How Ojukwu died in London

22 days after his 78th birthday, former Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu succumbed to the cold hands of death.
The family said in a statement that their patriarch died of stroke in the Royal Berkshire Hospital, United Kingdom, in the early hours of yesterday.
The National Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), the platform on which Ojukwu sought to become president in 2003 and 2007, and which Board of Trustees (BoT) he headed, Chief Victor Umeh, said the former warlord, passed on at about 2.30 a.m. yesterday.
Ojukwu had been flown to the London hospital almost one year ago, precisely December 23, 2010, after he suffered what doctors called “massive stroke” and went unconscious.

He was initially treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, before the trip abroad in an air ambulance.
Tributes poured in, in torrents, yesterday, as the death of the man who led the Igbo on a secessionist bid in the name of Biafra between 1966 and 1970 spread across the country.
President Goodluck Jonathan said the memory of the late Ojukwu would live forever, given the “uncommon qualitative leadership he gave to his people”.
General Yakubu Gowon, who was Head of State during the civil war, said Ojukwu, after Biafra, joined to move Nigeria forward.
The governor of his home state, Anambra, Mr. Peter Obi, in a statement, entitled, `Our father is gone’, said the Igbo and the nation have lost a treasure.
The family statement, announcing the man fondly called `Ikemba Nnewi’, his traditional title, was signed by his son, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
Entitled, “We thank God for Ikemba Ojukwu’s productive life on earth: Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is dead”, the statement read: “After a protracted and brave fight against stroke, the People’s General, Ikemba Nnewi, Dikedioranma Ndigbo, Odenigbo Ngwo, Ezeigbo Gburugburu, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu died in the early hours of today (yesterday) in London.
“We thank all those that showed concern in our period of difficulties, starting from the President of the country, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR. We thank, in a special way, the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi who went above and beyond the call of duty to look after him. Besides paying the hospital bills, he visited London on a monthly basis to see him. He was there yesterday and only came back this morning to receive the news, whereupon he entered the next available flight back to London. He even had to fly Economy Class since other classes were fully booked. We thank him for the sacrifices.
“We thank all Nigerians for their solidarity, especially those that continued to pray for him. May you continue to pray for the repose of his soul. Further details shall be made available”.
He was born on November 4, 1933 in Zungeru in today’s Niger State.
When Igbo leaders converged at the GRA, Enugu residence of Ojukwu on November 4, 2011 to mark his 78th birthday in his absence, little did they know that the funeral of Eze Igbo Gburugburu was coming so soon.
But what appeared to be a premonition of his death was made during the well-attended ceremony organized by the leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, Chief Ralph Uwazurike, when it was announced that the Catholic Archbishop of Onitsha Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Valerian Okeke, would leave for London to pray for Ojukwu and anoint him.
Although several speakers, including the clergy, prayed fervently for his quick recovery and early return to his fatherland, the mood of the people that graced the occasion conveyed the impression that the ex-warlord may not return alive.
The National Chairman of Ojukwu’s All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, told the audience that the Catholic Archbishop would depart for London to pray for Ojukwu as other prominent members of the clergy including bishops from some orthodox churches had done since Ojukwu was flown to London on December 23, 2010 aboard a German Air Ambulance hired by Anambra State government.
Okeke actually traveled to London in the second week of November and anointed Ojukwu, prayed for him and returned to Nigeria, last week, but details of his trip to the hospital could not be ascertained. Sunday Vanguard learnt that when the former Biafran leader’s condition deteriorated, last weekend, Governor Peter Obi left for London to see him. He was said to be on his way back to Nigeria when he heard of Ojukwu’s death, yesterday morning, and returned to London where he joined the wife of the former warlord, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, and others who had taken care of him in the hospital since the last one year.
Ojukwu was hit by what medical experts described as “massive stroke” on December 1, 2010. He was attended to by a team of medical experts who battled to resuscitate him at home before he was moved to the ICU of the UNTH, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu.
From the time Ojukwu was attacked by stroke, up till the time he was moved to London, he was said to be under “generous support” by his wife, Bianca, the APGA and the governor of Anambra State “From the time he was attacked by stroke till the present day he has been under generous support by his wife, Bianca Ojukwu, the APGA and His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, Governor of Anambra State. When he first took ill on December 1, he was immediately looked after by two Professors of Medicine here in Enugu namely Professor Vincent Ike, a Consultant Cardiologists and Professor Augustine Nwabueze, a British-trained Consultant Neuro physician,”APGA National Chairman, Umeh, said while reacting to the allegation that Ojukwu had been abandoned by his associates on account of his ill-health. “Under their close watch, Dim Ojukwu was managed with excellent medical knowledge within the first two weeks and when he slipped into coma on December 19, 2010 he was immediately moved to the UNTH Enugu where he was taken in by the Intensive Care Unit of the Teaching Hospital.
“Before he slipped into coma efforts were initiated and intensified to fly him abroad.  We had to go through the process of getting visa and arranging Air Ambulance to evacuate him from Nigeria.  When the situation was deteriorating, efforts were intensified in all these directions and successfully on December 23, Dim Ojukwu was flown to London by a German Air Ambulance that came directly from France to Enugu to take him. He was accompanied on that trip under very critical condition by his dear wife, Bianca Ojukwu and his Chief of Staff, Prince Bob Onyema.  Two of them with the Ambulance Team left Enugu airport for London under very critical condition.
“In London, he was immediately admitted at the London Clinic where he was moved into the Intensive Care Unit, ICU. From December 2010 to March 2011, Ojukwu remained in the ICU of London Clinic. It was by the mercy of God that he went through that process and recovered consciousness and came out of ICU. There is no gainsaying that all the people he met at the ICU, I mean co-patients including those that came in after him all died except him to the Glory of God.
“When he recovered sufficiently at the London Clinic, he was moved to Wellington Hospital still in London where he stayed between March and May this year. There his recovery was intensely facilitated. When he improved substantially, he was again moved to Lydenhill Therapeutic Centre in Twyford which is very famous in the world for physiotherapy. All these three hospitals mentioned enjoy excellent facilities with very brilliant doctors and other professionals.
“At the Lynenhill centre, he had chest infection due to cough and he was quickly moved to Berkshire hospital that was nearby the Therapeutic Centre and he has since been there under excellent care and he is responding to treatment. All his medical bills from December 23 when he was moved to London and around these various hospitals, had been promptly paid by the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi till date.”
Umeh also explained that while in London, Bianca remained with Ojukwu except on the occasional times she visited Nigeria to see her children and take care of the few house needs before going back to London. He said: “Since Ojukwu’s movement to London I as the National Chairman of APGA and my wife have visited him in February and also visited him after the election in May where I went to brief him on the outcome of the elections. The governor of Anambra State had also visited him. When I was in London, our new Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha came on May 13 with his wife and I took them to the hospital where they saw Ojukwu.
“Other notable members of our party have also visited Ojukwu in London since then. The acting Nigerian High Commissioner to London, His Excellency, Ambassador Dozie Nwanna who hails from Awka, since Ojukwu’s arrival in London on December 23, became part of the daily routine for monitoring his health, first as the Nigerian High Commissioner to London and two, as an Igbo man including his wife.”
The APGA chief further said: “Former Health Minister, Dr. Tim Menakaya, Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and so many other Igbos had visited Ojukwu in London, adding that at the London Clinic and Wellington hospital “Ojukwu is known as a General and excellent and qualified professionals took special interest in him and they said they have never had such a patient in their history going by the way people had been coming to see him, that he must be a famous man.”
