
44. Metro Plaza Building , 991/992 Zakari Maimalari Street , Central Area, Zone 5, Abuja , (registered in the name of Abinof Food Company Limited).
45. The 4 Floor Building at Herbert Macaulay Way , Wuse Zone 6, Abuja (registered in the name of Casi Properties and Investment Ltd).
46. Metro Plaza Building, ANNEXE B, Zakariya Maimalari Street, Cadastral Zone, AOO, C.B.D, Abuja (registered in the name of MST Properties West Africa Ltd).
47. Flats 1-4, Block D33, Abuja Games Village , Abuja (registered in the name of Convent Trade & Services Limited).
48. Block D33 (Flat 1-4) Games Village , Abuja (registered in the name of Casi Properties and Investment Ltd).
49. Block B40, Flat 5 & 6, Zone 3, Gymnastic Games Village (registered in the name of Oceanic Homes Savings & Loans Limited).
50. Executive Guest House, 4 bedroom Bungalow, Ndanuba Street , Maitama, Abuja (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Manager Limited). 51. Executive Guest House, Ali Akilu Crescent , Asokoro, Abuja , (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers Limited).
51. 29 Real estates in Dubai
52. Seven residential properties in Dubai
53. 15 Real Property in South Africa
54. Other properties in London, England
55. Abridged Shares In listed Nigerian Companies without limitation:
..
If it had been tears of joy, the herald of okada riders into the Nigerian transport system would have been a welcome development. But the tears are indeed painful in different homes of Nigerians as okada riders wreak their havoc endlessly in the course of transporting Nigerians from one point to the other across Nigerian cities.
Alfa Allimi was able to raise some money through the cooperative society in which he was a bonafide member. As a farmer based in Lagos and his farm located in Ogun State, he was excited about the idea of purchasing a Bajaj motorcycle in order to ease the stress associated with his weekly trip to his farm. But as soon as he made his purchase, the okada riders in his neighbourhood proved him totally wrong.
With tears in his eyes, he opened up to this reporter. “On the fateful day, I parked my Bajaj motorcycle at the back of the house. And as a security conscious person, I used to wake up around 2 a.m. in order to find out whether the bike is safe or not. But on this particular night, I just slept off. And when I woke up around 3 a.m., the motorcycle was nowhere to be found. And this is a motorcycle I bought through hire purchase. I am yet to complete the installment payment. Besides, there is a debt to be settled at the cooperative society.”
But how is he sure that the okada riders are involved in the theft? This reporter asked. And it was his wife that swiftly responded. “There is no doubt about it, the okada riders are the thieves. In the past three months, they have been stealing motorcycles in this neighbourhood. These are the new okada riders that have just settled in this area. They are from a village not far from the border between Nigeria and Benin Republic.”
A secondary school teacher in Lagos who wished to remain anonymous told this writer about his own unpleasant experience.
“In the school where I teach, it is customary for teachers to pool their salaries together at the end of the month in the form of monthly contribution. When it came to my turn, I received almost N300,000. My wife and I decided to invest this money wisely, hence we purchased two Sinoiki motorcycle. We gave them out to two okada riders in our area so that they can be rendering daily returns (money) to us at the end of every business day. Rather than honouring the terms of the agreement, they both failed woefully as they converted the motorcycles to their own use.
“Whatever they made every day was paid into their own account without reverting back to us.”
According to the teacher, it was a tug of war before he was able to recover the motorcycles which had been damaged almost beyond repairs as a result of reckless use. And rather than making profit from the transaction, the teacher incurred debt in respect of the okada business.
Mopelola is a 34-year old nurse in one of the private hospitals in Lagos. She was coming from a vigil organised by a church recently.
She had her baby strapped at her back when she got to the bus stop that early morning. She waved an okada rider to stop for her. And up till now, her experience seemed like a nightmare as she narrated the incident to this writer.
“I got to the bus stop around 5 a.m. I was having my baby strapped at my back. An okada rider was passing by and as I waved my right hand to stop him, the young rider quickly stopped. As we were going, heading in the direction of my area of residence, the okada rider took a face towel from the front of his motorcycle. He used it to wipe off his face, and as if he wanted to hang it on his left shoulder, he hit the towel on my head. From that point onwards, I instantly lost my sense of reasoning.”
