Bianca Ojukwu’s brother in fraud scandal
It’s no longer a big deal in Nigeria for men of seeming honour to get entangled in dishonourable behaviour. What is wrong with you walking on your head, when there is madness in the land? This is a funny country where a good name is just a homily. The son of the former governor of the old Anambra State, the late Chief Christian Onoh, and the brother of Bianca Ojukwu, the wife of Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, Josef, has been arrested by the police following his alleged involvement in a land scam, financial fraud, and certificate forgery.
Josef, also a former member of the Enugu State House of Assembly, the police alleged, got into trouble following many petitions over his supposed shady land deals among other various activities. He was also accused of refusing to pay a loan of N2.5 million obtained from Harvard Trust Mortgage Bank, Enugu in 2001. Josef, we heard illegally resold a plot of land earlier bought from his father, (Chief Onoh), in 2006 to three other persons despite being privy to the initial transaction.
According to the petitioner, he purchased the plot situated at Onoh quarters, GRA from Josef‘s father for N12 million. But after the death of the former governor, Josef allegedly resold the land for N20 million to three gullible
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I love it when people have confidence in me. I love when my family has confidence in me. It gives me strength and empowers me. We may not always have confidence in ourselves, but somehow, when there are people around who believe in us, we can draw from their confidence. That’s why it’s so important that we surround ourselves with the right people. When you position yourself in quality places with quality people, it’s going to bring out the best in you.
Most people are familiar with world-famous boxer, Muhammad Ali and his renowned trainer, Angelo Dundee. But many people don’t know that just before every boxing match, Dundee would write a number on a small slip of paper and place it inside Ali’s glove. That may sound like a strange thing to give a boxer right before a fight, but Dundee had a reason for what he did. The number that Dundee would write on that slip of paper was the number of the round in which he predicted that Ali would knock out his opponent. Dundee was so confident in Ali’s ability that he didn’t consider “if,” he only considered “when”—and Ali knew it!
I love that story because it shows the confidence Ali’s trainer had in him, and it shows the positive effect it had on Muhammad Ali. I believe that confidence played a tremendous part in “the champ’s” amazing success as one of the greatest boxers that ever lived.
In the same way, do you know who is certain of your ability to succeed? God is. After all, He knows what’s inside you because He placed it there. Even when you’re not certain of the outcome, God has confidence in you. Let that sink down into your heart today—the God who holds the universe in the palm of His hand has faith in you! He’s not wondering if you’re going to overcome, He has confidence in you because He knows it’s just a matter of time before those things that would try to hold you back are broken off so that you can embrace the victory He has in store for you!
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 27, 2009 at 1:21am
In a swift move to atone for its sins and come back into the Federal Government’s good books, SONY Corporation has officially tendered “sincere apologies,” to the government and people of Nigeria for portraying the country in bad light in an advert.
Representatives of SONY, led by Managing Director, SONY Gulf- Mideast and Africa, Mr. Muira Osamo, were at the Radio House office of the Ministry of Information and Communications, to assure the Federal Government that “there was no bad intention or reason for the advert. It is a genuine mistake by our organisation.”
In a letter signed by Shiro Kambe, SONY Corporation’s, Vice President, Senior General Manager Corporate Communications and CSR, made available to THISDAY, the company noted that “it has come to our attention that a TV advertisement made by SONY Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA), one of our group companies in the U.S. responsible for Play Station business in the U.S. and Canada, may have offended some members of the Nigerian community. We sincerely apologise to anyone this may have offended.”
According to them, the company took steps to remove the advert from the air, “immediately after learning that it contained statements that might have offended some individuals. By September 7, all replacement work was completed, and the original advertisement has not been aired.”
Osamo said he came on behalf of SONY Corporation to make a sincere apology to Nigerians, “to show our commitment and respect to Nigerian people and community.” Responding, Akunyili expressed dissatisfaction at the wordings of the letter. She advised SONY to “re- write the letter to reflect the real feelings of SONY. You said that you offended some members of the Nigerian community.
That is not true. In fact, you offended all Nigerians. I have a reservation on the apology. We will not take the apology seriously until you modify it.“You have taken the first step by apologising. Then re- write the apology to make it more acceptable. We are expecting clearer apology from SONY.”
The SONY Play Station- 3 advert; which according to reports, was seen by more than a billion people; broke worldwide on the first of September and contained scandalous material, depicting all Nigerians as internet- scammers.
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Universities are called the ivory tower. This is where intellect is sharpened and minds are developed. However, the country’s universities appear to have figuratively added a new course: “Sexology.” Although this infamous course does not earn anybody a
degree, it’s so popular that many female undergraduates go for it. And they are making fortunes.
Indeed, Nigeria’s institutions of higher learning have become citadels of sex, as female students run riot with their bodies for money. They have become more daring and devise new and diverse strategies to not only market themselves but also excel in an increasingly competitive trade. As a matter of fact, the sex trade among female undergraduates is booming on campuses and even extending to brothels and elsewhere.
Saturday Sun investigations revealed that the story is the same all over the country. From institutions in the fringe of the Sahara to the Atlantic coastline, female students are doing incredible ‘runs,’ a euphemism for sex-for-cash. As it were, they hawk their stuff with impunity, to the extent that those who are not involved are called “bush meat,” among other derogatory names.
It is not really difficult to identify the student sex hawkers on campus. They give themselves away with their provocative dressing. They could also be identified by their body language or general mannerisms.
The Lagos sex boom
In Lagos, the sex business among female university students is big. The most notorious in the state is University of Lagos (UNILAG), where ladies strut their stuff without a care in the world. In the university, female sex hawkers have elevated their trade to an art. They compete, like professional prostitutes, to attract the attention of men.
Saturday Sun gathered that with the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has left schools almost empty, the ladies have since moved on with life, having unrestrained fun in private hostels scattered across Sabo down to Onike Iwaya axis and Bariga, all located around the university. When our correspondent visited UNILAG recently, hostels, like Moremi, Makama, New Hall, Madam Tinubu Hall (MTH) and Amina, Newest Hall were deserted. It was gathered that this is always the case in the day. In the evening, especially weekends, the female hostels begin to bubble, as exotic cars bearing randy men scouting for girls stream in. As the day gets darker, the vicinity of the hostel would start witnessing the presence of a handful of ladies looking for men to sleep with for a fee. Their patrons take some of the girls away, while some others end up with them in nearby joints.
The New Hall, in UNILAG, is arguably the hottest of the lot. The Makama and MTH are second and third in the rating of the sex spots. There are also pimps, who coordinate the sex trade, arranging girls for men at a fee. These pimps live in such places as Computer and Masaba, among others. Sources revealed that the pimps arrange for the girls to meet their patrons in hotels around the school, especially those who want short service.
Saturday Sun gathered that one of the criteria to get a girl is to own a car and enough cash to spend. In the word of one of the female students: “No car, no parole.”
Asked how a new comer can engage a girl for a ‘parole,’ she said: “ Once you have a car, it’s easy, especially if you park the car and come out where the girls will see you. As you walk towards the girls they know that you are there for business and they will give you signs.” She also said that another easy way to get girls is “to know somebody who knows somebody.”
In one of the popular joints, where the girls flock, one of the pimps told Saturday Sun that girls come in, at the pretext to groove, but end up going home with men.
He said: “As you can see, there is no activity here. Even the restaurant downstairs is empty. At the end of the groove, some of these girls go home with as much as N50, 000 and above. Some even come back with brand new cars. But it doesn’t happen all at once.”
Some of the girls have also taken their trade to a higher level. It was learnt that following constant harassment of their clients who visit at odd hours, girls prefer private hostels around the university to school hostels.One of the big girls on campus told Saturday Sun: “Aristos (wealthy men) do not come to school again to pick girl; they now camp their babes in private hostels.”
Directly opposite UNILAG gate is a twin brown three-storey building, known as Emerald Hostel. It was built for off-campus accommodation for students. However, many of the female students who live in the hostel have devised a way of making money with their bodies. The place reeks of class, as automobiles of different makes are parked there even at noon. The girls keep to their rooms in the day, but from 7pm, the place would become a beehive of activities, as they come out for the day’s market.
American Mola Hostel, which accommodates university students, is another action spot. It is notorious as abode of wild girls, who ply their sex trade at higher levels. As someone noted, “it is mainly for hardcore classy prostitutes.” In Abule Ijesha, there is also Hall 9 on Moore road as well as Blue Haven and Hall 36, which has four female hostels. Skyfield, a unisex hostel at Sabo Yaba, is also a sex haven.
Just as in UNILAG, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin and Lagos State University (LASU) are also hot spots for sex trade. The female students in these institutions of higher learning serve mainly customs officers and other paramilitary officers in the Badagry axis. Also these girls service traders in Alaba International Market. The Lagos Polytechnic, Isolo and Epe campuses are also centres of sex.