How Ojukwu left for UK in air ambulance
AT the Intensive Care Unit of UNTH, medical experts declared that Ojukwu had a cerebra-vascular accident otherwise called stroke. The hospital only tried to sustain him for few days and in the process prepared him for the critical journey to London.
On December 23, Ojukwu began his last journey to London, the United Kingdom aboard the German Air Ambulance. He was evacuated from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu at 1.52 pm to United Kingdom by Flight Ambulance International of Germany hired by Anambra State government. The flight was said to be the first international aircraft to move from the airport which was granted an international status by the Jonathan-led Federal Government mid last year.
Being an international flight, four officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service were at the Enugu airport to stamp Ojukwu’s international passport, that of his wife, Bianca and his Chief of Staff, Prince Jonathan Bob Onyema, who accompanied him on the medical trip.
There was a mild drama at the UNTH while Ojukwu was being taken to the Enugu airport when his aides and family members at the hospital cordoned off the ICU to prevent journalists from taking pictures as he was being evacuated.
His movement into the Enugu State Emergency Management Response Team ambulance at 10.55 a.m. that fateful day was handled with caution as medical experts warned that the life supporting machine could stop functioning if mishandled. The former Biafran leader was brought to the airport at 11.40 am accompanied by Governor Obi, APGA chieftains and his family members among others.
He was driven to the Air Force Wing of the airport where the air ambulance was stationed. The Enugu Air Force Commander, Air Commodore Jacob Gbamwuan, had given approval for the use of the Air Force Wing as a mark of respect for the then ailing General.
The slow but steady journey from UNTH located at Ituku-Ozalla to the airport at Emene, Enugu was described as very smooth but the journey, which normally takes about 10 to 15 minutes, lasted for about 45 minutes as the ambulance driver drove with strict caution.
On arrival at the airport, Ojukwu was driven close to the side of the air Ambulance which had touched down at 10.45 am and headed straight to the Air Force Wing of the airport. The crew members immediately evacuated him into the white aircraft marked D-CSIX.
The air ambulance itself, according to an aviation expert, was an Intensive Care Unit with sophisticated medical facilities that could sustain a patient airborne for several hours like a normal ICU of a first class hospital.
The Ikemba’s aides confirmed on December 24, 2010 that Ojukwu arrived the London Hospital without hitches and was accorded first class treatment by medical experts there until he gave up the ghost in the early hours of yesterday.
78th birthday
When Ojukwu was celebrated by his associates at his 78th birthday in Enugu on November 4, 2011, the gathering was a carnival of sort. Igbo leaders who addressed the gathering, poured glorious tributes on him. Those in the gathering for his recovery believing that a miracle could happen for Ikemba to return alive.
Bianca, who returned from London a day before the event, was present and she stood firmly to collect the numerous tributes showered upon her spouse. Former Biafran officers, politicians, clergy men from different denominations and members of the Chief Ralph Uwazurike-led Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) attended the occasion en-masse.
Although Uwazurike said Ojukwu’s birthday celebration would continue even after his death, the manner in which the Ikemba was revered at that event gave the impression that he was indeed loved by Igbos and could be rightly described as an icon that would ever be remembered by all Igbo.
Gowon: After Biafra, he joined in moving Nigeria forward
Gowon, yesterday, described the demise of Ojukwu as a rude shock. According to him, the late Ikemba Nnewi was a reliable friend. “The passing away of this man of excellence is shocking. Whether we like it or not, Ojukwu will be remembered as a man who tried to have a country of his own but when he couldn’t succeed returned and joined in moving Nigeria forward. He tried to become president but unfortunately he couldn’t make it,” Gowon said in a tribute.
“Really it is sad he is gone. I wish his soul reposed in the Lord and pray that God will give his family and entire Nigerians the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss”, the Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria during the Ojukwu-led Igbo secession between 1967 – 70 said.
Former Minister of Communications, General Tajudeen Olanrewaju and foremost traditional ruler, Igwe Alex Nwokedi, in their reactions, described Ojukwu as a leader with a difference.
Ojukwu’s love for Ndigbo will live forever—Jonathan
Jonathan, in his own tribute, expressed sadness and a deep feeling of great national loss news of the passing away of Ojukwu.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, said the memory of the late ex-warlord would live forever, given, essentially, the uncommon qualitative leadership he gave to his people.
The statement said Jonathan joined Chief Ojukwu’s family, the government and people of his home state, Anambra, the entire Igbo people of Nigeria and his friends, associates and followers across the country in mourning him.
According to the statement, the president urged them to be comforted by the knowledge that the deceased Biafran warlord lived a most fulfilled life, and has, in passing on, left behind a record of very notable contributions to the evolution of modern Nigeria which will assure his place in the history of the country.
“President Jonathan believes that late Chief Ojukwu’s immense love for his people, justice, equity and fairness which forced him into the leading role he played in the Nigerian civil war, as well as his commitment to reconciliation and the full reintegration of his people into a united and progressive Nigeria in the aftermath of the war, will ensure that he is remembered forever as one of the great personalities of his time who stood out easily as a brave, courageous, fearless, erudite and charismatic leader”, the statement said .
Jonathan called on Ojukwu’s family, his associates and followers to make his rites of passage a celebration of his most worthy and memorable life spent in the service of his people and the nation.
Ojukwu’s death, a reminder of Nigeria’s unfinished business – Tinubu
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) national leader and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, said Ojukwu’s death marked the passage of one of the movers of Nigerian history in the 20th century. But he added that Ojukwu’s death should remind everyone of Nigeria’s unfinished federal business and the urgency to fix the problem, once and for all.
“Ojukwu’s death once again reminds all of us of the unfinished business of Nigerian federalism.  If only for his memory, and to ensure that Nigeria never has to suffer again any crisis like the civil war, we must all rise as a people to fix Nigeria’s special challenges.  That is why Nigeria must, as a matter of urgency convoke a sovereign national conference, where all these issues would be resolved”, the ACN leader said.
He said that federal-related tensions still persisted, 31 years after the civil war (1967-1970), just proved the depth of the feeling  of marginalisation and perceived unfairness by critical stakeholders in the Nigerian union. The former governor said though Ojukwu was a controversial figure, he made his mark during the era of the titans of Nigerian politics and governance.
“Ojukwu, the Ikemba and Eze Igbo Gburugburu, meant many things to many people.  But his greatness was that he stood his own such that, even with the constellation of stars of his age and time, he still made his mark – and profoundly so.  You might love Ojukwu and you might hate him.  But you could never be indifferent about him nor could you ignore him,” Tinubu said.
He said the late Biafrian war leader was a revolutionary, almost from the womb.
A chapter has closed – Ogbulafor
A former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, who described him as a very close friend of his late father, Eze J.J. Ogbulafor, stressed that Ojukwu was a very great man who meant well for the people of Igbo, adding that with his death, a chapter of history has closed.
Ikemba’s death a rude shock- Nwodo
Another former national chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, described Ojukwu’s death as a rude shock. Nwodo, a former governor of Enugu State, said, “Here unfortunately is the end of an era. An era when men were men, who leaved and fought for what they believed in and were ready to pay the supreme sacrifice for their believe. Ikemba was a leader made in this mould”. The former PDP boss also noted that Ojukwu was blessed with great erudition and communication skills that assisted him greatly in prosecuting the Nigeria Biafra war, adding that the legendary ingenious Biafra Technology can be ascribed to his leadership.
Ojukwu was the issue — Senate
THE Senate said Ojukwu was the issue in Nigeria’s evolutionary process.
In a statement by the chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, PDP, Abia Central, the Senate noted that the upper chambers and indeed  Nigeria as a nation will surely miss him.
According to him, “Dim Ojukwu was a visionary leader whose passion for a Nigeria where every federating unit would be proud of belonging to was unparalleled. He saw tomorrow and his action and passion for a truly united Nigeria shaped our socio-political environment of today.”