According to the nurse, the okada rider began to ride at a great speed towards the outskirts of Lagos until they got into a bush. And by the time he stopped finally, it was on a bush path where the mother and the baby were finally handed over to a team of kidnappers. By the time they took me and my baby to a lonely hut in the jungle, my sense of reasoning was restored. It was then I realised I was now in the hands of kidnappers.
“I came across about 10 other people who had also fallen victims like me. It was at this time I began to call the name of Jesus, but my kidnappers were not deterred. They shaved the hair of my baby and mine. And when they finally led me to the presence of the herbalist in order to be slaughtered for ritual purposes, the old man shouted. ‘Take her away! Take her and the child away!’ Two of the kidnappers bundled me and my child away from that demonic premises.”
And when this writer asked how the nurse was able to find her way back home, she said it was really the divine guiding hand of God.
“By the time the kidnappers took me away from the hut in the jungle, they dumped me on a foot path. And after walking for some kilometers, I began to hear the sound of moving vehicles. Using the sound of the vehicles as a guide, I was able to get to a tarred road. The vehicles passing by were unwilling to stop for me. This is because passengers in those vehicles thought I was a mad woman who is nursing a baby. At last, a kind hearted Nigerian stopped and parked beside me. He took the risk and listened to my story. It was this man that gave me a free ride back to Lagos.”
Another person also spoke about an incident which would always cause pain and tears in the eyes of the victim for the rest of her life. And the unforgettable bitter experience was that of a young woman who had her baby strapped at her back. She mounted the back of a Bajaj motorcycle and the rider was so rough and careless in the way and manner he was contesting for the right of way with a bus along Ijoko Road in Ogun State. All of a sudden, the baby strapped to her back fell off from the back of the mother and only to be crushed to death by an on-coming vehicle.
A woman popularly known as Alhaja, real name (withheld) came recently to Lagos on a visit from Ibadan. When she alighted from the bus at Ojodu-Berger, she waved down an okada rider that would take her to Iju, a suburb of Ifako Agege. But that singular action was her undoing and she had a story of woe to tell in respect of that incident.
“In the first place, I was not supposed to stop the okada rider on that terrible day. But I was in a hurry to keep an appointment with my friend whom I had come to visit concerning an important issue. Besides, it was already getting late as I got down from the bus at Ojodu-Berger around 10 p.m. as we were riding along the way, the okada rider just stopped suddenly. As he snatched my handbag, he pushed me into the nearby gutter. He quickly made a U-turn and sped away with my bag, with all the precious things contained therein.”
In the far-away district of Aiyedade in Osun State, a tragedy occurred recently and the whole community is yet to recover from the shocking experience. It was the case of Pastor Ade who was the head of a vibrant Pentecostal church populated by youths in that community. According to eyewitnesses, on that particular Sunday, after the morning service in his church, he was off to clinic where one of his church members had been admitted for treatment the previous day. Rather than riding in his own car, he asked an okada rider to take him there.
The pastor got to the clinic which was located on the outskirts of the town some few minutes later. He prayed for the patient and as he was being taken back to his church by the same okada rider, an on-coming vehicle rammed into the motorcycle. According to the eye witness at the scene of the accident, the man of God did not die immediately and he was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital. The okada rider did not lose his life in the accident. He did not even sustain any injury. But through his careless riding of the motorcycle, he was involved in an accident that caused the death of the amiable young pastor...
Whenever an Okada accident occurs, passengers at the back of the motorcycle are not always the only victims of the mishap. More often than not, the okada rider himself might end up a major victim, with broken limbs or even losing his life in the process. And this seemed to be the fate of Mr. Ezinwa, although he did not lose his own life in the mishap, the broken limbs are the tell-tale signs of the unfortunate accident.
