MY HERO PASTOR IS A FALSE PROPHET (part 1& 2)
It has been a confusing time for many Nigerian Christians over the genuineness of the crowd claiming to be Bishops, Pastors, Apostles, Primates, Prophets, Rev Fathers and all who claim to have been called by God to minister spiritual food to his people.
The mainstream Catholic, Protestant and Pentecostal churches have always viewed with suspicion the activities of religious leaders like Olumba Olumba Obu (who claimed to be the holy spirit); Eddy Nawgu (who was butchered by Bakassi boys); Rev King (currently in a Nigerian prison for setting a female church member ablaze) ; Prophet T.B. Joshua was initially blacklisted as a false prophet since 2001 by the leadership of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) under Bishop Mike Okonkwo and Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
Reports got to the PFN that Rev Chris Oyakhilome have been secretly fraternizing with T.B Joshua and was eventually seen on Television holding anointing service with T.B. Joshua at the latter’s Synagogue Church of All Nations, they called him for clarifications and when he failed to respond, they warned PFN members to beware of the antics of the duo.
However, some church members of Olumba Olumba Obu, Eddy Nawgu, Rev King, T.B. Joshua and Chris Oyakhilome claimed that they received some form of relief from financial pressure, sicknesses and depression as a result of the prophesies, revelations, literature materials, holy oil, holy water and spiritual materials from these pastors.
The history of false prophets is as old as Christianity. The first named false prophet in Church history was Simon Magnus. This man was actually converted by Philip according to Acts chapter 8 vs 9-22 and when Apostle Peter and John came to Samaria to pray for the Holy Spirit on the new converts, this sorcerer turned Christian offered to buy the impartation for money and was rebuked by Peter.
Simon converted to Christianity and was later to introduce all manners of false doctrines which he backed up with miracles to the consternation of the Apostles. He was seen as the father of heresies in the Church. When Simon died around 61 AD, Menander continued as his successor till 111AD.
Iraneus, Bishop of Lyonnais, and disciple of Polycarp who was tutored by Apostle John, had to confront a certain Marcus around 135-178 AD. This Marcus was performing some miracles, prophecies and causing a lot of people to commit sexual sin. He drew a lot of followership and caused confusion in the early church that Iraneus had to intervene by writing to religious faithful to beware of the magical antics of Marcus. This earned Iraneus the historical tag of Defender of the Faith.
Many Christians who had the privilege of dying and coming back to life like the celebrated case of John Chiedozie who died for some days and miraculously came back to life in the early eighties and Daniel Ekechukwu who was officially certified dead for 42 hours by a medical doctor and came back to life on Sunday, December 2nd 2001 between 3.30-5pm during the Crusade of German Evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke at Grace of God Mission, Onitsha had tales of seeing disobedient Christians in hell fire.
The accounts of these two pastors corroborated the reality of heavenly bliss and a burning hell where even some pastors and disobedient Christians were languishing. Daniel Ekechukwu said he saw a pastor who told him that he was in hell for stealing church money.
A disobedient Christian is one who wilfully disobeys the commandments of God. A Christian who sleeps with church members, seduces pastors and snatches people’s husband is a disobedient Christian (1 Cor 6 vs 18). One who deliberately lies, slanders and bears false witness is a disobedient Christian.
A Christian who visits necromancers, astrologers, native doctors, palm readers, sorcerers and diviners to gain promotion in office, contracts or political appointments is a disobedient Christians.(Deuteronomy chapter 18 vs 9-12). A prayerless and wordless Christian (one without sufficient knowledge of the Bible) is a disobedient Christian because by his laxity and weakness, the devil will strike and turn him into an experiment, bringing shame to the name of God.
The first identity of these false prophets is over emphasis on prosperity. The Bible says in 3 John 1 vs 2 ‘’ beloved I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers’’
This scripture posits that both soul prosperity ( repentance, salvation and sanctification) should be given the same attention as health and financial prosperity. Matthew 6 vs 33 says ‘’ but seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you’’ this signifies that as the church member seeks constant repentance and sanctification (righteousness) God will equally include all other things, prosperity, health, breakthrough in a measure that will not be injurious to the soul of his child.
Therefore a pastor who lays much emphasis on financial prosperity while abandoning spiritual prosperity is a false prophet. That was part of the heresies of Simon Magnus during the era of the early church.