Federal capital city of sexThe case of Abuja seems to be a bad one. Student sex hawkers are on the prowl, running riots in relaxation spots and highbrow hotels. For these girls, the face-off between ASUU and the FG can continue, so that they will go on with their business.
It was gathered that the female undergraduates hire rooms in major hotels, where they bring in men. Sources at these hotels say the female students contribute money to pay for the hotel rooms and, in most cases, keep the room for weeks. Operating from the hotel room, they will have access to male lodgers.
Linda, who claimed to be a final year student of the University of Abuja, told our reporter: “Some of us have nobody to take care of us and we even have our younger ones to cater for. We come to hustle in Abuja to be able to raise some funds for our families.”
She said that such places as Hilton Hotel, Sheraton, Chelsea Hotel, Agura, and many other big hotels are hang out spot for the girls. Also, they hang out in Lagos Street at Garki. In the same vein, they mill around in Gimbiya Street as well as eateries, like Mister Biggs, Chicken Republic and Southern Chicken Fries. According to her, business in these places start around 7pm, with the girls hanging around the vicinity or taking time off in the hotels’ clubs.
Apart from Abuja university students, those from Nasarawa State University, Keffi, just some 40 kilometers from the city centre, also storm hotels in Abuja.
Another tactics the female students employ, it was gathered, is to visit construction sites, banks and corporate organizations in the guise of looking for vacation jobs.
Halima, an indigene of Kaduna State and a 300-level Accounting student for Nasarawa State University, said she makes an average of N15, 000 to N20, 000 daily. According to her, level of patronage depends on weather condition. She said that more men come out to pick girls during good weather and stay indoors when it rains. She however, said that those who come out for girls when it is raining do not pay much for the services of the students because “we in this business just want to go home with anybody at whatever price when it is raining. We consider it luck to even get anybody at such weather condition”.
The Onitsha sex trade
Saturday Sun investigation revealed that higher institutions within the commercial city of Onitsha and environs, such as the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe (NOCEN), Anambra State University, Igbariam campus, Federal Polytechnics, Oko are under the vicious grip of what could be described as a form of sexual madness. Although, authorities of these institutions are said to be fighting to control the unwholesome sexual activities of some of the students on campus, it is obvious that the war has not been won.
When Saturday Sun visited the above-mentioned institutions recently, some of the female students were hanging around looking out for men. The more desperate hang around hotels and other fun spots in town hoping to be picked by wealthy businessmen and politicians. It was gathered that politicians and government officials are the biggest patrons of the student-prostitutes in the commercial city. A source said: “When prominent politicians and government officials visit Anambra State, their pimps invade higher institutions to pick girls for them.”
It was further learnt that to take any of the girls home, for a night, costs between N5, 000 and N20, 000, depending on the man’s bargaining power and the girls’ desperation for cash. Also, female students leave their pictures and telephone numbers with hotels attendants. This practice is rampant in Awka and Oko. All it takes a lodger, who needs a woman, is to tell hotel attendants, who will, in turn contact the girls. The hotel attendants, it was gathered, also keep the pictures of the female students in the sex cartel. Male patrons look at the pictures and make their choice.
It was gathered, however, that although the practice is considered illegal by hotel managers, it is rampant. Two pimps in Awka gave Saturday Sun names and telephone numbers of female students involved in sex-for-money business. Out of the six girls contacted, two said they travelled out of Awka but introduced our correspondent to their colleagues in the business. They apologized for their non-availability and assured that those they had introduced were equally good. The other girls said they were in town and accepted to meet the reporter at an agreed location.
Investigations revealed that the girls are into networking. A student of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, who gave her name as Lizzy, said: “We stand in for each other. If you are not in town or you are doing some runs elsewhere and a new run comes up, you can call your friend to stand in for you. She can do the same for you. We call it networking.”
The Abia angle
It was gathered that sex trade is booming at the Abia State University, Uturu, University of Agriculture, Umudike and Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, among other schools in the state. According to a lecturer, it is worst with children of religious leaders, who run riot once they get out of the sight of their parents. He likened it to birds freed from the cage.
Felicia, a student at UNIAGRIC, Umudike said: “The students who do this business go out when they want and come back when they want. They form cliques and work together. They don’t attend lectures but make fantastic results at the end of the day. There are some nights when you will see girls freshening up and you will be wondering what is going on. Before you know what is happening, everyone would have left the hostel and only two or three people will be left behind. As early as 5.30 am the following day, they will all return to their rooms pretending as if nothing had happened.”
A male student of Abia Polytechnic, Aba, who spoke to Saturday Sun recounted what one of the girls told him on their escapades. He said: “She told me that some of them do it to catch fun while others do it to meet up with the financial demand of the lecturers, who would either want your money or your body. Some don’t just go into it but are lured into it by friends and get hooked to it.” He revealed that Aba-Owerri road; Ogbor Hill and Ama Hausa areas are among places these girls operate in Aba.
One of the sex queens, whose nickname is African China, said that she and her friends are having fun sleeping with men for money. According to her, the girls see men, who patronize them as mugu (fools), who have money to waste. Therefore, the girls go for the money.
The Enugu story
Enugu could pass for the town hosting the highest number of higher institutions in the country. Therefore, sex trade among female students is really big. From the Institute of Management Technology (IMT) to the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Enugu Campus (UNEC), Enugu State College of Education, Our Saviour Institute of Science and Technology (OSISATECH), Caritas University and Renaissance University, Nigeria Law School, among others, female students are running riot in prostitution. At the gates of these schools, the girls hang around in the evenings waiting for customers. Some of them are so daring or desperate that they practically woo men who get close to their school gates.
At IMT, for instance, the girls would almost pull any passing man by the hand, as they seek his attention. For them, every man is a potential customer. Sex-for-marks are also rampant in some of these schools, hence most of the female students who indulge in this have no business attending lectures.
“They have no business with lectures or assignments. All they need is to go out there, make their money, pay for a hotel room and invite the lecturer. It is in that hotel that she will earn whatever grade she wants in the examination,” a source said.
The girls also go to hotels to solicit customers. A waiter in one of the hotels in New Haven, who gave his name as Moses, claimed that some of the students drop their telephone numbers and, in some cases, photographs with hotel attendants to show intending customer. He however, revealed that display of pictures is a last option to convince a doubting Thomas that the shape, size and curves of the girls are not being exaggerated.
Our source disclosed that the point men at the hotels receive tips from the customer, while the girls also settle them at the end of the transaction.
The Edo sex business
In Edo State, there have been two particular spots noted for sex trade over the years. In these places, female students from higher institutions indulge themselves in sex-for-money. The spots are at Aviele, near Auchi on the Auchi-Benin highway and Oluku on the Benin-Lagos highway. At these spots, which serve as transit parks for haulage vehicles, female students of higher institutions are often seen at night in their numbers either waiting for drivers of the heavy duty vehicles, who are regular customers or other men looking for fun. Also, these female undergraduates operate in a network, within the campuses. There are always contact persons, who link up the girls, especially when politicians and government officials are having night social gatherings.
Owerri for show
In Owerri, the Imo State capital, the sex cartel is a booming business. Female students from Federal University of Technology, Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State University and the state university ply their trade around the Imo Concorde Hotel, where there are a legion of hotels. These girls hang around from 7pm, waiting for men to pick them up.
Bad business for pimps
Saturday Sun gathered that pimps are losing their relevance in the business. Unlike in the days past when they practically ran the show, many of the patrons now seek self-help. A retired pimp, who gave his name as Boy George, said: “The fun days for pimps are gone. Men now drive into schools and get what they want. There are no restrictions anymore. I got into this business by accident. An old student of this school asked me if I could get babes for him and his friends. As an adventurer, I asked my girlfriend if she knew how to get babes for Aristos? In fact, I used my girlfriend to get girls for them. I got up to 17 girls and we took them to a club in Ikoyi to meet with their prospective clients, who are old enough to be their fathers and grand fathers but they are rich. That day, I entered the VIP section, which ordinarily I wouldn’t have. They gave me an air-conditioned bus to ferry the girls to the club. We ate and drank and at the end, I went home alone. I lost my girlfriend to one of them. They have a clique.”
Analysing the characteristics of men who patronize the girls, he said: “Yahoo Yahoo boys do not spend on women. They don’t give a dime because they don’t work. Aristos are more like fools. Aristos can spoil you silly with money and gifts but if you asked a Yahoo boys to give you even N10, 000, they could beat you up.”He revealed that the girls he arranged for the men went home with N25, 000 each, from which each of them paid him N5, 000. “From then, I started making money from them during the weekends. I even printed call cards, where I spelt out that pimping was my line of business. I was getting calls from men and girls. As I got deeper into the business, my GP nose-dived because I was no longer concentrating in my studies. I had to change course.”
George said sex trade is not all about fun and money. According to him, it could be turbulent sometimes.