According to the wife of the victim, she was always disturbed whenever her husband rode the motorcycle that was involved in the accident. “My husband is a bricklayer. It is because of hard times that pushed him into riding okada so that he can make some money for the family upkeep. And by his nature, my husband is a carefree person. Had he been a very calm person, he would have been able to avoid the grave mistake that caused the accident. I had always warned him to take life easy. But look at the mess he has put the family now? And this is an accident that was quite avoidable. For almost one year, he was at the place of the local medicine-man who was mending his bones. Even now that he is on his feet, he is already deformed.”
With tears in the homes of their victims and even tears in their own homes too, will the okada riders take a break and learn some useful lessons from all these avoidable accidents? May be this will happen one day when they cease from the rat-race of making money by all means – whether fair or foul.
•Bayo Babatunde writes from Lagos
A 43-year old policeman, Corporal Lanre Ramoni, attached to Agbara Divisional Police Headquarters in Ogun State, is currently being detained for having sex with his daughter for four years. He also aborted her pregnancy four times.
His daughter (name withheld), 19, is an SSS 3, student and the only child.
P.M.NEWS investigation revealed that Corporal Ramoni, has been having sex with his daughter since she was 15 years old.
He even compelled her not to tell anyone about the illicit affair.
The cat was let out of the bag on Monday when the girl got to the school with bruises all over her body and when a classmate of hers asked her what happened, she opened up on what transpired between her and her father.
P.M.NEWS further learnt that her classmate (Joke) on hearing this, ran to one of the teachers who later told the principal of the school about it.
Her father was invited to the school. On arrival, the girl confronted him right in the presence of the principal and the teachers. She accused her father of having sex with her several times and also showed all the love messages he sent to her phone..
Two of the messages which were shown to P.M.NEWS read: “I love you so much, you are good in bed than your mother,” and “Hope you haven’t told anybody that I am having sex with you?”
The police authorities later waded into the matter by arresting the Corporal who is now in detention.
Narrating her ordeal to P.M.NEWS, she said: “please, brother, do not put my name in your paper, my dad Corporal Lanre Ramoni, attached to Criminal Investigation Bureau, CIB, Agbara police station has been having sex with me since when I was 15 years old and he made me swear to an oath. He told me if I revealed my relationship with him I would die.
“And I kept it to my chest until now that I am 19 years old. My dad sent my mother packing for no reason. Each time he wanted to make love to me, I always tell him ‘Dad, but you are my father you slept with my mother now it is my turn.’ I would cry but he always threatened to kill me. I aborted my pregnancy four times for him.
“Some times he would beat me when I refused but last Sunday, 3October, he wanted to sleep with me and when I didn’t allow him, he beat me silly and that is why I have all these bruises all over my body.
“When I go to school on Monday, my friend asked what caused the bruises and while I was crying, I told her that I won’t talk because I would die. When she persisted I told her how my dad beat me because I refused to let him have intimacy that night with me. Immediately I told my friend what happened, she ran and reported to the school authorities who sent for my Dad. And in the presence of everybody, I confessed and showed them the love messages my dad sent into my phone. And Dad said yes it was true.”
Ramoni admitted the allegation in his confessional statement to the police at Agbara where he is being interrogated.
An Australian set her husband’s genitals alight because she suspected he was having an affair and wanted to “purify his penis”, a court in Adelaide was told on Thursday. .
Rajini Narayan, 46, has pleaded not guilty to murdering her husband and causing the fire that burned down their $1 million Australian home.
Satish Narayan died in hospital from his injuries several weeks after being allegedly doused with methylated spirits and set alight in the 2008 attack.
“He was my hero, the man of my life, the love of my life,” the mother-of-three told the court.
“I was going to purify his penis, leave a mark there and he would remain with me. He would be mine.”
In a previous court hearing, Narayan was quoted as telling neighbours: “I’m a jealous wife, his penis should belong to me. I just wanted to burn his penis because it belongs to me and no one else.”
I did a doubletake when I saw a friend's Facebook status update today : "I like it on the kitchen table." Probably just a private message mistakenly posted as a status update.
Then my sister posted, "I like it on the hall floor," and after a moment of feeling vaguely icky, I knew something was up. So I Googled and, of course, found that it's the latest viral breast cancer awareness campaign taking Facebook by storm. (The "it" is actually where a woman likes to leave her purse/handbag.)