A major fallacy from these false prophets is the theory of Once Saved, Always Saved. This theory posits that once a Christian is saved (born again) the person is always saved no matter the atrocities of the person.
This fallacy is inconsistent with the scriptures. Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 Apostles, was once saved but lost his salvation due to greed and was called the son of perdition. (John 17 vs 12). Apostle Paul said in Philipians 2 vs 12 to ‘’.... work out our salvation with fear and trembling’’ and he also added in Romans 6 vs 1 ‘’ what shall we say then, shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound, God forbid. How shall we, that have died to sin, live any longer therein’’. Therefore, a pastor who teaches such is a false prophet, encouraging iniquity and leading his flock to hell.
Another fallacy is one of God’s Unending Mercy. God is both a Merciful God and a Consuming Fire. The same God that forgave King David his sins was the same that ensured that all the punishment He prescribed for David for committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband, Uriah, came to pass despite being a man after God’s heart. (2 Samuel 12vs 1-18). David lost four sons, including Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah as a result of the curse. Absalom killed Amnon for raping the young sister, Absalom plotted a coup against his father, David, dying in the process, while Solomon killed Adonijah .
These false prophets give a one sided analogy of David’s forgivingness from God, without adding that David served out his full sentence, thereby encouraging sin in the church.
Another fallacy is the use of tithes and offerings to bribe God. The Bible enjoins us to pay tithes and offerings for the upkeep of the work of God but not from stolen funds. A Christian who steals government funds meant for development and provision of essential social amenities have already contributed to hardship in the society.
He cannot bribe God by donating a part of the cursed money to the pastor as tithe, offering or seed. God rejected the offerings of Cain in Genesis 1 vs 4-5 , therefore God does not receive offerings obtained by looting national treasury.
These false prophets propelled by greed will be glad to receive stolen money in the name of God without the consent of God.
Jesus Christ said that ‘’ and there shall arise false christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders ; in so much as it is possible, to deceive the very elect..’’ (Matthew 24vs 24) Therefore miracle is not the only proof of genuineness of a religious leader. Revelation chapter 16 vs 13 describing the prowess of satanic miracles says ‘’ and I saw three unclean spirits come out of the mouth of the dragon, and of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet . ’’ For they are the spirits of the devil, working miracles ....’’ The devil can do miracles too especially Marine spirits who can give a relief from one side and add a problem from another side.
The False Prophet will use miracles to give credence to the Anti-Christ including calling down fire from heaven.(Rev 13vs 13). Paul had to strike a certain false prophet by name BarJesus with blindness for obstructing him while preaching to theRoman proconsul Sergio Paulus. (Acts 13vs 6-12). Bible history had shown that the prophets of Baal were in the habit of calling down fire from heaven until the battle of Mount Carmel where their god could not perform on the all important day.
The early church were brought up with mindset of cross checking every new teaching to ensure that it is in tandem with the scriptures.
These false prophets elevate their views above the teachings of the scriptures. The Berean Christians were called noble because they searched the scriptures to see whether the teachings of Paul were according to the Old Testament (Acts 17 vs 11).
Therefore every Christian have a noble duty to prayerfully evaluate the theories of his Pastor, Bishop, General Overseer with the teachings of the Bible to avoid a situation whereby according to Jesus Christ in Matthew 15 vs 13-14, a blind man is leading a blind man and all fall into a pit.
Part 2These false prophets of Nigerian extraction have the notion that they are gods, therefore when a religious faithful happens to get wearied of their antics and decide to leave the congregation for another; they use the pulpit to castigate such.
They make no effort to know why people are leaving, rather they heap curses on those escaping for their lives. Some of them go on to pray witchcraft prayers for their fleeing members such that all the seeming breakthrough, security and finances obtained from their place of worship disappears after a while and the parishioner is left in a sorry state as evidential lessons for others who want to toe the same line.
A popular prophet in Nigeria had a cousin whom he healed of blindness and after some years the said cousin discovered that his prophet used to disappear into the streams near the worship centre, perturbed by the constant discoveries, he decided to leave the church. The prophet warned him that the blindness will return if he leaves. He ignored the prophet and left and his blindness came back months after.
He was carried from church to church in the South West and South East between 2002 and 20003 until God intervened and restored the sight. However, they do not frown when others abandon their former church for theirs.