Hear him: “Some of the girls too go through pains. A particular girl came with bruises and complained that she got beaten up because her client could not get erection and wanted oral sex, which she declined. According to some of the girls, some of their clients don’t sleep with them but demand oral sex.”
Another source told Saturday Sun that even after passing out from school, some of the girls come around and engage in the business. According to him, “I still see some of the former students here. It is just like cultism. Most people who leave school will tell you that they have left it. It’s a lie. These girls have a clique. Even after school, some of them still come back here to buy bed space or stay with some of the girls they trained. Only very few leave it completely.”
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Posted by Eddy Etuk on September 25, 2009 at 3:21am
In its campaign to rid the country of fake and sub-standard drugs, the Federal Government yesterday recommended death penalty for fake drugdealers.It said the draft bill for review of the laws guiding the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), would be presented to the National Assembly for consideration within two weeks.Speaking on the theme: “Combating Drug Hawking, Counterfeit Drugs and Unwholsome Regulated Products,” at a one-day workshop organised by theNational Agency for Food, Drug and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for 774 local government councils in the country, in Abuja, Minister of State for Health, Dr Idi Hong, said government was alarmed at the damage done to the population as aresult of activities of fake and sub-standard drug peddlers.He said government was partnering the National Assembly to ensure that maximum penalty was meted out to offenders.“We at the Ministry of Health are asking for maximum penalty for those involved in the sale, manufacture and importation of fake andsub-standard drugs.We are asking National Assembly to support us in this advocacy for maximum penalty for such offenders.“If you know that you will loose your life or spend the rest of it in jail and that you will not live to spend the money you made from such trade, you will not be involved in it,” he said.Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Michael Andoaaka, SAN, said perpetrators of such acts would not escape justice, as government was determined to end the debacle.In her speech, First Lady, Mrs Turai Yar’Adua, sought efforts to ensure that the drug war was won. She called on local government chairmen to set up NAFDAC desks in their councils, as a way of taking the campaign to the grassroots.Earlie, Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr Paul Orhii, saidthe agency was fully committed to moving to the next level in its regulatory activities that would be comparable to other international regulatory authorities.
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Posted by Eddy Etuk on September 25, 2009 at 1:39am
Nigeria made an unimpressive performance in the fight against corruption in a global report released by Transparency International.The country was ranked 121 among 180 countries investigated.The 121 position of Nigeria in the 2008 report may not be unconnected with the crisis facing the banking sector over the years.The report was particular in focusing on that sector, noting that it “has a long history of corruption.”Drawing attention to the history of corruption in the banking sector and several failed efforts to stem the tide over the years, Transparency International blamed the “lack of efficiency and effectiveness on the part of the bank regulatory authorities in the country.”The report further blamed the situation on the slowness of investigation and prosecution.“The situation is further compounded by the slowness of the investigation and prosecution process in Nigeria it said.”To buttress its conclusion, it drew attention to statements credited to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Mrs Farida Waziri when in December 2008, she “lamented that the courts were frustrating the ant-corruption war in Nigeria.”While saying corruption was responsible for “the collapse of many banks in the 1990s and losses to many depositors and stakeholder,” it noted that “the failures were a result of fraud committed by bank owners and managers, who had: granted unsecured loans, resulting in high levels of bad debt and loss of liquidity; failed to maintain a strong capital base; granted unsecured loans to friends and bank owners or managers; and in some cases, embezzled funds outright.”The organization noted that the amended ‘Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Decree 1994 resulted in a protracted and complex chain of events that had still not resolved by September 2008” when the report was compiled.The report cited several cases of power game among bank executives that often result to failures in the sector. Such cases mentioned include that of Mr. Adebisi Omoyemi versus Chief Samuel Adegbite at Wema Bank. It mentioned the alleged role of Omoyemi at the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) when he was accused of blocking “unfettered access to the books and record of the bank in a manner that was tantamount to obstructing their duty.”Another case cited was that between Omoyeni and former deputy governor of Central Bank, Tunde Lemo whom Omoyeni accused of “colluding with NDIC to ‘kill Wema Bank” This case was in addition to that of Triumph Bank on July 11, 2008 when the Managing Director, Francis Atoju and three others were arraigned before a Federal High Court in Lagos.
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Posted by MITCHELL on September 24, 2009 at 9:43pm
Tell your loved ones and anybody you know. APPLE IS NOW A POISONOUS FRUIT TO EAT .All the ones imported into the country currently are contaminated and have been killing people.The statistics is nation wide and increasing. This massage is from NAFDAC Its not a rumor……………pass the message.It is now on nigerian dailies. act very fast to save some lives.
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Posted by Politics X on September 24, 2009 at 7:02am
Since the inception of the Yar’adua administration, Ibori has been parading himself as thepower behind the throne, but all that is about to change, I was authoritatively told. Thehandwriting has been on the wall for some time, only Ibori is either too blind to see it, or isunintelligent enough to decode it.But that Ibori is finally reading the handwriting on the wall is signified by the heightened activityof his Man Friday, Tony Eluemunor. This fine gentleman’s media activity – both online andoffline - in defence of his pay-master has reached extraordinary proportions.As for Aondoakaa, his days as AG is said to be numbered. With ordinary Nigerians, the NigeriaBar Association, Afenifere, Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, Nigeria Labour Congressand others calling for his sack, Yar’adua is said to be planning another populist coup by gettingrid of him.The AG is already jittery, three press Statements issued in the five days since last weekdefending one incident or the other regarding him has got observers wondering what has comeover this overbearing boss that never failed to remind anyone that he is the ‘chief law officer ofthe Federation’.“Na only Ibori steal money”? NO! But na Ibori wey people wan see for court and then jail.The women they keep parading in London courts are merely tails, and we ask, where are theheads....all them thief heads...na dem all Nigerians want....sure nor be only Ibori steal money,so we wan make dem catch all them way steal money, if kirikiri nor fit enter them, take some ofthe money wey dem steal, take am build more kirikiri like place for them....how about the islandwey dem baba Obasanjo build for criminals... sotee na there baba belong too, with all himsons,...ibori, uba, igbinedion.. .all of them.......true question...' na only ibori steal money.Yes, we cannot wait to see the other thieves that the Economic and Financial CrimesCommission (EFCC) released sometime ago; 56 Nigerians that collectively removed over N243billion from the nation’s treasury.The names, some of which the EFCC Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, referred to as politicallyrevered people in the international community, were contained in a list handed over to theleadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), as the EFCC and NLC commenced theirstrategic partnership to intensify the fight against corruption in the country.The list contained names of well-known politicians, former governors, ministers, permanentsecretaries, civil servants, chairmen and members of parastatal agencies, local governmentchairmen, members of the House of Representatives and senators.They include: former governors of Jigawa State, Saminu Turaki, N36 billion; Joshua Dariye(Plateau) amount not stated; Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), N5 billion; Rasheed Ladoja (Oyo), N6 billion;Jolly Nyame (Taraba), N180 million; Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), N5.3 billion; Boni Haruna(Adamawa), N93 million and Michael Botmang, (acting governor, Plateau) N1. 5 billion.The EFCC also listed the cases involving a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, ChiefBode George, N100 billion; an Indian businessman, Patrick Fernandez, N32 billion; formerManaging Director of FAAN, Roland Iyayi, N5.6 billion; former Minister of Aviation, ProfessorBabalola Borishade, N5.6 billion; an Austrian businessman, Eider George, N5.6 billion; andKenny Martins of Police Equipment Fund (PEF), N7.7 billion.Also on the list are: Tom Isegholi, Mohammed Buba, and Mike Okoli for the Transcorp Plc., N15billion; Senator Nicholas Ugbane and nine other members of the House of Representatives,N5.2 billion; Iyabo Obasanjo, N10 million; serving Chief of Staff to Rivers State Governor,Nyeson Wike, N4.7 billion; former Aviation Minister Femi-Fani-Kayode, N250 million; four seniorZenith Bank managers, N3.6 billion; Molkat Mutfwang and three others, N636 million; Dr.Ransome Owan and six others, N1.5 billion; a retired Permanent Secretary, Dr. Albert Ikomi,N43 million, and chairman, Taraba State Civil Service Commission, Dr. Yuguda Manu, N17.5million.NAMES ON THE EFCC LIST FOR TRIAL1. Bode George N100 billion2. Saminu Turaki N36 billion3. Patrick Fernandez N32 billion4. Tom Isegholi, Mohammed Bubaand Mike Okoli (for The Transcorp Plc) N15 billion5. Kenny Martins N7.7 billion6. Rasheed Ladoja N6 billion7. Roland Iyayi N5.6 billion8. Babalola Borishade N5.6 billion9. Elder George N5.6 billion10. Chimaroke Nnamani N5.3 billion11. Senator Nicholas Ugbane and nine other members of the Houseof Representatives N5.2 billion12. Orji Uzor Kalu N5 billion13. Nyeson Wike N4.7 billion14. 4 senior Zenith Bank Managers N3.6 billion15. Michael Botmang N1.5 billion16. Ransome Owan and 6 others N1.5 billion17. Molkat Mutfwang and 3 others N636 million18. Femi-Fani-Kayode N250 million19. Jolly Nyame N180 million20. Boni Haruna N93 million21. Dr. Albert Ikomi N43 million22. Dr. Yuguda Manu N17.5 million23. Senator Iyabo Obasanjo24. Joshua Dariye (amount not stated)
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twitternaija a microblog...kinikon.com a microblog..kinikon.com a microblogA world first: Vaccine helps prevent HIV infection
Doctor Kim a leading Scientist however says IT might not work in Africa .no reasons have been given for this according to Research 9jabook Reporters have done .Details of the $105 million study will be given at a vaccine conference in Paris next month.