Then my sister posted, "I like it on the hall floor," and after a moment of feeling vaguely icky, I knew something was up. So I Googled and, of course, found that it's the latest viral breast cancer awareness campaign taking Facebook by storm. (The "it" is actually where a woman likes to leave her purse/handbag.)
My friend Genevieve likes it on the barstool. My friend Jalade likes it in the car.
Bobos please Get your minds out of the gutter.
They're talking about their purses.
Titillating the Facebook newsfeeds today, women are posting where they like to keep their purses when they come home, but they conveniently leave out the word "purse."
Men are not supposed to know what it means. So stop reading now, men.
The trend follows the January Internet meme in which women posted the color of their bra as their Facebook status.
Both are to raise awareness of breast cancer. October is Breast Cancer Month. (It's also Cybersecurity Awareness Month, but that's another story entirely.)
The question remains whether the viral campaign actually does raise awareness or just raises eyebrows.
One response to a Facebook status: "Woah is right. Overshare."
Update, 10:45 a.m.
Men: Hmph. Some of the not-so-fair sex have complained that this post is sexist as they are forbidden to read past the jump. Others have complained about the actual Internet meme: "Yeah, that's a great way to get men on board with breast cancer awareness month...alienate them."
We suggest going with the flow, men. Men can put purses places these days too.
Oh, and ladies, go take a breast exam..
PAPUA New Guinea's infamous "Black Jesus" cult leader has been found guilty of raping young "flower girls" who belonged to his sect.
PNG's Madang National Court on Wednesday found failed Lutheran pastor Steven Tari, known as Black Jesus, guilty of four counts of rape, with sentencing to come later this month.
Tari made international news when captured and arrested in March 2007 after eluding police for more than a year by moving from village to village or hiding in remote mountain camps in the Transgogol area of Madang province, on PNG's northeast coast.
Tari had thousands of village followers, including a core of armed warriors to protect him, in what is commonly referred to in PNG as a "cargo cult".
As part of his "culture ministry" Tari preached the young girls were to be "married" to him as it was God's prophecy.
At the time of his arrest, there were widespread allegations his cult also practised cannibalism and sacrificial blood rituals, but police only charged him for rape.
Judge David Cannings found Tari guilty of four counts of rape from the six charges relating to five women.
PNG's Post Courier newspaper reported Tari admitted to sexually penetrating the young women, but denied it was done without consent.
In 2008, Tari spoke to AAP from Madang's Boen prison, where the cult leader was in the maximum security wing on remand.
Tari defended his practice of sleeping with young girls who joined his cult.
"I got plenty, 430 (girls)," he told AAP at the time.
"What I did ... is under and in line with my religion. It was religious and was not wrong.
Here are some pictures of Nigerian independence day celebration in kwara state headlined by american
superstar Akon Thuram.
On the streets of Lagos, it is not the police who wield power but gangs of fight-hardened young men known as Area Boys. Louis spends time with several outfits, joining them as they patrol their turf, clash with local rivals and keep the peace in a brutal and haphazard fashion. The main income for the Area Boys is an arbitrary and unofficial form of taxation, extracted from local businesses and commercial drivers. Louis gets to know the rich and glamorous Area Boy leader MC, a former street youth himself, who has now become a friend of the most powerful men in the city. Taken under MC's wing, Louis experiences the top levels of the Area Boys' world from the inside, complete with a tour of MC's grand residence and extensive shoe collection, and ending in a chaotic mini-riot with gunshots, blood and mayhem..
On the side of the law, Louis rides with KAI, the government's Kick Against Indiscipline paramilitary task force, as they storm different city districts. With bulldozers and arrest warrants, KAI use their own strong-arm tactics, and are in their way as feared as the Area Boys.
In Law and Disorder in Lagos, Louis wrestles with life in a world in which the forces of law and the forces of disorder are not always readily distinguishable and nothing is quite whhat it seems.
Luois Theroux has done many Law & Disorder series for Johannesburg,Philadelphia .He is a well known TV critic in the UK and can be very biased in his assessments from my personal opinion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Theroux's_BBC_2_Specials
Louis Sebastian Theroux (pronounced /θəˈruː/;[1] born 20 May 1970) is a British broadcaster best known for his Gonzo style journalism[2] on the television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met...