These false prophets usually pay more attention to the wealthy and influential members of their churches at the expense of the poor and hungry ones. Once the tithe and offerings from the parishioner is not fat enough, they are not given attention. Apprentice pastors are assigned to look into matters concerning their poverty stricken members while they devote hours, days, weeks and months of fasting, prayers, and deliverance for the influential members and release all sorts of anointing on their head.
Their spiritual eyes always watch over the wealthy ones while the impoverished will have to contend with evil spirits without any help. They forgot that Jesus groomed groups of fishermen and others until they became a force to reckon with.
These false prophets equally reserve special seats in their churches for these influential members and their families. These rich men are quickly converted to pastors, elders, deacons, deaconesses due to their financial maturity rather than spiritual maturity. When other church members see how spiritually empty moneybags are granted pastoral and presbyterian privileges, they develop an impression that without money the Church and even God does not recognize them.
That is partly responsible for the craze of Nigerian church goers to loot national treasury to impress their pastors, priests and prophets and receive titles in the church.
These false prophets live a life of sexual immorality. They have sexual affairs with choristers, ushers, sanctuary keepers and different categories of church workers in the church. It is part of conditions for release of strange powers to a pastor. Since the powers used to do miracles are not of God, they more they commit sexual sin, the more anointed they become to see more visions, prophesy and do wonders.
When concerned members draw their attention to their immoral life they rebuke them and quote copiously verses like ‘’ touch not my anointed...’’( psalm 105 vs 15) , ’’ there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus..’’( Romans 8 vs 1), ‘’judge not that ye be not judged..’( Matthwe 7 vs 1)’ among others. Instead of repenting and asking God for grace to overcome sin as Jesus told the adulteress in Matthew 8 vs 11’’11 … And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.’’ Jesus also said to the man He healed of sickness of 38 years at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5 vs 14 "…See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you’’
Therefore. Jesus enjoined sinners to sin no more while the false prophets conjecture excuses while iniquity should be tolerated. In the past when a pastor or church member misbehaves, the senior pastors gives them back sit for a while until it is proven that normalcy has returned. Those so sanctioned equally accept their punishment and will be absorbed back into the fold at the end of the suspension period.
This serves as example to others that iniquity is not part of the church. The system has changed and nobody has control over others and the church members are getting confused the more.
There are false prophets in every denomination. The Roman Catholic Church has a strict process of determining whether a priest or brother exhibiting charismatic gifts is of God. Priests with charismatic powers like Rev Fr’s Ede, Njoku, Mbaka and others in Nigeria passed through some scrutiny before their Diocese and their Congregational Orders gave them clean bills of health to operate beyond the normal limits of the church. In older Pentecostal fellowships like Assemblies of God, Grace of God, Apostolic Church, Scripture Union, etc some level of scrutiny is given those operating charismatic powers to ensure that strange powers are not in operation.
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, in recent times, is finding it difficult checkmating the activities of strange powers among people claiming to be Pentecostals. Some of these people are actually converts from some white garment churches and some shrine attendants and native doctors who refused to relinquish strange powers they used before they turned their enterprise to church-they are not Pentecostals and they refuse to submit to PFN authority.
A Church member who has doubts over the genuineness of his pastor should go through the check lists earlier enumerated in part 1 and 2 and if still in doubt, should pray, fast and seek God’s clarifications. God is ever willing to shine light through darkness and once seriously solicited would find a way of confirming it through the revelation in the Word of God (2 Timothy 3 vs 16), inner witness of the Holy Spirit (Acts 11vs 12), dreams (Matthew 1 vs 20-21), visions (Acts 10 vs 9-18) counsel from matured Christian leaders (Proverbs 12 vs 15), audible voice of God (Acts 9 vs 4-5), angels ( Luke 1 vs 26-38) among others.. Once there is enough confirmation from God that your Hero Pastor is a False Prophet, then it is time to escape for life as lot and his family escaped from Sodom and Gomorrah. The church member should prayerfully ask God for an exit strategy especially to avoid the satanic curses and vendetta emanating from these servants of devil whenever their secret is exposed.