Scientists said on Thursday in Bangkok, that they have discovered a vaccine that has reduced the chance of HIV infection in humans for the first time.
This followed a trial conducted by the U.S. Military HIV Research program and the Thai Ministry of Public Health. The trial was conducted on 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, with half of the participants receiving the combination of the two vaccines and the other half receiving dummy jabs.
The combination of two vaccines had previously failed to produce a response on their own but was observed to have reduced the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 per cent.
The vaccine is a combination of Sanofi-Pasteur's (SASY.PA) ALVAC canary pox vaccine and the failed HIV vaccine AIDSVAX, made by a San Francisco company called VaxGen and now owned by the nonprofit Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases.
"We had 74 infections in the placebo group and 51 in the vaccine group," Dr. Jerome Kim, a U.S. Army colonel at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland, who helped lead the trial, said in a telephone interview with REUTERS.
The result, almost completely unexpected, puzzled researchers, who say they cannot figure out why the vaccine combination is working.
It is also a triumph for its supporters, who went ahead with the giant trial of 16,000 volunteers despite critics who said it was unethical or a waste of money because the vaccine was so widely expected to have no effect at all.
"Myself, like others, did not think there was a very high chance that this would give any degree of efficacy," said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped pay for the study.
"But nonetheless, we went ahead with the trial and it was controversial to go ahead with it."
"We see no commercial vaccine available for some time yet, but the prospect has finally been raised (after 30 years of trying) that an effective vaccine is possible," Michael Leacock, analyst at ABN AMRO research said.
More extensive work is needed before a vaccine is suitable for regulatory approval, he said.
Further muddying the waters of the trial result, people who got the vaccine and who became infected anyway had just as much virus in their blood and just as much damage to their immune systems as HIV patients who went unvaccinated.
This means the vaccine helps to prevent infection but does nothing to affect the virus once it is in the body.
"Although the level of protection that we saw was clearly modest, the study is a major scientific advance," Dr. Kim said.
The scientist however said the vaccine may not work in Africa.Other Reports just Coming In
SCIENTISTS have for the first time succeeded in protecting people from HIV infection by means of a vaccine, a development that has stunned researchers worldwide and transformed prospects for combating the deadly virus.
The experimental vaccine cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by 31 per cent, according to results released from the world's largest AIDS vaccine trial of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand.
Although the degree of protection is substantially less than would normally be considered enough to warrant rolling out a vaccine, the result has enthused researchers still demoralised over a succession of recent calamitous failures.
One trial of a previous vaccine even appeared to make people who were inoculated with it more, rather than less, likely to become infected with HIV, a result that dumbfounded experts and left some questioning whether an HIV vaccine would ever be possible.
Announcing the latest results yesterday, Colonel Jerome Kim, who helped lead the study for the US Army, said it was "the first evidence that we could have a safe and effective preventive vaccine".
The trial of the vaccine -- in fact, a combination of two earlier test vaccines that had each failed to protect patients when tested separately in earlier trials -- was sponsored by the US Army and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The institute's director, Anthony Fauci, warned that this was "not the end of the road", but said he was surprised and very pleased by the outcome.
"It gives me cautious optimism about the possibility of improving this result" and developing a more effective AIDS vaccine, Dr Fauci said.
Even a marginally helpful vaccine could have a big impact. Every day, 7500 people worldwide are newly infected with HIV; two million died of AIDS in 2007, the UN agency UNAIDS estimates.
Australian experts also welcomed the development. John Kaldor, professor of epidemiology at the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the University of NSW, said the finding was "extremely significant".
"A 30 per cent protection rate is on the low side of efficacy that would make a vaccine helpful from a public health point of view," Professor Kaldor said.
"From a perspective of understanding the science of how to prevent HIV infection by immunological means, this must be considered to be a very important finding."
He said the trial result was "the first step along the way to showing that a vaccine strategy can work". As such, he said, it was many times more important than a recent discovery of two broadly neutralising antibodies capable of disabling HIV.
He added that more information would be required before anyone could judge whether the new vaccine deserved to be rolled out to some people, despite its low efficacy rate. That would depend on factors such as how long-lasting the protection was, what the vaccine cost and whether people given the product might negate any protection by behaving in more risky ways.
Details of the $105 million study will be given at a vaccine conference in Paris next month.
This is the third big vaccine trial since 1983. In 2007, Merck & Co stopped a study of its experimental vaccine after seeing it did not prevent HIV infection. Later analysis suggested the vaccine might even raise the risk of infection in certain men. The vaccine itself did not cause infection.
In 2003, AIDSVAX failed with two large trials.
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Posted by Oge Joy Paul on September 24, 2009 at 5:00am
Please read the mail below and use it as learning point in your B/Os such that similar issue can be prevented. I am particularly interested in the second to the last paragraph which read:”Luckily for them, the Hotel has a CCTV surveillance camera. The footages were rolled back and it was discovered that for almost two months, a particular red Toyota corolla car brings a lady to the machine to make withdrawals”Therefore, if you have not gotten CCTV in your B/O, please ensure one is obtained immediately. Its importance outweighs the cost.EFCC Smashes ATM Card Cloning SyndicateATM cloning syndicatesEFCC Smashes ATM Card Cloning SyndicateThe aggressive campaign by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC against Automated Teller Machine (ATM) fraudsters recorded a major breakthrough last week with the arrest in Lagos, of three powerful members of a crack syndicate whose specialty is the cloning of ATM cards using Magnetic Card Reader/Encoder machine.ImageFrom Left,Chris Okeke,Nicholas Egbo and Kelechi Aro with their instruments of fraud.The trio, Chris Okeke, Nicholas Egboh and Kelechi Aro were smoked out of their hide out following series of investigations which started from Kano that fingered them as the arrow heads of the deadly gang that has been defrauding depositors of various banks through the ATM. They were arrested on the last floor of a two storey building in Alaba Suru, a suburb of Lagos . Six Laptop computers, the Card reader machine, Bank documents and several credit cards and ATM cards were recovered from the suspects. Also recovered is a Gulf 3 saloon car.According to investigation, all the fraudsters needed to have access to the account of any bank depositor are the victim’s ATM and PIN numbers. Once they have that information, they would use card reader machine to print the numbers on any ATM card. Once that is done, they can use the card to withdraw money from the victim’s account without even knowing the account holder’s name.It is believed that members of this syndicate belong to the group of fraudsters that have been sending scam mails and text messages in the name of Inters witch Nigeria, urging unwary debit card holders to upgrade their ATM cards by filing online forms which requires them to disclose their pin numbers. Those who fall prey to this scam lost millions of naira to the fraudsters.During interrogation, Chris Okeke the ring leader whose father’s house was being used for the fraudulent group’s activities disclosed that the house belongs to his ailing father who had relocated to his village in Anambra State due to ill health and that all the items found in the house belonged to his accomplices. He further revealed that one Darlington, who is at large, is the owner of the machine and the Gulf car recovered from him. He claims that he was always staying in his room while Darlington and other members of the syndicate perpetrated the fraud in the living room..But, 34 year old Nicholas Egboh debunked the claims of his co-traveler in crime. According to Nicholas, Chris knew much about the scam and benefited from the proceeds of the crime. Nicholas said he used to see different people coming to the house everyday and that he had warned Chris on several occasions that he would run into trouble. He disclosed that he was a trader in Onitsha , Anambra State and, that six months ago, his business collapsed and he relocated to Lagos in preparation for a trip to Egypt . He denied being a member of the syndicate, but one of the Laptop computers recovered in the house, belongs to him.The third suspect, Kelechi Aro who wears a dreadlock also exonerated himself from the crime saying that he was a musician and a labourer. He said he relocated to the house of fraud two years ago from Ajegunle, another Lagos Suburb. But it was obvious that he was being economical with the truth as operatives caught him sending scam messages with one of the Laptop computers when he was arrested.Interestingly, the report that triggered the arrest of members of this deadly syndicate originated from kaduna . A resident of that city had lodged a complaint with the Commission’s office in Kano to the effect that some fraudsters had pulled out some money from his account in one of the banks in the city.. Investigators were able to trace the fraudsters to Surulere, Lagos through the Driver’s License used by the fraudsters to withdraw money from the said account. Consequently, Remilekun Ojolowo and Sherifat Aderomu, who have been admitted to administrative bail, were arrested. Upon interrogation they claimed to belong to a network of syndicates that specialize in ATM fraud and led operatives to the den of the fraudsters where the startling recoveries were made.This latest discovery followed a similar one in port