Pirates release Halifax oil tanker off Nigeria

Piracy has escalated in the Gulf of Guinea, prompting the UN to call for increased naval patrols.

An oil tanker seized by pirates off the coast of the Niger Delta last week has been released, officials in Nigeria say.

The vessel - the MT Halifax - was attacked near the oil city of Port Harcourt.
The crew of 25, mainly Filipinos, were said to be safe and accounted for.
The area has seen an increase in the number of hijackings of tankers as pirates target oil shipments moving out of Nigeria.
In most cases the cargo of fuel is taken off before the ship and crew are released unharmed - unlike in Somalia where crews and their ships are held until ransoms are paid, often after several months.
"The vessel is presently being escorted to Port Harcourt harbour by Nigerian Navy Patrol Team," a spokeswoman for the Nigerian Maritime Administration said.
"Part of the cargo was siphoned," she said.
The Halifax is operated by the Greek-based Ancora Investment Trust Inc and is flagged out of Malta.
Piracy surge Ancora lost contact with the tanker on 30 October, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).
An official said it was located about 100km (60 miles) off Port Harcourt before it was hijacked.
The United Nations this week urged West African nations to increase naval patrols following a surge of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea.
West Africa has seen a growing number of oil tanker hijackings in recent months as pirates target oil shipments from Nigeria, one of the world's biggest producers.
Over the last eight months, piracy there has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts.
In August, London-based Lloyd's Market Association - an umbrella group of insurers - listed Nigeria, neighbouring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia.
On Monday, a top UN official, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, said that Somali pirates were inspiring copycat attacks in other parts of Africa.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15609012

Sharia Favours the Rich, Claim Nigerian Rights Activists (Paging ... OWS "99 Percenters")

RFI ^ | November 24, 2011 | Rosie Collyer
Posted on Friday, November 25, 2011 1:18:24 PM by DogByte6RER
Sharia favours the rich, claim Nigerian rights activists
Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency is fuelled by their desire to see stricter Islamic law, or Sharia, in northern Nigeria. Civil rights activists have voiced their concerns that poor people would bear the brunt of a more severe form of Sharia.

Sharia has been practised to varying degrees for as long as Islam has been in Nigeria. But in 1999, the then-governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Sani, called for criminal cases to be tried in Sharia courts.
Civil rights activists in Nigeria complain that Sharia hands down harsh sentences to poor Muslims, while the rich use it to their advantage.
Ahmed Sani, the architect of Sharia in modern Nigeria, is a case in point. He married a child bride from Egypt last year and condoned his actions citing Sharia, which permits men to marry wives as young as 13.
Civil rights activist, Shehu Sani stood up to Ahmed Sani, who is no relation, “for those of us who were human rights activists and Muslims we had a duty to our conscience and to our people to stand up to Ahmed Sani. Because we were concerned that Sharia would be used against the poor and to hunt down political enemies.”
Several Sharia cases have brought condemnation from the international community. Most of them have involved poor women accused of adultery who face being stoned to death.
But some argue that it is Nigerian legal system that is at fault.
“Sharia has afforded women so many rights," says Remi Atunwa, a barrister and practising Muslim. "For example it stipulates that if a woman doesn’t want to cook, then her husband is obligated to get her a maid.”
But “people manipulate the system for political and religious reasons," she adds. "And the average person either doesn’t understand the system or doesn’t have the means [financial], required to navigate it.”
Nigeria’s 70 million Muslims already have the choice of having civil cases heard in a Sharia law court. Twelve northern states also allow the resort to Sharia in criminal cases. What Boko Haram is demanding is for Sharia to replace common and customary law in the 19 states that make up northern Nigeria.
The group also wants to see a stricter form of Sharia implemented, as in Saudi Arabia or Iran where stoning and amputations are not uncommon. The problem is that there are several million non-Muslims living in these states. And that wealthy Nigerians tend to be able to escape justice more than the rest of the population.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2812295/posts

---

Six HIV patients die after church tells them to stop taking meds because they were healed by God: report

 

VIDEO: therapy involves screaming to purge the devil, in place of drugs designed to keep HIV patients alive

BY Amanda Mikelberg
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, November 27 2011, 2:58 AM

Sky News

Sky News video shows pastor of an evangelical church in England supervising a healing ceremony in which HIV patients are told they can be cured of their disease.

Sky News

Pastor at the Synagogue Church Of All Nations in London recommends HIV/AIDS patients discontinue medications because "Jesus is a healer."

At least six HIV-positive people have died after evangelical churches in Britain reportedly told them to stop taking their medication because they had been healed by God.

Pastors at several churches in England and Scotland told undercover Sky News reporters that they could be healed through an exorcism-like process that involves shouting over the patients and spraying water in their faces.

A pastor at the Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN), a wealthy televangelist organization with branches throughout the world, told one undercover reporter - who actually is HIV positive - that they had a 100% success rate.

"We have many people that contract HIV. All are healed," Holmes said.

Holmes even said that if symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea persist, it's a good sign that the virus is leaving the body.

"We've had people come back before saying, 'Oh, I'm not healed. The diarrhea I had when I had HIV, I've got it again'" Holmes said.

"I have to stop them and say, 'No, please, you are free.'"

And according to the Sky News investigation, as many as six individuals have died after churches instructed them to discontinue their medication.

One of the victims, Emmanuel, stopped taking his medicine a year ago after being instructed by a pastor at his church in London.

The pastor told him that once god forgave him, "the disease will definitely go."

But now Emmanuel believes he may have passed his HIV infection to his boyfriend.

"I feel guilty, if I'm the one who passed it onto him I'm feeling guilty. Yeah, very much guilty," he told Sky News.

SCOAN continues to defend and administer it's treatment for the HIV virus, and other diseases.

"If anybody comes in the name of God, we pray for them. The outcome of the prayer will determine if they come genuinely or not," the church asserted in a statement.

 nydailynews.com/life-style/health/hiv-patients-die-church-tells-stop-meds-healed-god-report-article-1.983069

BOKO HARAM: Senators in angry brawl over Jonathan

On November 16, 2011 ·

 

By InALEGWU SHaiBU

 

ABUJA — SENATORS returning from the Eid-el-Kabir holidays were, yesterday, in angry mood with President Goodluck Jonathan over the security situation in the country lamenting what they described as his inability to protect lives and property.

A bid by some senators to instigate a vote of no confidence on the President was, however, forced down by the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, who with the assistance of the Senate leadership mollified the angry senators.
Senator Mark was pushed to promise a face to face meeting with the President on the issue as a way of mollifying the anger of the senators. Senators who spoke during the closed door session to address the insecurity caused by activities of the Boko Haram group flayed what was described as the incompetence of government officials to arrest the situation.

The senators observed what they described as the extended time it was taking the government to decisively stop the killings and destruction of property through terrorist activities.