Above all Nigerian Christians should ask Godd for the gift of discernment of spirits. This gift is a supernatural ability from the Holy Spirit to perceive whether the source of spiritual manifestation is of God (Acts 10vs 30-35), of the devil (Acts 16 vs 16-18), of man (Acts 8 vs 18-23) or of the world. It is neither a psychic phenomenom nor a fault finding mental exercise and mind reading, rather it is the ability to detect the realms of the spirit and activities beneficial or inimical to Christian growth and advancement of God’s kingdom. This gift which has been relegated in the churches and false prophets gets uneasy whenever it is in operation.
Kola Boof's official statement
The official statement that some of you have been waiting for.
WHAT HAPPENED KOLA?:
For four years (starting 3 weeks after Kimora Lee Simmons 'faux' West African wedding to actor Djimon Hounsou in the country of Benin)....I took part in an adulterous affair with Ms. Simmons' man. I can honestly say that I slept with her husband more than she did the last four years.
It should also be noted that I had a sexual relationship with Mr. Hounsou many, many years prior to the 'marriage', before he even knew Ms. Simmons.
Djimon and Kimora of course have never been legally married. His only legal wife is a much older woman named Marie in France. Marie basically bankrolled him during his youthful model days. Djimon also has an African wife given to him by his tribe in Benin (and a set of children by her).
Today is June 14th, 2012. But a few months ago...my affair with Djimon caused so much strife within their coupling that Djimon Hounsou walked out on Ms. Simmons. (To be fair, financial issues also played a significant role, though I am not privy to information on that. I just know that Kimora deeply wounded Djimon one day by calling him a 'broke nigga'--he told me and my adoptive Black American mother, Claudine Johnson, about it in late January).
I'm not sure what day exactly Djimon walked out for the final time (he had actually stayed gone from home a few times before the walk out)....but I do know that I was overjoyed...and not in the way you are expecting.
First of all....after Djimon left Kimora....I made it clear that I would never sleep with him again. Just as you saw published in my interview with the NY DAILY NEWS...I informed him that the only reason I had sex with him was to get revenge on Kimora. With their breakup, I didn't (and don't) want it anymore.
And let me make this perfectly clear---I would never sleep with any other woman's husband just for recreation. Only Kimora's. I myself was married for 10 years to an absolutely wonderful man, a Black Man who treated me (and still treats me and our sons) like royalty. So I identify with the wife's role just as strongly as Kimora knows the golddigging homewrecker role--don't forget she's wrecked many homes in her day.
This affair with Djimon was about revenge for me, Kola. I liked picturing her face (she looks like that winking snail at Benihana Restaurant) just as Djimon made me climax. It filled me with such cheer and joy to know that every time she kissed her husband--she would be kissing my privates. And for four years that's exactly what Kimora kissed, my privates. But then again, being that Kimora is strongly bisexual...I'm sure that tid-bit isn't phasing her.
It should also be noted that I had a sexual relationship with Mr. Hounsou many, many years prior to the 'marriage', before he even knew Ms. Simmons.
Djimon and Kimora of course have never been legally married. His only legal wife is a much older woman named Marie in France. Marie basically bankrolled him during his youthful model days. Djimon also has an African wife given to him by his tribe in Benin (and a set of children by her).
Today is June 14th, 2012. But a few months ago...my affair with Djimon caused so much strife within their coupling that Djimon Hounsou walked out on Ms. Simmons. (To be fair, financial issues also played a significant role, though I am not privy to information on that. I just know that Kimora deeply wounded Djimon one day by calling him a 'broke nigga'--he told me and my adoptive Black American mother, Claudine Johnson, about it in late January).
I'm not sure what day exactly Djimon walked out for the final time (he had actually stayed gone from home a few times before the walk out)....but I do know that I was overjoyed...and not in the way you are expecting.
First of all....after Djimon left Kimora....I made it clear that I would never sleep with him again. Just as you saw published in my interview with the NY DAILY NEWS...I informed him that the only reason I had sex with him was to get revenge on Kimora. With their breakup, I didn't (and don't) want it anymore.
And let me make this perfectly clear---I would never sleep with any other woman's husband just for recreation. Only Kimora's. I myself was married for 10 years to an absolutely wonderful man, a Black Man who treated me (and still treats me and our sons) like royalty. So I identify with the wife's role just as strongly as Kimora knows the golddigging homewrecker role--don't forget she's wrecked many homes in her day.