Theroux was born in Singapore, the younger son of the American travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux[3] and his British first wife, Anne Castle. His elder brother is the writer and television presenter Marcel Theroux. He is the cousin of American actor Justin Theroux. He moved to the UK when he was 4, and was brought up in London. Theroux was educated for a couple of years at Allfarthing school then moved to Westminster School (where he was a friend and contemporary of the comedians Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish). Another of his contemporaries was Liberal Democrat politician Nick Clegg with whom he travelled to America.[4] He then went to Magdalen College, Oxford where he gained a first class degree in modern history and was noted for his film reviews for the Grapevine magazine.
His first journalism job was at Metro Silicon Valley, an alternative free weekly newspaper in San Jose, California. In 1992 he was hired as a writer for Spy magazine. He was also working as a correspondent on Michael Moore's TV Nation series, for which he provided segments on off-beat cultural subjects, including Avon ladies in the Amazon, the Jerusalem syndrome, and the attempts by the Ku Klux Klan to rebrand itself as a civil rights group for white people. When TV Nation ended he was signed to a development deal by the BBC, out of which came Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends. He has guest-written for a number of publications including Hip-Hop Connection and he continues to write for The Idler.
source wikipedia
Question What is the beef the British have with us ? Britain is not Paradise !
They wanted to blame the attacks on northerners who are trying to fight against him [Jonathan] to come back as president and if this was done, I was not going to have any problems with the South African government. I declined to do this and few hours later I was arrested. It was based on their belief that I was going to do that that President Jonathan issued a statement claiming that MEND didn't carry out the attack because they were expecting a kind of retraction from the group
Aljazeera: So just to be clear, why do you think that political aide was asking you to ask MEND to make that retraction? What was the reason for that?
Henry Okah: They don't want it to seem as if Jonathan does not have the support of his people, you understand? For months now they have been lying to everybody that everybody is so pleased with Jonathan, that he is going to bring peace to the region which is entirely false.
This attack now was actually going to be a great smear on his aspiration. They just needed the group to retract that statement which was why I was contacted. But I declined to make any such move.
Aljazeera: As far as MEND is concerned, what is the situation with MEND, because Goodluck Jonathan is trying to say that this group is not a problem anymore; the previous president had tried amnesty and rehabilitation programmes, can you give us a summary of what the situation is with MEND?
Not just with MEND, with everybody who is fighting and to whichever way they are fighting. You don't just give people an amnesty and ask them to forget about the reason why they are fighting. Every one of us is fighting for something and if what we are fighting for is not addressed, it ushers problem in the area. You understand. It is not about Jonathan being president or about an amnesty being given. I mean, why will you steal my land and you give me an amnesty and then you expect me not to continue fighting you? Why would that happen?
Aljazeera: Are you saying none of these concerns you have are been addressed by the government?
Absolutely none. With Yar'adua it was much better. He had a good understanding of the problem. And regardless of the fact that he was from the north he was making good attempt at addressing these problems. But with Jonathan it is entirely a different story. He doesn't know what the problems are and is also being tele-guided by other people, you know, who are giving him very bad advice.
Aljazeera: So Henry what do you think is going to happen to you now?
I don't care, I really couldn't care. But one thing I tell you for sure, is just like I was able to talk to you, it only shows that South Africa is not like Nigeria. In Nigeria I was held for one year and four months in solitary confinement. I didn't kill anybody, I had no books, no newspapers, no TV, no radio, not even electrified. But the fact that I can speak to you on phone, even though I am being detained, shows that I am in an entirely different country from Nigeria.
And I am arrested here at the instance of Nigeria, which threatened the South African government with diplomatic action if they didn't arrest me. That is the only reason why I am in detention. All those people I learnt have been arrested in Nigeria I have no contact with any of them, I don't even know them.
They are just trying to do this thing, to point the finger at other political opponents in order to scuttle their attempts at being president. But as you see I am not a politician and I have no any business with any of the other aspirants for the posts of president in Nigeria. I have no connection with them. The story that I have been given a lot of money by different politicians to do one thing or the other, but I promise you I don't even have that kind of money myself. I don't have money.