harcourt , Rivers state where EFCC operatives unveiled a set of bank officials who duplicate customers ATM cards to defraud them of millions of naira.In the case of the Port Harcourt syndicate, one Ms. Cassandra Olaleye, a banker and her accomplice, Regal Horsefall were arrested by EFCC operatives following the discovery of the ATM fraud. The two suspects who have been working as partners since June 2008 withdrawing funds totaling about N12 million from a customer’s account, an account managed by Cassandra. Their journey to the EFCC net started when the customer gave a cheque of N4 million to someone and was told his account was already in the red. He went to the bank to verify and from his account statement, it was discovered that a lot of ATM withdrawals had been done on the account. The customer who was surprised as he has never used his ATM card before protested and the matter was reported to the EFCC Port Harcourt Zonal office.After a careful study of the bank statement, operatives discovered that the money was drawn from an ATM machine located in the premises of a Hotel in Port Harcourt almost on a daily basis since July 2008. They visited the ATM Machine to see if it has a camera, but there was none. Luckily for them, the Hotel has a CCTV surveillance camera. The footages were rolled back and it was discovered that for almost two months, a particular red Toyota corolla car brings a lady to the machine to make withdrawals.The number plate of the car was copied and a search for the vehicle began. After about two weeks of searching, the vehicle was discovered in a compound in Elekahia Housing Estate, in Rumoumasi area of Port Harcourt . Operatives went in and a lady (Regal Horsefall) who they suspected was the culprit from the CCTV footages was sighted. She was approached for questioning, but she said she has never gone to the hotel for any withdrawal. They asked her about the car and she said it belongs to her brother.The operatives then arrested her. She was taken to the EFCC office where a call was put through to the supposed brother who came immediately and said she was not his sister but his girlfriend who goes to the ATM machine located in the hotel. He took the Operatives to her house where she agreed that she made the withdrawals. She was arrested and during interrogation, she said it was Cassandra Olaleye that gave her the ATM card to do the withdrawals for her. It was discovered later that the ATM point in the hotel premises was chosen because the culprits noticed it didn’t have a camera on it.Operatives contacted Cassandra Olaleye who they discovered had moved from Port Harcourt to Calabar where she currently works with a different bank. She was subsequently arrested and brought to the EFCC Port Harcourt office where she initially denied all the allegations.To solve the riddle, the two of them were brought together because Regal insisted that Cassandra gave her the card.With the face off, what will solve the riddle was a deeper investigation. When eventually Cassandra was confronted with the heap of evidence already gathered by operatives in the course of investigation , she admitted all the allegations.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 23, 2009 at 10:56pm
WHEN the white Toyota Camry arrived with its six occupants and parked in front of the single storey, four-flats building painted in brown and butter colours,even curious neighbours did not notice anything to excite alarm.
Time was about 7.15 a.m. that Sunday when two children from one of the flats, ‘Lara and ‘Labake, came out to fetch water, oblivious of any lurking danger. Their mother, Blessing, had however gone to church.
The situation, however, changed when the occupants of the car disembarked and made their way for the block of flats identified as No 9, Oyeniji Street of Oduwole Estate at Akowonjo, Egbeda, Lagos.
They were led by a light complexioned, tall woman, who was dressed in a lace material.The leader of the gang was soon seen and heard dishing out instructions to the five men who were armed with guns. When the landlady of the house later came down to pick something from her shop, she was pounced upon by two members of this group.
But it soon emerged that their target was Mr. Bayo Ohu, a respected journalist with The Guardian who had been living in the building with his family for the past eight years.
Bayo, the father of Lara (15), ‘Labake (9), Moyoyin (7), Fehintola (5) and Modesola (8 months) whose apartment was close to the gate was said to be lying down on his bed and had no premonition of the tragedy that was about to befall him. Attracted by the sporadic gunshots outside, he had opened the door of his flat to find out what was amiss. That was the last action he took before he was cut down by a volley of bullets.
In spite of accomplishing their dastardly bloody assignment, the six-man gang made straight to the compound, shooting sporadically into the air after various attempts to gain entry into Bayo’s flat failed.
They laid siege for one of the children who came outside to continue fetching water. They seized the opportunity to gain entry into the apartment through the kitchen.
The child escaped and hid herself under her father’s car while others in the apartment hid themselves inside the wardrobe in one of the rooms. Bayo the main target of the attack was found in his own pool of blood at the passage of the apartment.
An eye witness who pleaded anonymity told Vanguard Metro was of the opinion that the late journalist must have had a form of contact with the gang leader during his life time. “We were at the corridor of our own house when we spotted the white car, although nobody knew their mission.
‘Lara: Witnessed Dad’s murder
They were outside for a while before they entered the compound. But suddenly, there was sporadic shootings which scared all of us. We knew something deadly was happening and I decided to peep through my window but what I saw made me to tremble.
The woman in question did not come out immediately after the operation, rather the five men rushed into the car first. She later came out of the apartment nodding her head and thumbing up for a job well done.
This shows clearly she was never a stranger to Bayo. What we do not know was if there was a business transaction or deal between both of them. From the way she dashed out of the apartment, it was obvious she was a key factor in what happened.
People should find out if he had previously had any rapport with that woman. The front seat was reserved for her and when she joined them in the car, she rejoiced before they sped off,” he said.
LARA BAYO's Eldest Daughter
Another family source said the deceased threw a birthday party for two of his children, 15- year-old ‘Lara and five-year-old Fehintola on Saturday August 29. Unfortunately that was the last family gathering this father of five girls attended before he died.
A barber who was occupying a shop in the apartment described the deceased as an easy going person. “You know all his children are girls and none of them could help to wash his car. I used to help him do this and he normally reciprocate with a token, I opened the shop today only to hear he had been killed. I shall miss him greatly,” said Damian.
When Vanguard Metro visited the apartment on Monday, there was an army of sympathisers who sat round his wife Blessing as she was lying down on a couch. She refused to utter a word. “People have been coming here to snap me, I am tired of this and nobody should snap me again,” she said after much pressure by these sympathisers.
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Popularly referred to as the princess of R&B and hip-hop, Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas, known widely as Ashanti, featured as a prominent face on the urban music scene during the early 2000s.She sold over half a million copies of her debut album within its first week of release in 2002, which still stands as the record for highest first week sales for a debuting female musician. However, recent times have seen her prominence drop, begging the question ‘what went wrong with all that promising talent?’Grand EntranceAshanti came unto the scene on the platform of Irv Gotti’s Murder INC, in 2002 with the release of the B.I.G sampled, “Foolish” and it’s subsequent remix “Unfoolish”. With the smash hit announcing her arrival, she went on to record critically acclaimed guest appearances on Fat Joe’s “What’s Love” and label mate Ja Rule’s “Always on Time”. Winning eight Billboard Awards, two American Music Awards and two BET Awards amongst many others, she was apparently everywhere in 2002.Out of the SpotlightAfter winning a Grammy in 2003 for Best Contemporary Album, she recorded sophomore album, Chapter II, another success that sold over 300,000 copies in its first week. However, a Christmas album released in November 2003, Ashanti’s Christmas, was poorly received and didn’t sell more than a hundred thousand copies in the U.S.The period also saw the label’s headline artist Ja Rule embroiled in a lyrical feud with 50 Cent, with Ashanti occasionally referenced in the beef that continued till the better part of 2005. A lot of critics believed the beef ended sourly for Murder Inc as their perceived loss rendered them redundant on the Hip-Hop scene. If the proverbial boat sinks, the fate of those who can’t swim is pretty obvious.Missing PrincessIn 2007, she started promoting her fifth album, The Declaration with the release of two singles; “Switch” featuring Nelly and “Hey Baby”. She decided to work outside of the Murder INC. circle which reportedly did not go down well with Gotti. She featured artists from other labels and worked with producers not used by the label.The album recorded her worst sales on release selling less than a hundred thousand copies in its first week and not much has been heard from her since. Gotti announced her departure from Murder INC, in March this year and former label mate Ja released a track titled “Judas” which contained disses aimed at her and rapper DMX, after Ashanti had announced that it may be inappropriate for her to be in the middle of a beef-ridden label.Although not much can be said about her plans for the future, the singer/actress who has about five movie roles to her credit was reported in July to have announced that she would begin recording a new album that month. To expect her to bounce back right now might be unfoolish but at the same time, it might be a very foolish thing to do.Sources: WIKIPEDIA, REALTALKNY.UPROXX.COM, RAPDIRT.COM, M
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 23, 2009 at 1:41am
I will wear a crown in my fathers House
A song of Praise .Nigeria is our home .Most of us were born here , Most of us will die here .In the Apokalypto movie by Mel
Gibson and the Pathfinder film the Guirella Tactics employed by the protagonists showed the weakness of Strength and the ability to turn water into Wine using the simplest methods.