A source told Vanguard that Senate President, David Mark who presided over the close door session had to calm the senators down and assured that the best way out of the insecurity situation is for the Senate to have a face to face meeting with Jonathan to get first hand information on the activities of government towards tackling terrorism.
Beside the two hour closed session, Senate Committees on Defence, Police Affairs, Navy, Air Force, National Security and Intelligence and Interior also held another special meeting after the close of plenary session with focus on engaging the security chiefs on the ways to address the problem of terrorism.
Security situation
Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe who spoke to journalists at the end of yesterday’s sitting said the session offered the Senate time to review security situation in the country and efforts made by government to address the problems.
He said: “The executive session was mainly concerned with matters of national security. All of us are aware of the situation of things today in Nigeria and we want to also let you know that the National Assembly will continue to engage with the executives with regards to national security.
“I think the discussion is on-going to ensure that each and every one of us lives in Nigeria that is free from the current problem that we are undergoing and we hope that every Nigerian will be more concerned about our security and that is exactly what we are doing.”
Senator Abaribe added that the meeting also involved reappraisal of methods used by the security operatives and issues of equipment for dealing with the new trend of terrorism.
He noted that the Senate also discussed the need to change the format of security machinery in the country and to replace them with highly sophisticated ones.
Abaribe said: “This discussion has been on-going and part of what we did today at the executive session was a review of all these measures that are being taken. I do not think that any measure that is being taken is taken very lightly. I think that the security agencies are doing good jobs. I don’t think they only look under the cars, they also look at the booth, sometimes asking you to step out and they open the bonnet and check everything.
“I think also that there is an ongoing review which means that the measures will continue to be upgraded and improved with time. We are asking for a little patience and we know that things will get better. This is a new phenomenon that has just come to Nigeria and I am sure that the security agencies will handle the situation with time,” he noted.
He confirmed that the various committees of the Senate would engage the security agencies for further discussions and report back to the Senate.
“The fact that we had an executive session and spent all this time is better than a motion because at a public debate, everything comes out. We wanted to have a full and quiet discussion on security matters and that you cannot do in front of cameras.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/boko-haram-senators-in-angry-brawl-over-jonathan/

Report: Nigerian Jihadist Group Boko Haram Killed 130 Christians During Raid On Town, “Any Christian Who Couldn’t Recite Islamic Creed Was Shot”…

The slaughter continues.

DAMATURU, Nigeria, November 11 (CDN) — They stormed this town in Yobe state, northern Nigeria like a swarm of bees, and at the end of their four-hour rampage, some 150 people had been killed — at least 130 of them Christians, according to church sources.
Hundreds of people are still missing, and the destruction included the bombing of at least 10 church buildings.

More than 200 members of the Islamic extremist Boko Haram sect stormed the Yobe state capital, Damaturu, at 5 p.m. on Nov. 4, and soon the terrorists had blocked all four major highways leading into town. Some of them charged the police headquarters, commando style, killing all officers on duty, while the rest broke into two banks — First Bank Nigeria PLC and United Bank for Africa, stealing millions of naira. Boko Haram also bombed police stations and an army base in and around Damaturu.
Having successfully dislodged security agencies after a series of gun battles and the detonation of explosives, the terrorists then led other area Muslims to the only Christian ward in town, New Jerusalem in Damaturu, home to more than 15,000 Christians, church leaders said.
The Christian leaders in Damaturu told Compass that out of the 150 casualties reported in the Yobe attacks, more than 130 were Christians. When the Muslim extremists went to New Jerusalem, they said, any Christian they met who could not recite the Islamic creed was instantly shot and killed or slaughtered like a lamb.

http://weaselzippers.us/2011/11/12/report-nigerian-jihadist-group-boko-haram-killed-130-christians-during-raid-on-town-any-christian-who-couldnt-recite-islamic-creed-was-shot/

Bombings: Fashola orders removal of abandoned vehicles within 14 days

By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Monsur Olowoopejo
LAGOS — In a fresh move to avert bomb blast in the state, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, issued a 14-day ultimatum to civil servants in the state to remove all abandoned and disused vehicles within and around the state secretariat and other government offices across the state.

The measure, it was gathered, became necessary following increasing concern over the possibility of Boko Haram threat to extend its nefarious activities to the state.

Security reports at Lagos State government secretariat, Alausa and the old secretariat, Ikeja, Lagos, revealed that the indiscriminate parking of staff’s vehicles at government premises over the weekend and abandoned vehicles posed serious security threat to life and property.

Fashola, through the Head of Service, Mr. Adesegun Ogunlewe, issued the circular, giving workers 14-day ultimatum to remove their abandoned vehicles from the secretariat or they would be towed to avert breach of security at the two secretariats.

The government also saw as security threat, cases where private vehicles make use of government official number plates in connivance with some unscrupulous government staff in a bid to make quick money.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/bombings-fashola-orders-removal-of-abandoned-vehicles-within-14-days/

Jonathan takes US security alert serious, moves to avert occurrence

…orders MDAs to set up security units
BY DANIEL IDONOR
ABUJA – IN a swift move to avert any possible terrorists attacks as predicted by the United States, US, government, President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the immediate completion of top security equipment project in the country, before the end of November.
The presidential directive coincides with an order by Andrew Azazi, National Security Adviser, NSA, to Ministries, Departments And Agencies, MDAs to volunteers capable hands to be trained by his office on counter terrorism and emergency response strategies. The officials will manage related security issues in their respective MDAs to complement the efforts of key security agencies in the country.
The new security equipment, it was learnt is to complement the already existing tracking device put into operation a few months ago by the police as well as the over two thousand units of Close Circuit Televisions, CCTV, been installed in Abuja and Lagos and the Aerial Unmanned Vehicles, AUVs, which are also expected to be deplored in the nation’s borders.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/jonathan-takes-us-security-alert-seriously-moves-to-avert-occurrence/

Standard & Poor rates Nigeria, banking industry as high risk

By Omoh Gabriel
LAGOS — Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, Wednesday, thumbed down Nigeria economy and the banking reforms, saying that Nigeria and the banking industry are a very high risk. It said it classified Nigeria as “very high risk” because of significant market distortions or low industry stability.
The rating agency said it was, however, revising its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment, BICRA, on Nigeria to group ‘8’ from ‘9’. It is also revising the economic risk score to ‘8’ from ‘9’ and assigning an industry risk score of ‘7’ thus placing the country in the same category with Georgia, Lebanon, Latvia, Argentina, Bolivia, and Uruguay.