The former attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Michael Aondoakaa, has been barred from using the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)..
The decision was taken by the legal practitioners privileges committee of the Nigerian Bar Association.
The Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Sunday Olorundahunsi, at a press conference in Abuja, said the committee took the decision at a meeting held yesterday.
He confirmed that Mr. Aondoaka had been suspended from the rank, following consideration of the former AGF’s response to a petition written against him by the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR).
“...the committee, after due consideration of the said response, has decided in its wisdom, to suspend him[Aondoakaa] from the use of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria and all other privileges attached to that rank, pending the outcome of the investigation by the sub-committee set up by the legal practitioners privileges committee,” Mr. Olorundahunsi said.
Amongst a number of allegations, the petition accuses the former justice minister of using his position to “emasculate the anti-corruption institutions.” He is also accused of “lying and deception” in an attempt to bury corruption charges brought against James Ibori, the former Delta State governor, and his associates.
The petition goes on to say that Mr, Aondakaa was guilty of “deliberate mis-interpretation, mis-application, and incompetence.” He also showed “an inadequate knowledge of the law,” the petition read.
Travel ban
The decision to suspend Mr. Aondoakaa as a SAN follows a travel ban to the United States earlier this year, due to allegations of obstruction of justice during his time as a minister.
Additionally, a Calabar High Court also recently barred him from holding any public office, following a lawsuit that accused Mr. Aondoakaa of impeding judgment during an election hearing.
Mr. Aondakaa was one of the more vocal members of the late President Yar’Adua’s cabinet. During the former president’s absence from the country, Mr. Aondakaa repeatedly told Nigerians that governance could continue as usual.
Several notable high profile cases, such as Halliburton and Siemens, were not given due attention during his three-year stint as a minister.
One of President Jonathan’s first actions was to strip him of the justice portfolio and assign him the special duties ministry, a position he refused to serve in.
Nigeria’s security operatives have expressed doubt about the authenticity of the celebrated interview with a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta’s (MEND), Henry Okah, by Al Jazeera, during which he said an aide of President Goodluck Jonathan asked him to implicate Northern politicians over October 1, 2010 bomb blasts, which left 12 persons dead.
A security source said investigations within the security services in Nigeria and South Africa revealed that the interview with Mr. Okah might have been faked to deceive the Qatar-based news network.
The source said last night that their South African counterpart confirmed that, “at no time did we allow Okah to make such telephone contact. Following suspicion raised about the authenticity of the interview, we contacted South Africa to confirm its validity, but were shocked to find out that at no time did such interview take place,” he said.
“In fact, our contact wondered why it took us so long to cross check this information because they did not want to interfere, since the issues did not concern their government directly. They have been waiting for such security inquiries from their Nigerian counterpart before revealing the veracity of the interview, since the content does not concern them directly.”
Al Jazeera confirmation
An Al Jazzera reporter, however, told NEXT that the interview was conducted with Mr Okah. The reporter said Okah called from South Africa and he was passed on to the company’s studios in Doha.
“He called me from prison on a +27 number,” the Al Jazeera staff said. “We had a long discussion about the bombs and the situation in general. Clearly, they are allowed access to fixed phone lines in SA prisons. I asked him whether he would be prepared to be go live on Al Jazeera that very instant. He said ‘yes’.
“So I gave him our newsdesk number in Doha - and alerted them to the fact that Henry Okah was about to call from prison. He called, and they put him right through to the studio and live on air,” the reporter said.
The Joint Task Force (JTF) for the Niger Delta has also debunked the veracity of another Al Jazeera programme featuring alleged MEND fighters in the region. The JTF said an aerial surveillance of the region showed there were no longer any militant camps anywhere, as claimed by Al Jazeera.
“Al Jazeera, it will be recalled, had also during the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s health saga, staged a similar interview with the late president’s cousin, claiming that the sick man was healthy, playing with his children, and climbing 13-storey building,” a security source said.
By Elizabeth Archibong
October 8, 2010 04:52AM