This affair with Djimon was about revenge for me, Kola. I liked picturing her face (she looks like that winking snail at Benihana Restaurant) just as Djimon made me climax. It filled me with such cheer and joy to know that every time she kissed her husband--she would be kissing my privates. And for four years that's exactly what Kimora kissed, my privates. But then again, being that Kimora is strongly bisexual...I'm sure that tid-bit isn't phasing her.
Why did I want revenge on Kimora? That is coming up in this statement later. But for now, just be aware that I have NO REMORSE...none whatsoever...and that it was my intention to see Kimora's marriage fail.
The American media giving me this opportunity to publicly humiliate her is just icing on the cake. I didn't expect this at all.
Be aware that despite Russell's denials (Russell Simmons, her mega-rich slimy turtle without a shell MOGUL ex-husband whose name she still uses instead of Djimon's)...and despite Kimora's and Djimon's denials that they have broken up...let me tell you....they HAVE!!
They are split; kaput; done. It doesn't matter how many Photo Ops they stage or how many walks to Chuck E. Cheese they take with their children so everyone can photograph them smiling, their marriage is over.
I'm sure people see me as shockingly evil...scary, jealous, disturbing...'what a bitch' people say. But in true Kola fashion, I don't give a shit.
I didn't want to give an official statement. I wanted to fade out of this unpleasant story--but after Djimon gave a statement calling me a liar, I felt
forced to leave my own version of events.
I didn't want to give an official statement. I wanted to fade out of this unpleasant story--but after Djimon gave a statement calling me a liar, I felt
forced to leave my own version of events.
Please do not send me any emails or letters about "Karma" or "the lord."
As someone who watched her parents murdered in front of her at the age of 6 and faced down brain cancer with a wide spate of other tragedies bogging her entire life (I'm 42)--I am not one for superstition and emotionalism steeped in moralizing.
I have lived and survived a life that is literally unbelievable and irrevocably traumatizing. I am a damaged person.
But I am also the most open and honest human being that I know.
When you call someone a liar, they have the right to tell their side of the story. To leave a record of their position, despite your prejudice and animosity against them. Though the newspapers have written quite a bit about me "breaking up Kimora's Un-marriage"....I have not given a formal statement detailing the facts as I see them until now.
I am not doing this to keep shit going...I am doing this because Djimon Hounsou's scared *I have to protect my image* self gave a statement calling me a liar (though he never mentioned me by name, that is what he did).
Because Djimon gave a statement, I now have to give a detailed rebuttal. If he had not talked about me, I would not be still talking about him and Kimora.
My hope is that after this Formal Statement, I will be done feuding with Djimon, Kimora and Russell Simmons and they will not mention my name or cause me to get back in the speeding lane with them. Regardless of how much power they think they have....I, the unknown entity, am more powerful than all of them.
As someone who watched her parents murdered in front of her at the age of 6 and faced down brain cancer with a wide spate of other tragedies bogging her entire life (I'm 42)--I am not one for superstition and emotionalism steeped in moralizing.
I have lived and survived a life that is literally unbelievable and irrevocably traumatizing. I am a damaged person.
But I am also the most open and honest human being that I know.
When you call someone a liar, they have the right to tell their side of the story. To leave a record of their position, despite your prejudice and animosity against them. Though the newspapers have written quite a bit about me "breaking up Kimora's Un-marriage"....I have not given a formal statement detailing the facts as I see them until now.
I am not doing this to keep shit going...I am doing this because Djimon Hounsou's scared *I have to protect my image* self gave a statement calling me a liar (though he never mentioned me by name, that is what he did).
Because Djimon gave a statement, I now have to give a detailed rebuttal. If he had not talked about me, I would not be still talking about him and Kimora.
My hope is that after this Formal Statement, I will be done feuding with Djimon, Kimora and Russell Simmons and they will not mention my name or cause me to get back in the speeding lane with them. Regardless of how much power they think they have....I, the unknown entity, am more powerful than all of them.
There is a name for women like Kimora Lee Simmons---not ---that I'd use it outside of a kennel.
Which means I'm going to refrain from calling my dear sister the "B" word today. In honor of Kimora's brand of fake sisterhood and hyperbole Fabulosity...I'm going to try and be less vicious than I've typically been on Twitter.
Which means I'm going to refrain from calling my dear sister the "B" word today. In honor of Kimora's brand of fake sisterhood and hyperbole Fabulosity...I'm going to try and be less vicious than I've typically been on Twitter.