Everyday Nigerians realise one thing missing .The Pride of a Nation, The semblance of an American Statement "In God we Trust".The Leaders we despise so much are evidently scioned from evil branches .Branches that always lead us to the Stains of the Whitemans Colonial mentality of divide and Rule .
We have intermarried ,We have cross migrated We have shared resources and Coups and Floods and Religious Extremism and ASUU trikes . A lot of us have migrated but still yearn for the Solace of Home .
Where have we gone wrong ?
In National Pride , In the Unity of our Nation we have not slacked as we still realise it will take all of us Hausa ,Igbo and
Yoruba to continue to churn out this Oil we so Cherish . If we can extend this Unity of purpose in the Black Gold that enriches us .Why dont we unify our selves in the Pride of A nation .
Are we Beasts ? If indeed we are then lets sing the song of freedom together
"Beasts of Lagos,Beasts of Kaduna, Gbogbo Beasts of Every tongue in Nigeria , Hearken to my ..."
We are not Beasts but a Unique breed that has become one DNA unit .Unbeatable in our heart.
We are ingenious in Energy and utilities (Generators & Inverters and Boreholes) : Outstanding in Art .(Nollywood and Tuface)
Marvelous in Criminal Tactics (fill this one out yourself) , Much Ado about our psche is related to the uncanny ability we
have to Take Rubbish and retain it .An Even greater ability to Transform it into Gold !
We are used to seeing Rubbish in the streets , On our Television Sets that if given rubbish to eat we will only ask if it is
designer Dirt .I once was privy to the existence of Designers Rice a concoction of Pepper Stew with wicked looking meat that Can Turn into white man's Kryptonite
This rubbish further evident in A new Generation of Nigerian Females and the Olivia Twist Syndrome " Please Sir I want it all " Whatever happened to Womens
Lib ? It never was Womens Liberation but of Women Oppresion.Our Young ladies have become Experts and sages in their daily
Encounters of the Bizarre Kind .Young Future Mothers Transformed into Sex Workers for one single Reason. No one to wear the
Crown .
Thier Time draws nearer every Day .They shall be revealed and re dressed not just for the loot but most Definitely for the
portrayal of themselves as Strong Leaders when in Reality they are the weakest Cowards Who Care for nothing else but their
own slanted takes on the Position of office and Authority.
of the hand of Former President's Wife under the knife of a
cosmetic surgeon . The Continous trips of Alarm by a leader to Saudi Arabia under various guises of Statemanship .
An uninformed populace is a population that will go nowhere Fast .Is the President Ill ? Or Shall we collectively shout?
" But the emperor is not wearing any clothes ! !
The Real perpetrators silently float in the background Pray you are not indirectly related to them ! Worse things have
happened ! There is a God that loves such little ones far more than We could ever Curse the ignorant fools that do these
unspeakable acts to us daily without remorse .Like Jesus said, Father forgive them for they .....
We will forgive them BUT WE WILL NOT FORGET THEM to continue to forgive them again .God Forgives, We wont Forget .
BIAFRA CanonFodder Again ? Never ! We the People WILL not Fall for that ONE .SSG Kidnapped ,Bayo Ohu Assasinated.Yar'Adua
"abdicates" to Saudi AGAIN ! .. more Tactical Violence ? State of Fear .We are NOT AFRAID and we REFUSE TO KILL OURSELVES FOR
YOU !So what do we do you say ?
The Internet,Facebook and the Advent of the Super Loose Keyboard.Do you find yourself saying THINGS online that you will NOT be Caught DEAD talking about in Reality, face to face ? Does Social Media Promote "Promiscuity,Boldness and the next Hemmingway " ? or is it Strictly WIRED in us to "TalkALOT" from the safety of our keyboard tongues.THEN LET US TALK THEN ! LET US TALK until Even Gandhi turns in his grave and applauds .
We will not Die for you Rich Man ! Gani’s Spirit will rise and maybe then We will give him the crown to place on somebody living Someone that We Can Say as in the movie The Return of the King A day may come when the courage of men fails,
when we forsake our friends
and break all bonds of fellowship,
but it is not this day.
THIS DAY and everyday WE FIGHT with our computer mouse , keyboards
The Mystery of Karma will reveal itself not as the Judgement day of the society But the jugement of Directional shepherherdian Abuse
resulting in un-parrarelled "Genocide" .Where the blood of the people cry to the living
WE The people will Wear Crowns in our Fathers House ?
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Posted by Politics X on September 22, 2009 at 11:52pm
By Ehis OsajieTuesday, September 22, 2009Mega Party on Monday in Abuja announced the participation of international statesmen including revered former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa and JJ Rawlings of Ghana at its forth coming National Summit on Democracy initiated to give birth to a broad platform that will pursue unlimited political reform in the country.According to a statement by Alhaji Hamisu San Turaki, Director of Media and Publicity of the group, the event scheduled for 6th and 7th October will have in attendance not less than “95 eminent Nigerians, 45 political parties, 207 civil society/sectoral platforms and 12 associations of Nigerians in Diaspora have confirmed attendance at the summit, which promises to be the biggest independent political gathering since the 2006 PRONACO Confab.He added that “both Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar and General Mohammadu Buhari were among the first statesmen to confirm their presence at the summit.“The two day confab is also billed to also have either former President Nelson Mandella of South Africa or JJ Rawlings of Ghana as Chairman. But they are yet to confirm participation although they have been contacted by the MSM Secretariat to deliver keynote messages at the summit. Turaki saidAccording to him, “the confirmation of both Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and General Mohammadu Buhari last week is driven by a recent resolve by the two leaders that their best bet is to work within the proposed mega party, anchored by Mega Summit Movement so as to enrich the synergy with other prominent politicians from other geopolitical zones.”He also “debunked a false media report that the MSM secretariat is presently controlled by civil society component of the movement. He said “the claim is imaginary as the secretariat is currently being driven by seasoned politicians such as Engr Buba Galadima of The Buhari Organisation, Mallam Yinusa Tanko of National Conscience Party, Mr Sam Onimisi of Democratic Peoples’ Alliance, Mr Osita Okechukwu of ANPP, Sir Wale Okunniyi (HOS), National Reformation Party led by Chief Anthony Enahoro, Alhaji Hamisu San Turaki of Alliance for Democracy among others.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 22, 2009 at 10:56pm
Tragedy struck yesterday at the Lagos Bar Beach, Victoria Island, as no fewer than six persons lost their lives as they were swept away by a tidal wave where they had gone to celebrate the Ramadan feast.
Unconfirmed report said the sad incident occurred in the evening, and quickly drew the attention of residents and other people who were at the Beach to spend the evening.
An eye-witness account said that four other people whose identities could not be ascertained were equally hit by the tidal wave but managed to survive as they were rescued by local fishermen.
Sources said that those rescued were rushed to the General Hospital where they are receiving treatment.
Although details of the incident were sketchy as at the time of going to the press, eye witness account disclosed that the victims were at the Beach to spend their Ramadan holiday.
When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Frank Mba could not confirm the story but said that the Commissioner of Police. Mr Marvel Akpoyibo had detailed the Marine Police unit on a search and rescue mission.
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The Spanish surgeon who performed liposuction operation that led to the death of former first lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, has been jailed for one year for involuntary homicide by a tribunal in Malaga, Spain.
The tribunal has also suspended the doctor identified simply as AMM from practising medicine for three years, stating that “he lacked a serious commitment and carefulness required by his profession”.
The doctor and his insurers were equally told to indemnify the son of the deceased to the tune of €120,000.
At a trial held in July, the prosecutor had wanted a sentence of two years in prison and ban from exercising his profession for five years.
Stella Obasanjo, 59, was recovering from a routine liposuction at the Molding Clinic in the posh resort of Marbella, when her condition deteriorated suddenly a few days later.
She fell unconscious and the doctors could not revive her.
At the trial, the doctor had denied responsibility, asserting that the intervention and post-operative had been carried out “perfectly normal” and that the age of the patient, who suffered from hypertension and mild asthma, posed no danger to the exercise.
The court ruled instead that the process used to extract fat from the patient had been performed by mistake in her abdominal cavity, which had caused five incisions in the liver and colon of the patient.
The blood loss and internal injuries “could have been handled without problems” if they had been detected in time, the court noted.
During the trial, a Spanish forensic scientist declared that her death was avoidable had suitable treatment been administered during the fateful liposuction.