The report said: “We have reviewed the banking sector of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (B+/Stable/B) in light of our updated BICRA methodology. Our criteria define the BICRA framework as one “designed to evaluate and compare global banking systems.”
“BICRA analysis for a country covers rated and unrated financial institutions that take deposits, extend credit, or engage in both activities. BICRA is scored on a scale from 1 to 10, ranging from the lowest-risk banking systems (group 1) to the highest-risk (group 10). Other countries in BICRA group ‘8’ include Argentina, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Kazakhstan.
“Our economic risk score of ‘8’ reflects our opinion that Nigeria has a “very high risk” in “economic resilience,” a “high risk” in terms of “economic imbalances,” and a “very high risk” in “credit risk in the economy,” as our criteria define those terms.
High political risk
“Nigeria is a country with high political risk, low GDP per capita, and large infrastructure needs, all factors that contribute to a volatile and risky operating environment for banks. Nigeria has large natural resources, low government debt, and high economic growth potential, which partly mitigate these risks.
The slow recovery of the domestic economy has slowed credit growth and kept the stock market muted, limiting economic imbalances. In our view, credit risk in the economy is very high because of Nigeria’s low wealth levels, the banks’ track record of relaxed underwriting standards, industry concentrations, and a weak payment culture.”
“Nevertheless, financial support from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, (AMCON; not rated) helped reduce credit risk. AMCON was created to stabilise the financial system by buying up non-performing loans from Nigerian banks. It bought approximately $9.5 billion of non-performing loans since it was created in mid-2010.
“Our industry risk score of ‘7’ for Nigeria is based on our opinion that the country faces “very high risk” in its “institutional framework” and “competitive dynamics,” and “intermediate risk” in “systemwide funding,” as our criteria define those terms.
During the banking crises of 2009, numerous banks failed. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s subsequent actions as banking supervisor has been positive, but its regulatory track record before 2009 was weak. Our opinion on institutional framework incorporates this track record and the prevalence of poor corporate governance in Nigeria’s banks. During and after the crisis, the regulator supported the system by offering a full inter-bank guarantee and creating AMCON. We consider these actions to be positive for the industry.
As a result of the Central Bank’s actions, 10 banks were “quasi-nationalized” in 2009. The sector is now seeing a succession of mergers and acquisitions, which will undoubtedly affect the competitive dynamics of the sector. We view the funding profile of the industry as relatively stable. It is mainly based on short-term customer deposits, although the potential for volatility thus created is somewhat offset by good liquidity in the banking sector.
@We classify the Nigerian government as “supportive” toward its domestic banking sector. Our opinion balances the strong extraordinary support provided by the authorities, including through AMCON, against the potential political instabilities that could lower the predictability of support in the future.
According to the report negative developments in the global economy could exert pressure on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) sovereigns over the coming months “This is although SSA economies have been expanding since the global economic downturn of 2008/2009.
“A sharp correction of global commodity prices would negatively affect those countries that rely heavily on commodity exports and commodity-related fiscal revenue,” said Standard & poor’s credit analyst Christian Esters. Current account balances could also be affected if remittance inflows falter, although this had only mild effects on our rated sovereigns in Africa during the last downturn, the report says.
For the region as a whole, a drop in global risk appetite could also erode the confidence that foreign investors have shown in SSA markets since 2009. Budgetary pressures in Europe and the U.S. could also slow down aid flows, which are critical to sustain public investment in many countries, the report states.
“So far, solid economic growth, ongoing donor assistance, and the improvements made in fiscal management over the past few years have limited negative rating pressures on SSA sovereigns,” said Mr. Esters. “However, monetary policy challenges have increased in some countries in the region, where we envisage high inflation rates and exchange rate fluctuations.”
Nevertheless, since 11 of the 15 sovereigns we rate in SSA reside in the ‘B’ category, this limits the potential for downgrades because such a rating already factors in a high degree of vulnerability.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/standard-poor-rates-nigeria-banking-industry-as-high-risk/

Textile workers decry US warning to citizens

BY EMEKA MAMAH
KADUNA-Textile workers in the country have expressed alarm over the warning issued by the American government to its citizens in Nigeria to avoid luxury hotels in Abuja, pointing out that there was a sinister motive for the warning.
In a statement by its Secretary General, Mr. Issa Aremu, in Kaduna, Wednesday, they said America was not showing enough sympathy to Nigeria as the world showed to her (America), during the September 11,2001 attack on the World Trade Centre in the country.

The workers argued that there was an attempt by USA to justify its false prediction in 2005 that Nigeria would disintergrate in 2015. The union said: ‘’The reported warning by the United States Mission in the country about impending attacks in three luxury hotels in Abuja , Transcorp Hilton, Nicon and Sheraton, ostensibly for its citizens is completely unhelpful, scary and unacceptable to all Nigerians.”
’’With series of bomb blasts on country’s independence celebration on October 1, 2010 and other series of bomb blasts in North eastern part of the country notably Maiduguri, the police headquarters, Abuja, UN Headquarters among others to a larger extent we are indeed under siege.
‘’Any further scare about Nigeria’s security challenge is one scare too unhelpful. What will be refreshingly new and healing for Nigerians (and particularly from the friends of Nigeria including America) are creative constructive suggestions and ideas on how to put an end to the security challenges.
‘’The America’s warning is certainly not refreshing to Nigerians; on the contrary, it complicates the security challenges for a country striving to cope with the challenges of development.
’’In an attempt to selfishly safeguard her own citizens, America’s scary statement creates unnecessary tension for 150 million citizens of Nigeria.
’’Given the record of America in destabilization projects of developing countries (from splitting of Sudan to the recent NATO-led bombing of Libya), the Federal Government must be on duty to protect her citizens.
‘’In 2005 a dubious intelligence report from Washington predicted the collapse of Nigerian project in 2015. We hope USA is not working to prove an acid test.
All countries in the world face one form of security challenge or the other including America. America enjoyed instant global sympathy and solidarity of the world after the criminal Sept. 11 2001 attack.
’’America should constructively extend same solidarity and sympathy to other countries under terror attack and this cannot be done through red-herring that demobilizes the nation and its 150 million people.
‘’Nigeria is 51 years old. The promise of independence is that the sovereignty and independence of the country must be respected. The meddlesomeness of America in the affairs of Nigeria is increasingly too open and brazen.
’’The solution is good governance and Nigeria’s leaders at all levels must be on duty to provide good governance. Nigeria was once a security/investment destination in the 70s and 80s. Certainly with development and good governance truly independent Nigeria can be re-invented.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/textile-workers-decry-us-warning-to-citizens/

Nigerian attacks 'show Islamists upping the ante'

By Susan Njanji | AFP – Tue, Nov 8, 2011

• The latest deadly attacks by an Islamist sect in northern Nigeria, including multiple suicide bombings, point to the group's growing determination to take on the government, analysts said on Monday.

The coordinated attacks that shook Nigeria's northeast on Friday, killing at least 150, also show that the sect's radicalisation has reached new heights.

At least five suicide bombers were involved in the attacks that targeted police stations, churches and a military base in two northeastern states of Borno and Yobe.

"The truth of the matter is we are (now) faced with armed insurgency," said northern-based rights activist Shehu Sani, of the Civil Rights Congress group.

Long seen as a local group based in the northeast where it is normally active, attacks by Boko Haram have recently grown in size and sophistication, targetting symbolic institutions or occasions.

There have also been growing concerns that the sect has begun cooperating with other extremist groups outside Nigeria, including Al-Qaeda's north African branch, known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

"I have strong suspicion that it (the attack) has international dimensions, but we don't have any concrete proof," said Olu Obafemi, a researcher at Nigeria's respected National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.

He said the sect's "boldness" in claiming responsibility for the attacks "gives an impression of echoes of an international ring."
When claiming responsibility, Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa warned: "We will continue attacking federal government formations until security forces stop persecuting our members and vulnerable civilians."
The sect, which was created in 2004 and wants to see the establishment of an Islamic state in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria, staged an uprising which was brutally put down by security forces in 2009.
Then it was armed only with guns, targeting police, soldiers or community leaders. In recent months it has turned to bombs.

It also claimed a suicide bombing at the UN building in Abuja which killed 24 people in August.

But the sect's true objectives remain a matter of debate, given that civilians walking the dusty streets of the sleepy town of Damaturu were also killed.

"People in southern Nigeria talk of these attacks as being designed to Islamise the country, but the greatest casualties are from the (Muslim) north," said Chidi Odinkalu, of the Open Society Justice Initiative, a rights NGO.

"So it's not possible to look at this as an effort to proselytise the country, so I can't make sense of it."
Onah Ekhomu, a Lagos-based independent security expert sees their only goal as nothing but "anarchy".
The latest attack, said Ekhomu, perhaps also indicates "the increasing of the stakes".
"It appears they are saying 'we are not being heard'... so they are upping the ante by causing large number of civilian casualties.
The movement is believed to have a number of factions, something which does not help to shed clear light on its goals, with some analysts not ruling out "wider political objectives".
Some doubt the Nigerian government will be able to effectively quell the sect.
"The government has insisted on using the military option to bring Boko Haram's insurgency down, and Boko Haram on the other side has proven to be more determined and committed to their own struggle," said Sani.
A Western diplomat said "the threat has obviously heightened, but the question is the response."

But Ekhomu does not believe the sect could "overrun Abuja and take power."

President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south, faced strong opposition to his candidacy in the north ahead of elections last April, when his main opponent was the Muslim former northern military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.