FACT #1
I did not contact the media to tell my involvement with Djimon---they contacted me. The NY Daily News, National Enquirer, People magazine and several others came looking for me. The reason they came looking for me was because *Witnesses* at several Los Angeles area hotels, limousine services and other establishments responded to a story in the NY DAILY NEWS about Djimon walking out on Kimora over 'financial problems.'
Those witnesses told the media: "No you're wrong--he's got a girlfriend on the side."
(**Keep in mind that I also had other boyfriends around the country (the world actually), not just Djimon).
At that point, the NY DAILY NEWS began trying to track me down. I did not contact them or in any way entice anyone into knowing my personal business with Djimon.
Once they did contact me, I still ignored them for a few days....until Princess Kimora pissed me off by having her "Spokeswoman" put my name in some kind of Press Release saying "We don't know her!" to the various news organizations.
It went on the local radio and I was so peeved that I decided to tell my side of the story.
Every newspaper involved can tell you that I did not originally want to speak on this story and that I originally ignored them until Kimora's Spokeswoman put my name in it.
EVIDENCE
When I finally did tell my story to the newspapers---they did not take my word for it. The media doesn't work like that. They have to fact check in some manner in order to report something.
They interviewed other people about Djimon and myself....employees at hotels, limousine services and other establishments who TOLD THEM that they had seen me and Djimon together (with my skirt hiked up and me giggling) *sporadically* for the last 4 years.
I refuse to provide what few TEXT MESSAGES and voice mails that I have.
But the only reason my story was published in NY DAILY NEWS and other major newspapers is because they had significant witness information indicating beyond 'legal doubt' that I was telling the truth. So they published it.
I didn't want to hurt Djimon and I still don't. But by the same token--nobody's
going to hurt Kola either.
They interviewed other people about Djimon and myself....employees at hotels, limousine services and other establishments who TOLD THEM that they had seen me and Djimon together (with my skirt hiked up and me giggling) *sporadically* for the last 4 years.
I refuse to provide what few TEXT MESSAGES and voice mails that I have.
But the only reason my story was published in NY DAILY NEWS and other major newspapers is because they had significant witness information indicating beyond 'legal doubt' that I was telling the truth. So they published it.
I didn't want to hurt Djimon and I still don't. But by the same token--nobody's
going to hurt Kola either.
SHOCKER
After the "Kola Boof sex affair" angle was inserted into to previously published reports of Djimon and Kimora's breakup and the internet blew up with vitriolic hatred for me, "The Jump-off Home Wrecker"....and after Djimon denounced me as a liar; I announced that I would be posting my own official statement.
I was served an unexpected shock...everyone wanted to stop me from delivering today's Official Statement...even to the point of offering money!
The Vice President of Djimon's birth country (Benin) contacted me...and Russell Simmons, Kimora's powerful ex-husband began harassing and smearing
my name.
I am including here now a small portion of what Mathurin Nago, the Vice President of Benin ordered me to do.
Vice President of Benin's message:
Mathurin Nago:
"...Daughter, you and Djimon are both Africans. It's not right
for you to destroy your brother's legacy of hard works. We do not have another world class movie star but Djimon Hounsou. He is the symbolic lion of the continent on screens across the world. You are a young lady and your place should be in support of your brothers. But you have attacked Wale, the
gifted musician for not showcasing African women in his videos and you now
disgrace yourself and Djimon with disclosures of bedroom vice. You must take such things to the grave Daughter and not make public disgrace of yourself and Africa. Your place is at your brother's feet, but you have been ill-raised by the Americans. It is their fault. I say with love that you are wrong to go forward with a public statement Thursday. If you have any respect for me like you say you do, I forbid you to tear down your brother and his hard works. Take these incidents of vice to the grave."
As a Nilotic African woman, I cannot deny that I was very affected by Mr. Nago'swords. In fact, it still affects me. But I feel very strongly that I have a right to give my press statement...and that my reputation and word is just as important as that of my brothers.
SEX WITH DJIMON
I was Djimon Hounsou's "hooni-hoosi-hole" for 4 years. His nickname for me
was "Tight Stuff." That is what he affectionately called me.
I liked our sexual encounters just as much as he did. My thing was finding
places to fuck outdoors (naked in just heels; I have my own ranch & lake with woods)...*this always terrified Djimon but he did it anyway....and Djimon's thing was getting intense blow jobs; rough face-banging to the bottom of my throat to be exact.