He was addressing a Spanish court conducting a trial on the death of the first lady in the country in 2005.
The police physician pointed out that the patient had perforations in her liver and abdomen.
According to him, the quantity of liquids administered on her after an intervention was "insufficient" and there were symptoms of a shock.
The expert indicated that the evidence of shock could have been detected "hours earlier" and with a blood test and an ultrasound scan it would have been possible for the doctor to detect the symptoms of a shock.
He said the doctor could have detected these complications approximately 10 hours before her death.
His opinion was shared by the forensic scientist brought in to serve as an expert witness.
On the contrary, four other experts told the court a blood test could not have contributed much and insisted that the symptoms were habitual and that the progression was "normal" until the night of the day before the death.
Nevertheless, one of the experts recognised that “a transfer at this hour could have led to an improvement of the patient’s health”.
He pointed out that the blood loss (half a litre of blood) does not produce a hemorrhagic shock.
On the other hand, one of the doctors who attended to the patient said while being moved to another clinic, he discovered that the woman became unconscious, had no pulse and at this moment the accused and he tried to revive her and “I observed a blinking”.
The district attorney maintained his initial accusation of a crime of imprudent murder, for which it requests the accused who is a specialist in plastic and aesthetic surgery to be imprisoned for two years and given five years disqualification for the death of Stella who came to the clinic of Marbella for abdomen reduction on October 20, 2005.
For the public prosecutor, the accused committed "a heap of negligence", since "it was not diagnosed appropriately".
The transfer of the patient to another hospital was done late. This indicated that although he did not have intention of causing the incisions in the vital organs neither did he wish her to become "unconscious", this does not suppose that there is minor gravity in the facts.
He said that the accused took "decisions completely opposite to those that he would have taken and, there was lack of follow up”.
According to him, the accused displayed lack of analytical strength, apathy and lack of interest for the patient.
The defender asked for the acquittal of the accused and emphasised the declarations of the doctor’s co-workers in the clinic who said they made sure some intervention took place in a normal way.
The doctor maintained that in spite of the age of the woman (59) and some occasional asthma, the risk for this type of interventions was catalogued as “I set sail”. Also, it indicated that the operation, which lasted three hours, developed "just as others that it had done until this baneful day and those that I have done later".
On July 10, the state criminal prosecution case against a plastic surgeon from the Molding Clinic in Marbella started.
At the court, the accused claimed that there was absolutely no evidence of any complications during the procedure nor during the post-op, and described how everything went normally until the early hours of the day after the operation.
Stella, the wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, died on October 23, 2005.
She was born in November 23, 1945. Born Stella Abebe, she met her husband when he was a military officer.
She became famous not only for being the first lady but also for being a political activist in her own right, supporting such causes as women's liberation and youths as leaders of tomorrow.
Stella established a non-governmental organisation, Child Care Trust, to take care of the underprivileged, the motherless and physically and mentally retarded children, with a focus on girls.
According to her, these groups of underprivileged children are usually neglected and they were often treated as if they were useless and seen as an affliction on their parents.
The former first lady was once quoted as saying: “Many of the underprivileged children if given the right care and love are capable of doing many positive things. They want to be appreciated. They do not see themselves as different from any other person.”
She died weeks to her 60th birthday, after experiencing complications in a routine cosmetic surgery.
The news came on the same day a Nigerian plane carrying 117 passengers and crew crashed, leaving no survivors.
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Posted by Politics X on September 22, 2009 at 7:55pm
With time they will grab one Governor and maybe then Someone will do something ! or maybe na im kidnap himself to make a quick one !SPECIAL BLOGGERSFEATURED BLOGS..NOLLYWOOD BLOGS..NETCHURCH BLOGS..GHANA BLOGS..LAGOS BLOGSPOLITICSThe Kaduna State Police Command has confirmed the disappearance of the secretary to the Kaduna State government Wajek Yayok.Mr. Yayok was kidnapped on Monday night at Manchok, his home town in the Kaura Local Government Area of the state, where he had travelled for the Sallah break.Family members said they are worried by his disappearance,although a relative and former editor-in-chief of the News Agency of Nigeria, Shehu Abui said someone had already called the family to demand a N40 million ransom for Mr. Yayok's release.The Commissioner of Police in charge of the state command, Tambari Mohammed, in a telephone interview confirmed Mr.Yayok's disappearance, but said for now the police still regard the case as one of a missing person.The command's Public Relations Officer, Aminu Lawali, said he was not aware that a N40 million ransom had been demanded from the family.The wedding ceremony for Mr. Yayok's daughter is already scheduled for October 10.This is the second time a kidnapping is taking in place Kaduna state - and in the northern part of the country. A Canadian woman, Julie Ann Mulligan was kidnapped in Kaduna on April 16 2009, during a Rotary International mission to the state.The kidnappers, who released her after two weeks, demanded a ransom of N20 million.Held to ransomThe state governor, Namadi Sambo, told journalists shortly after his visit to the Emir of Zazzau, Shehu Idris, that he would speak directly on the issue later.However, in a statement released by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Umar Sani, the state government said that it was not right for Mr. Yayok to be declared missing. "Members of the press, internationally accepted standards say a person cannot be declared missing until after 48 hours and because the rumours started this morning, we shall address you properly very soon on the matter," the statement said.Assignment gone awryMr. Sani's statement also indicated that the state was a bit wary of confirming what it still regards as a rumour. "We have been inundated with enquiries as to the whereabouts of the SSG of Kaduna State, Waje Yayok, over a case of abduction. These enquiries necessitated that we respond appropriately to these rumours, in order to set the records straight," it said. "While it is true that the SSG was on official assignment to the southern part of Kaduna, we are yet to get in contact with him over his supposed location. We believe he will get in contact with us soon."However, the gravity and the intensity of the rumours require us to take steps to ensure that everything is in order. The security agencies have been detailed to the place, the nature of the assignment and all his contact details to enable them trace his whereabouts and douse the tension created by such rumours."The government, however, asked the public to provide any information it may have on the whereabouts of Mr. Yayok,Police source said the Yayoks' house in Barnawa, Kaduna, is currently being guarded by men of Operation Yaki, a special security outfit, and other security agencies.
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Nigerian President, Umaru Yar’Adua, is returning to Saudi Arabia, the second time in about two months, sources at the presidency said on Monday. Consequently, he might not be present at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, which is currently on in New York, where more than 150 world leaders will be in attendance.
Again, Nigeria might just miss out on another opportunity to lobby for a permanent seat at the UN. African leaders are also expected to meet with the president of the United States, Barack Obama, to discussissues of concern to Africa and the US.
No representation named (Speculations are Turai The First Lady might be chosen as She did a "great"Job Represneting Nigeria in Vienna for the Atomic Energy Conference
The president, who had earlier planned to attend the Assembly with some of the ministers, has scaled back on his plan even though he was offered a slot to address the international forum. As of Monday evening, no one knew if the Minister of External Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, will still attend the event.
Mr. Yar’Adua was in the Arab country last month for a three-week break, during which he attended the lesser Hajj and also saw doctors in the country for medical examination. The trip was announced ahead, although presidency officials have refused to state what is wrong with the president and what kind of medical treatment he is receiving in Saudi Arabia.
The UN Assembly will, on Tuesday, start a session to salvage the climate, and on Wednesday, after the grand opening, the debates will begin, with the agenda of the international body ranging from Middle East Peace to Terrorism and Global Poverty. We gathered that instead of planning a trip to New York, aides of Mr. Yar’Adua were actually focused on a trip to Saudi Arabia, where one of them said he might have to attend to unfinished business.
Sources in the presidency said the president had planned to attend the grand opening of the Assembly on Wednesday; but as things stand, no further plans have been made for the trip to New York.