When Jonathan won, riots broke out claiming some 800 lives across several northern states.

The country's 160 million population is roughly divided between the mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, among some 250 ethnic groups.

 news.yahoo.com/nigerian-attacks-show-islamists-upping-ante-110716265.html;_ylt=ArSZpmMGAPflRJFxNl6bd_f8aQ8F;_ylu=X3oDMTRwMGRvOG5vBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwM0ZWVkMzRkNS1lYjQwLTNiN2MtODA2Yy1jZjg0Mzc3MTliNWEEcG9zAzEwBHNlYwNuZXdzX2Zvcl95b3UEdmVyA2E0YjVkNzAwLTA5ZmEtMTFlMS1iZmZlLTYyYmU0YmU1ZjhhNA-;_ylg=X3oDMTJ2bXBjZ3M0BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNGVlZDM0ZDUtZWI0MC0zYjdjLTgwNmMtY2Y4NDM3NzE5YjVhBHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZHxhZnJpY2EEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdl;_ylv=3

Nigerian attack threats specific and credible: US diplomat

 

By M.J. Smith | AFP – Tue, Nov 8, 2011

 

A US warning over possible attacks on hotels in Nigeria's capital over the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday was based on specific and credible information, an American diplomat said Tuesday.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not reveal the source of the information regarding potential attacks by Islamist sect Boko Haram, but said the US embassy had no choice but to warn its citizens.

Its unusually specific warning was issued in the wake of Friday's coordinated gun and bomb attacks in Nigeria's northeast, claimed by Boko Haram, that left some 150 people dead in one of the deadliest operations attributed to the group.
"We certainly took it very seriously," the diplomat said of the information included in its advisory.

"Given the specificity and the credibility of the threat, we really felt we had no choice but to give our best counsel to Americans."

Security has been put on high alert in the capital Abuja which was last hit in August when a suicide bomber attacked UN headquarters, killing 24 people.

Nigerian authorities have called the US warning about potential Abuja attacks as "not news."

The Nigerian ThisDay newspaper quoted a senior security official chief calling the warning "insulting to us as a nation."

National security adviser Andrew Azazi said in a statement that "for over three months the security services have taken pro-active measures to protect the designated critical facilities and others."

The US diplomat said the embassy did not consult with the Nigerian government before issuing its advisory a sit had wanted to act as soon as possible to warn US citizens.

"The US embassy has received information that Boko Haram may plan to attack several locations and hotels in Abuja, Nigeria, during the Sallah holiday," the advisory said.

"Potential targets may include the Nicon Luxury, the Sheraton Hotel, and the Transcorp Hilton Hotel."

Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice), also referred to as Sallah in Nigeria, was marked on Sunday, but Monday and Tuesday were also public holidays.

The diplomat spoke of Boko Haram's "increasingly sophisticated, increasingly lethal" attacks in Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer.

"I think it's a trend which we've seen over the past year," he said.

There has been intense speculation over whether the group has formed links with foreign extremists, such as Al-Qaeda's north African branch.

The diplomat said there had been signs of individual links, such as Boko Haram members seeking training in foreign countries, but no proof of operational ties.

"The evolution of the group unquestionably though has made it clear that we need to step up our security procedures." he said

On Tuesday in the northeastern city of Damaturu, the main target of Friday's deadly attacks, residents recounted harrowing details.

The violence, including a number of suicide bombers, badly damaged police headquarters in the city as well as an anti-terrorism unit building, while half a dozen churches were bombed.

 news.yahoo.com/nigeria-alert-us-warns-attacks-030224449.html

Hunger strike organizer detained in Nigeria

AP – 3 hrs ago

•  Mon, Nov 7, 2011

 

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Organizers say secret police in Nigeria have detained a man who is helping organize a planned hunger strike over the possible removal of fuel subsidies in Africa's most populous nation.

Activist Wale Salami says organizer Wale Ajani was invited in for questioning Wednesday by Nigeria's State Security Service. Salami says Ajani remains held without charges over the planned hunger strike.

Secret police spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar declined to comment Wednesday, saying she had no information about the detention.

The government submitted a three-year plan to lawmakers in October proposing to save $8 billion by phasing out fuel subsidies. Those subsidies keep gasoline prices low in the oil-rich nation — one of the only benefits seen by residents of a nation that's a crucial supplier of crude oil to the U.S.

 news.yahoo.com/hunger-strike-organizer-detained-nigeria-154339421.html

Africa 'must change view' of war crimes court

• 

• Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore said Wednesday that Africa's perception …

  Fri, Sep 2, 2011

Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore said Wednesday that Africa's perception of the International Criminal Court as a tool of Western imperialism needs to change.

"It is our duty to sensitise Africans... We must continue to convince them that such a court is essential," Compaore said during a conference at the world war crimes court in The Hague.

"There is a misunderstanding, a misapprehension when it comes to the cases launched by the ICC on the continent," Compaore said.

The ICC was created through the adoption of its founding statute at a Rome conference in July 1998, which Burkina Faso ratified in 2004.
The ICC is the world's only independent, permanent tribunal with the jurisdiction to try genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
All cases opened by the court so far relate to crimes committed in Africa and the United States is not one of the court's 119 state parties.

"When there are thousands of victims, it is impossible to handle for our national jurisdictions," Compaore argued.

Burkinabe Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole, who was also in the Hague, said: "We all know the majority of crises take place in Africa."

"Many African countries believe that the ICC was a tool from the Western world against African countries," he said. "There's a perception to be changed."

Several African heads of state and even the head of the African Union's executive body Jean Ping have criticised the ICC as an institution applying double standards.

The ICC has issued arrest warrants against two sitting heads of state since it became operational in 2002, Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Libya's Moamer Kadhafi, who was slain last month.

Compaore came to power in the impoverished west African nation in a 1987 coup that killed his long-time comrade-in-arms and then president Thomas Sankara.

 news.yahoo.com/africa-must-change-view-war-crimes-court-154353334.html

‘Africa market is important to Nokia’

By Prince Osuagwu
Despite huge presence in African market where it scoops a lot of revenue, top mobile phone makers, Nokia has promised even more interest in the market, announcing a broad portfolio of mobile devices specifically targeted at the African market.
Just at the recently concluded Nokia World conference in London, the company’s Vice President Product Marketing, Mobile Phones, Ms Blanca Juti, announced to the world that Africa is extremely important to Nokia, considering that the continent has the highest growth and still a penetrating market with so much potential.

She noted that Nokia has designed a broad range of phone types to meet the needs of many people in Africa, particularly, that have the aspiration and the need to communicate, but can not afford a supper high phone.
According to her “ Nokia as a company has a broad portfolio which goes from the lowest to the highest range, and since Africa is an emerging market in terms of Smartphone users, the company’s focus is to design various phones to meet their aspirations,”
Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications and its products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Nokia’s technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world and Africa in particular.
At the Nokia World, the company introduced its first two smartphones – Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 based on Windows Phone as well as the Nokia Asha range of phones, which Juti described as showing that Nokia sees a great opportunity ahead and it’s repositioning itself to take advantage of it.
“Focusing on the new Nokia range of phones, you can see the hunger to succeed to do well in the competitive market in which we find ourselves, and to build on what we have,” Ms Juti added.
Also at the event, Nokia also showcased the Nokia Car Mode, which it announced in September this year with Internationale Automobil Ausstellung.
The Nokia Car Mode is a standalone application optimized for the in-car use of Nokia smartphones.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/%e2%80%98africa-market-is-important-to-nokia%e2%80%99/

30 die in Abuja-Okene road crash

By Gabriel Enogholase
BENIN—NO fewer than 30 persons were reportedly killed in a fatal road accident, involving two passenger buses on Okene-Abuja Express-way, Monday.
Vanguard gathered that one of the passenger buses was heading to Kano from Benin. It had a head-on collision with another bus which was heading towards Edo State from Abuja.
Victims of the accident, said to have occurred at about 11am between Okpella in Edo State and Okene axis of Kogi State, were on their way to join families for Ed-el Fitri celebration.
When the news of the accident filtered into Benin City, yesterday, several families were seen making frantic checks on the passengers manifest at the corporate headquarters of a transport company at Aduwawa, Benin City.

An eyewitness said: “All passengers in both vehi-cles may have lost their lives in the accident.”
The eyewitness said the magnitude of the accident was such that both vehicles were squeezed almost beyond recognition, trapping all passengers on board.
It was gathered that it took several hours before officials of Federal Road Service Commission, FRSC, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSDC, and other security operatives could bring traffic on the busy Abuja-Okene Road under control.
Axes were said to have been used to break up the vehicles before trapped victims could be removed.
Though the immediate cause of the accident was not known at press time, it was, however, gathered that it may not be unconnected with the drivers of both vehicles’ claim to right of way.
Attempt to reach the Sector Commander of FRSC in Edo State for comments proved abortive as he was said to have mobilised his men and material to join its Kogi State counterpart to restore order on the busy road.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/30-die-in-abuja-okene-road-crash/

Rising spate of tattoo designs worry parents, clergyman

Benin – Some parents in Benin have decried the rising spate of young men and women wearing tattoo on their body in the name of fashion.
Mrs Taiwo Egwakhide, a school teacher in Benin on Wednesday said that she disliked tattoos and would not allow her children to wear them no matter how beautiful.
Egwakhide said that tattoo was a Western habit, adding that Nigerians were in the habit of imitating the Western world in everything they did whether right or wrong.
“Anything the whiteman does, most Nigerians will begin to do, whether good or bad. How can somebody just sit down and you begin to draw tattoo on your body?
“It means that you do not like the way God created you and you want to add to it by designing tattoo on your body. I see it as an immoral act.
“It is a satanic thing, it makes you look dirty physically and spiritually,’’ she said.
Mr Monday Erabor, a businessman and a parent, simply prayed not to catch any of his children wearing tattoo, and said, “hell will be let loose for any of them that tries it”.
Mr Austin Orhue, a tattoo designer in Benin, described his business as a successful one, adding that tattoo had become a fashion in Nigeria and the world.


A supporter of Liberian opposition presidential candidate
Winston Tubman shows her Tubman's CDC party tattoo
AFP PHOTO



Orhue said that tattoos added value to those, who wear it, adding that it brought out the beauty of those, who wear tattoo.

He said that tattoo designing vary from permanent, temporary, laser and sticker tattoo, noting that all the processes were not really painful.
He, however, said that those, who “wear tattoo cannot donate blood to any body in need of blood until about eight to nine  months after putting on the design.
Orhue said that he learnt how to design tattoo in Spain, adding that he had been able to make a living out of it.
“Since there is no work anywhere, I decided to engage myself in tattoo business instead of sitting idle. And I take care of myself and my family from this business,” he said.
One of those wearing tattoo, Miss Blessing Obemudia, said she liked it and noted that “tattoo is meant for the big boys and big babes”.
Prof. Ewan Alufkhai, a Surgeon, and former Vice-Chancellor of the Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, said that there was no prove to show the medical side effect of tattoo on the human body.
Alufkha explained that tattoo wearing started with the lesbians and the gays, stressing that “it has now became a fashion trend for those who wear it”.
“I think it is a thing of interest for those who wear tattoo. It is fashion according to them,’’ he said.
A Cleric, Mr James Achala, a Pastor of the Deliverance Prayer Ministry, described the act as satanic. adding that tattoo freaks no matter the reasons had lost faith in God.
Achala enjoined Christians to endeavour to follow what God commanded. (NAN)

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/rising-spate-of-tattoo-designs-worry-parents-clergyman/

Boko Haram Wants to Put Nigeria Under Islamic Law

11/8/11

The armies of Islam arrived in the Nigerian kingdoms as early as the 9th century. The forcible conquest of North Africa—including present day Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco—imposed Islamic law (shariah) according to the Maliki school of Sunni jurisprudence over this vast swath of territory. Over subsequent centuries, relentless jihadist raids (razzias) as well as the penetration of Muslim merchants, scholars, and traders into areas of the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa eventually succeeded in subjugating Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and the entire northern half of the modern country of Nigeria to Islam.  

Today, Nigeria is a large and populous West African country of some 160 million people, about half of whom are Muslim and half Christian and animist. Nigeria is comprised of 36 states, 12 of which have implemented shariah in the northern half of the country. As the renowned political scientist, Samuel Huntington wrote, “Islam's borders are bloody and so are its innards.” Islam in Nigeria, as in every other place on earth where it establishes power, has shown itself aggressive and violent. Shariah commands Muslims to jihad to spread the faith and, especially throughout the second half of the 20th century, Nigeria’s Muslims have obeyed: wars of domination against non-shariah-adherent Muslims like the Hausa exploded into jihad against non-Muslim tribes like the Yoruba and the Ibo (Biafra) leaving as many as a million dead. Shariah Implementation Committees drew up detailed plans to establish Shariah Courts, train and hire shariah judges, create a Religious Affairs Ministry, set up a Zakat Board, codify the Islamic penal code (hudud punishments like amputation, lashing, and stoning), and make the educational curriculum shariah-compliant. 

In 2002, a fanatic jihadist group calling itself “Boko Haram” emerged from among the vast network of Nigeria’s savage Islamic militias, determined to conquer all of Nigeria, seize its oil wealth (largely concentrated in the south), and impose shariah on the entire population, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. “Boko Haram” means “Western education is forbidden” in the local Hausa language and expresses the group’s visceral hatred of all things modern, Western, and non-Muslim. Boko Haram leaders have expressed solidarity with al-Qa’eda, explicitly rejected the Nigerian constitution and democracy, and demanded nation-wide implementation of Islamic law.

Since its inception, Boko Haram, which is loosely modeled on Afghanistan’s Taliban, has unleashed a wave of vicious attacks against Nigeria’s central states that border the Muslim north and Christian south. Abuja, the country’s capital, is a planned city that was built mostly during the 1980s, became the official capital in 1991, and was deliberately positioned almost exactly in the middle of Nigeria. Unfortunately, this location puts Abuja squarely on the Nigerian fault line between the jihadist north and Christian south, sometimes called the “Middle Belt.”

A steady stream of murderous Islamic attacks against Christian churches, towns, and villages across northern and central Nigeria exploded into large-scale terrorist assaults in early November 2011 that killed more than 100 people. A car bomb that killed a number of security personnel outside a military barracks in the northeast state of Yobe was followed by a night of rampaging gunmen who blew up a bank, and attacked multiple police stations and churches, leaving behind a trail of destruction. That wave of deadly attacks was followed by U.S. Embassy warnings that Boko Haram planned to bomb three luxury hotels in Abuja over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which fell on November 8th this year. An August 2011 suicide car bomb attack against the UN Headquarters in Abuja that killed 24, including 12 UN staff, left no doubts about Boko Haram’s willingness to attack targets identified with the West.      

Media reports that describe the violence and refer to Boko Haram as “Islamists” or a “radical Islamic sect” miss the point: just like the Taliban in Afghanistan, the mullahs’ regime in Iran, al-Shabaab in Somalia, or the al-Qa’eda rebels that have seized control of Libya, Boko Haram is following in the footsteps of Muhammad, obeying the command of Islamic law to wage war against infidels “…until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.” (Q 8:39) According to shariah, there is nothing particularly radical about this command, which is the same command given to every generation of Muslims since the time of the earliest Muslim warriors.