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SPECIAL 9jabook.com BLOGGERSFEATURED BLOGS..NOLLYWOOD BLOGS..NETCHURCH BLOGS..GHANA BLOGS..LAGOS BLOGSPOLITICSDuring last Friday’s airing of the ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’, Nigerian author, Uwem Akpan’s debut collection, ‘Say You’re One of Them’, became the first collection of short stories selected by the talk show hostess as the next choice for her widely-followed book club.It was not too much of a surprise as news from the grapevine had hinted at the selection some considered unlikely and unexpected.Describing the book on her show as “incredible,” Oprah said the stories in the collection had left her “gasping.” She said the book got the nod as her first short story pick because it was different from others she had read.In what has been known as the “Oprah Effect”, demand for previous selections have been sent skyrocketing, most times beyond even the authors’ expectations. Akpan’s case with ‘Say You’re One of Them’ has not been different with reports already shooting the book into Amazon’s Top 5 from an unattractive position at no. 165,769.For the Jesuit priest, who grew up in a storytelling environment here in Nigeria and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan, a trail of recognition for the book has preceded Oprah’s selection.A story from the collection, ‘My Parents’ Bedroom’, was a finalist in the 2007 Caine Prize for Africa, while the selection itself was a finalist at the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.The book won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Africa region) in 2009 and the PEN/Beyond Margins Award in the same year. Some of the stories in this collection have also featured in The New Yorker Magazine.Certain critics of Oprah’s selection of ‘Say You’re One of Them” say the book’s focus is stereotypical of Western beliefs about Africa as a bed of conflict and child soldiering amongst other evils: themes that seem to have been over-flogged by many African writers or writers about Africa.Uwem Akpan’s ‘Say You’re One of Them’ is a collection of five short stories based on the plight of African children with a focus on war, religious conflict, and human trafficking.The Oprah Book Club started in 1996, with 63 books selected so far, and a bundle of controversy in its wake. This selection is the first for a book by a Nigerian author.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 22, 2009 at 7:56am
The situation has gotten so out of hand that tiny Guinea-Bissau, the fifth-poorest nation in the world, is being called Africa's first narco-state. Others talk about how Africa's Gold Coast has become the Coke Coast. In all, officials say, at least nine top-tier Latin American drug cartels have established bases in 11 West African nations.
"The same organizations that we investigate in Central and South America that are involved in drug activity toward the United States are engaged in this trafficking in Western Africa," said Russell Benson, the Drug Enforcement Agency regional director for Europe and Africa. "There's not one country that hasn't been touched to some extent."
The calculus is simple: bigger profits in Europe
than in the United States, less law enforcement in West Africa than in Europe.
The driving force is the booming European market for cocaine.
"The exponential rise in the number of consumers has made Europe the fastest-growing and most-profitable market in the world," said Bruce Bagley, dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Miami.
While the European market has been expanding, use in the United States has declined from its peak in the 1980s, the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime said in its 2009 annual report, issued in July.
About 1,000 tons of pure cocaine are produced each year, nearly 60 percent of which evades law enforcement interception and makes it to market, the report said. That's a wholesale global market of about $70 billion.
Criminals traffic about 250 tons to Europe each year, though not all of it makes it there, the U.N. said. The European market totals about $11 billion. About 27 percent of the cocaine that entered Europe in 2006 came from Africa, the United Nations said.
Huge profits make Europe particularly attractive. Two pounds of uncut cocaine can sell for $22,000 in the United States but for $45,000 in Europe, analyst Ashley-Louise Bybee wrote in a policy journal this year. The Justice Department said the price in Europe can be three times more than in the United States.
"It's a significant market for them to exploit," Benson said.
A strong euro and weaker dollar also make Europe attractive to traffickers because of favorable exchange rates. There's also the fact that the European Union recently issued a 500 euro note, currently equivalent to about $700. The largest U.S. denomination in circulation is the $100 bill. Traffickers prefer the large euro notes because they are easier to carry in large quantities.
For example, Benson said that $1 million in $100 bills weighs 22 pounds, while $1 million in 500 euro notes weighs 3.5 pounds.
"It's a huge difference," he said.
Though Europe is highly attractive to traffickers, it can have tight, Western-style security. So the Colombian and Mexican cartels have discovered that it's much easier to smuggle large loads into West Africa and then break that up into smaller shipments to the continent -- mostly Spain, the United Kingdom and France.
West Africa is a smuggler's dream, suffering from a combination of factors that make the area particularly vulnerable. It is among the poorest and least stable regions in the world. Governments are weak and ineffective and, as a top DEA chief testified to the U.S. Senate this summer, officials are often corrupt.
Law enforcement also is largely riddled with corruption. Criminal gangs are rampant. Foot soldiers can be recruited from a large pool of poor and desperate youth.
"It's a point of least resistance," Benson said.
West Africa refers to Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
"This area of the world is ripe," Bagley said. "There has been very little attention paid to it. The United States is loath to give aid to these countries because they are corrupt."
U.S. authorities find themselves at a great disadvantage fighting cartels that have much more money and guns. The DEA has four offices -- in Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa -- to cover a continent that spans 11.7 million square miles and has nearly 1 billion people.
"It's a big place," Benson acknowledges, noting that there are 54 countries on the continent.
Local police also are vastly outgunned. Guinea-Bissau offers an alarming example.
"The Judicial Police ... have 60 agents, one vehicle and often no fuel," analyst Bybee wrote in a journal called New Voices in Public Policy, published by the George Mason University School of Public Policy. "As a result, when culprits are apprehended, they are driven in a taxi to the police station. They just recently received six sets of handcuffs from the U.K., which were badly needed. In the military, one rusty ship patrols the 350-kilometer (217-mile) coastline and 88 islands."
Even when criminals are caught, Bybee said, "the near absence of a judicial system allows traffickers to operate unimpeded." For example, she said, "because the police are so impotent, the culprits are often held for just a few hours before senior military personnel suddenly attain extraordinary judicial powers to demand their release."
The few officials who stand up to the traffickers receive death threats or are killed.
West Africa also is particularly attractive to traffickers because it is near "the soft underbelly of Europe," said retired four-star Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who was drug policy director for President Clinton.
Geography plays another role because West Africa is fairly close to the three South American nations that produce nearly all of the world's cocaine -- Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Many of the shipments depart from Venezuela, which shares a 1,273-mile (2,050-kilometer) porous border with Colombia and is even closer to Africa.
"They go right dead-ass across the shortest route," McCaffrey said.
Most of the cocaine shipments cross the Atlantic in large "mother ships" and then are off-loaded to small vessels near the coastline, the United Nations said. Small planes modified for overseas flight that can carry a 1-ton cargo also have been used. Most of those come from Venezuela, the United Nations reported.
A report issued in July by the Government Accountability Office said traffickers use go-fast boats, fishing vessels and commercial shipping containers as the primary means of smuggling cocaine out of Venezuela. McCaffrey also noted the use of go-fast boats and special planes.
DEA Assistant Administrator Thomas Harrigan testified before the Senate in June that authorities in Sierra Leone seized a cocaine shipment last year from a twin-engine aircraft marked with a Red Cross insignia. The flight originated in Venezuela, he said.
The GAO report noted that "U.S. government officials have observed an increase in suspicious air traffic originating in Venezuela." In 2004, the report said, authorities tracked 109 suspect flights out of Venezuela. In 2007, officials tracked 178 suspicious flights.
Then there's the crime connection in West Africa.
"Colombian and Venezuelan traffickers are entrenched in West Africa and have cultivated long-standing relationships with African criminal networks to facilitate their activities in the region," Harrigan told a Senate subcommittee on African affairs.
"These organizations don't operate in a vacuum," Benson said. "They have to align themselves with West African criminal groups."
The cartels also have aligned themselves with terrorists, Harrigan said.
"The threat of narco-terrorism in Africa is a real concern, including the presence of international terrorist organizations operating or based in Africa, such as the regional threat presented by al Qaeda in the Lands of Maghreb," he said, referring to al Qaeda activists in North Africa. "In addition, DEA investigations have identified elements of Colombia's Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia [FARC] as being involved in cocaine trafficking in West Africa."
Benson said the groups operating in Africa are "primarily narcotics organizations" but acknowledged that the Marxist FARC guerrillas in Colombia are a force to be dealt with. The rebels have waged war on the Colombian government for more than 40 years.
"The profit potential is such that the FARC is one of the largest cocaine-trafficking operations globally and is also a terrorist organization," he said.
Bagley and McCaffrey see less evidence of terrorist connections with the traffickers in Africa, both using nearly identical language.
"I'd be really skeptical of those kinds of assertions," McCaffrey said.
"I'm quite skeptical about linkages between cartels and terrorists," Bagley said. "The criminal groups seek profits. They're not interested in taking over governments."
Still, Bagley said, traffickers and terrorists may use some of the same criminal networks.
Analysts note that the surge of cartel activity in West Africa is a fairly recent development. The U.N. report said it started around 2005. Bybee places it around 2006.
McCaffrey, who was in the Clinton White House in the 1990s, said he saw the problem coming a long time ago.
"I've been warning people in Europe and Latin America starting 10 years ago where this issue was going to move," he said. "The Europeans absolutely blew me off."
The U.N. report offers some hope, saying that cocaine seizures in Europe peaked in 2006 and topped out in West Africa in 2007. Overall seizures have declined since 2006, the report said.
"This trend appears to be continuing in 2009 and includes declines in the number and volume of seizures made in the region and in the number of air couriers coming from the region in Europe," the report concluded.
For example, authorities seized 11 large shipments in Africa in 2007, four in 2008 and none so far this year.
The report does not specify whether there are fewer shipments or smarter criminals avoiding detection.
But if there is a decline, the DEA's Benson said he has not seen it.
"In the last three or four years, it's increased quite dramatically," he said. "The Colombian organizations have been active there longer than that. In the last two years, we've also seen Mexican involvement in the area as well."
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