Mistaking Boko Haram’s jihad for mere disgruntlement over poverty or wealth disparity plays into its hands, enabling this sophisticated Islamic terror organization, with possible ties to al-Qa’eda, to claim its war of conquest against non-Muslim Nigerians is nothing more than a righteous effort to end corruption.

Jihad is about waging war in the name of Islam in order to spread the religion. Nigeria, with its vast oil wealth, is a coveted prize and would make a formidable base from which the armies of Islam might link eventually with al-Qa’eda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to threaten all of West Africa. 

By Clare M. Lopez


The armies of Islam arrived in the Nigerian kingdoms as early as the 9th century. The forcible conquest of North Africa—including present day Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco—imposed Islamic law (shariah) according to the Maliki school of Sunni jurisprudence over this vast swath of territory. Over subsequent centuries, relentless jihadist raids (razzias) as well as the penetration of Muslim merchants, scholars, and traders into areas of the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa eventually succeeded in subjugating Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and the entire northern half of the modern country of Nigeria to Islam.
Today, Nigeria is a large and populous West African country of some 160 million people, about half of whom are Muslim and half Christian and animist. Nigeria is comprised of 36 states, 12 of which have implemented shariah in the northern half of the country. As the renowned political scientist, Samuel Huntington wrote, “Islam's borders are bloody and so are its innards.” Islam in Nigeria, as in every other place on earth where it establishes power, has shown itself aggressive and violent. Shariah commands Muslims to jihad to spread the faith and, especially throughout the second half of the 20th century, Nigeria’s Muslims have obeyed: wars of domination against non-shariah-adherent Muslims like the Hausa exploded into jihad against non-Muslim tribes like the Yoruba and the Ibo (Biafra) leaving as many as a million dead.
 Shariah Implementation Committees drew up detailed plans to establish Shariah Courts, train and hire shariah judges, create a Religious Affairs Ministry, set up a Zakat Board, codify the Islamic penal code (hudud punishments like amputation, lashing, and stoning), and make the educational curriculum shariah-compliant.
In 2002, a fanatic jihadist group calling itself “Boko Haram” emerged from among the vast network of Nigeria’s savage Islamic militias, determined to conquer all of Nigeria, seize its oil wealth (largely concentrated in the south), and impose shariah on the entire population, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. “Boko Haram” means “Western education is forbidden” in the local Hausa language and expresses the group’s visceral hatred of all things modern, Western, and non-Muslim. Boko Haram leaders have expressed solidarity with al-Qa’eda, explicitly rejected the Nigerian constitution and democracy, and demanded nation-wide implementation of Islamic law.

Since its inception, Boko Haram, which is loosely modeled on Afghanistan’s Taliban, has unleashed a wave of vicious attacks against Nigeria’s central states that border the Muslim north and Christian south. Abuja, the country’s capital, is a planned city that was built mostly during the 1980s, became the official capital in 1991, and was deliberately positioned almost exactly in the middle of Nigeria. Unfortunately, this location puts Abuja squarely on the Nigerian fault line between the jihadist north and Christian south, sometimes called the “Middle Belt.”
A steady stream of murderous Islamic attacks against Christian churches, towns, and villages across northern and central Nigeria exploded into large-scale terrorist assaults in early November 2011 that killed more than 100 people. A car bomb that killed a number of security personnel outside a military barracks in the northeast state of Yobe was followed by a night of rampaging gunmen who blew up a bank, and attacked multiple police stations and churches, leaving behind a trail of destruction. That wave of deadly attacks was followed by U.S. Embassy warnings that Boko Haram planned to bomb three luxury hotels in Abuja over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which fell on November 8th this year. An August 2011 suicide car bomb attack against the UN Headquarters in Abuja that killed 24, including 12 UN staff, left no doubts about Boko Haram’s willingness to attack targets identified with the West.    
Media reports that describe the violence and refer to Boko Haram as “Islamists” or a “radical Islamic sect” miss the point: just like the Taliban in Afghanistan, the mullahs’ regime in Iran, al-Shabaab in Somalia, or the al-Qa’eda rebels that have seized control of Libya, Boko Haram is following in the footsteps of Muhammad, obeying the command of Islamic law to wage war against infidels “…until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.” (Q 8:39) According to shariah, there is nothing particularly radical about this command, which is the same command given to every generation of Muslims since the time of the earliest Muslim warriors.
Mistaking Boko Haram’s jihad for mere disgruntlement over poverty or wealth disparity plays into its hands, enabling this sophisticated Islamic terror organization, with possible ties to al-Qa’eda, to claim its war of conquest against non-Muslim Nigerians is nothing more than a righteous effort to end corruption.
Jihad is about waging war in the name of Islam in order to spread the religion. Nigeria, with its vast oil wealth, is a coveted prize and would make a formidable base from which the armies of Islam might link eventually with al-Qa’eda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to threaten all of West Africa.

Clare M. Lopez, a senior fellow at the Clarion Fund, is a strategic policy and intelligence expert with a focus on Middle East, national defense, and counterterrorism issues. 

 

http://www.radicalislam.org/news/boko-haram-wants-put-nigeria-under-islamic-law?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=The+Creeping+Threat+of+Radical+Islam+in+North+Africa&utm_campaign=RI+Newsletter+54&utm_term=_5BMORE_5D

Community adopts N50,000 as bride price

Tatum (Taraba) – The Kutep Community in Tatum Local Government Area of Taraba has adopted N50,000 as the bride price to be paid on any marriageable lady regardless of the tribe or custom of the suitors.
Speaking on Sunday at the first Kuteb Nation Worldwide Thanksgiving Service in Takum, the President of RCCN Church, Rev. Risae Yakubu, said that the policy was aimed at ensuring that ladies from the area were made affordable.

Yakubu said that the rule applied to all irrespective of the tribe of the suitor or the background of the lady.
“People who used to fear marrying Kutep ladies because of the high cost of bride price can now come.”
“With the minimum wage already implemented by Gov. Suntai, your one month salary can finish it.”
He said that the thanksgiving was in appreciation of the fact that God had restored relative peace, prosperity and glory of the Takum Chiefdom.
According to him, people of all races could come to Takum and do their normal business and leave in peace.
He noted that among other things, God had restored love, trust and friendship between the Kutebs and the neighbouring tribes.
“We are delighted that our neighbours — the Jukun, Chamba, Tiv, Ichen, Yukuben, Igbo, Yoruba, Tigun, Ndoro and Hausa among others –, have joined us in this declaration of thanksgiving.”
In his address at the occasion, Rev. Dr. Caleb Ahima, who is the Secretary-General of TEKAN, with headquarters in Jos, urged religious leaders, traditional rulers, and politicians to guide the younger generation on the need for peaceful co-existence to bring about development.
“We need to tell God that the troubles of the past that destabilised this area will not repeat itself so that the ruins of the wars will be rebuilt,” he said.
In his remarks, Gov. Danbaba Suntai, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion, commended the Kuteb Nation Worldwide for their initiative at ensuring that peace was restored in the area.
Suntai pointed out that returning to God was the ultimate and assured the people of Takum that the state government was prepared to cooperate with them to improve the lot of the people.
He informed them that the bill for all equipment supplied for the completion of the Takum General Hospital had been paid.
He said that the facility would be ready for use by the end of the year, while the hospital in Lisam, in Ussa local government, would be completed in the first quarter of 2012.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/community-adopts-n50000-as-bride-price/