"...Daughter, you and Djimon are both Africans. It's not right
for you to destroy your brother's legacy of hard works. We do not have another world class movie star but Djimon Hounsou. He is the symbolic lion of the continent on screens across the world. You are a young lady and your place should be in support of your brothers. But you have attacked Wale, the
gifted musician for not showcasing African women in his videos and you now
disgrace yourself and Djimon with disclosures of bedroom vice. You must take such things to the grave Daughter and not make public disgrace of yourself and Africa. Your place is at your brother's feet, but you have been ill-raised by the Americans. It is their fault. I say with love that you are wrong to go forward with a public statement Thursday. If you have any respect for me like you say you do, I forbid you to tear down your brother and his hard works. Take these incidents of vice to the grave."
As a Nilotic African woman, I cannot deny that I was very affected by Mr. Nago'swords. In fact, it still affects me. But I feel very strongly that I have a right to give my press statement...and that my reputation and word is just as important as that of my brothers.
SEX WITH DJIMON
I was Djimon Hounsou's "hooni-hoosi-hole" for 4 years. His nickname for me
was "Tight Stuff." That is what he affectionately called me.
I liked our sexual encounters just as much as he did. My thing was finding
places to fuck outdoors (naked in just heels; I have my own ranch & lake with woods)...*this always terrified Djimon but he did it anyway....and Djimon's thing was getting intense blow jobs; rough face-banging to the bottom of my throat to be exact.
Djimon told me that Kimora was not sexually pleasing for him. He said she had been a real livewire before they got 'ritually married', but once they settled intolife at home, she became boring and lazy about pleasing him.
Not to be cruel...but in the marriage...Djimon was really just an unemployed actor whose best career move had been becoming a glorified assistant and Nanny to Kimora and Russell.
He was not really the African King, but the ego-busted PROP for Kimora'sP.R. about her perfect life and family. So yes, Kimora was very lazyabout taking care of Djimon's very ferocious sexual appetite.
The one thing that Kimora DID DO that I was unable to do sexually---is providethreesomes with other women. She often treated him to one of her lesbian"babes" and Djimon really liked that a lot and tried to pressure me to do itbut I refused. I told him that I would do it with two guys in the bed--but not two girls. I have to be the only woman in a sex act.
Still, I was Djimon's "look forward to" piece.
Djimon told me that Kimora's vagina was like "bubblegum" and that his peniskept falling out during intercourse. He also complained of hygiene issues asshe is widely known to go without showering for days and lounge around in Sweat suits funky and oyster-smelling without a care.
I am vaginally infibulated an African ritual that has great meaning to Africanmen and to all men who like tight tiny pussy.
To be clear "vaginal infibulation" (which has been the horrific nightmare of myentire life) is not Circumcision or Clitoris removal. *I have my clitoris. But at birth, they undo the vagina's inner muscles and reconfigure them to beunnaturally tight---they then sew the vagina shut until your wedding day.
On that wedding day, they give the bride a set of rings...and the groom a small razor to cut you open with. You then spend about a month being de-virginized by the groom.
In my case, because my parents were murdered and UNICEF placed me in ahome with a Black American family--I lost my virginity to a Black American"Boule Octoroon" from Howard University, my English tutor at age 17.
It took a month for Truce to fully penetrate me and have "stroking" intercourse with me.
Djimon and I were supposed to "cheat" just once...but I used my expertiseat sex to manipulate and control him.
We are both Sexual Athletes, but Djimon is very innocent. He's like that immigrant kid you show how to use the water fountain. Just so naive and easy to manipulate. And to get back at Kimora, that is what I was doing. In no time, Djimon told me that he was once again addicted to my pussy, my 44 double D all natural breasts and my ability to endure "face-banging" (we'd had a relationship years before). He also loves tall women and I am taller than Kimora.
Our affair began.
We saw ourselves as 'buddies.' Nothing romantic; but very much like basketball buddies or something. There is a definite affection.
WHY You Pissed At Kimora?
Kimora now claims I'm a delusional liar; an insecure "Pity" case.
But I've known her for years!
I taught Kimora how to play Spades and Bid Wiss (two games that my
Black American adoptive mother and I like to play all the time).
When I first knew Kimora, I really liked that she was tall like me and
I liked her energy. She was a little 'superior' (thought she was better
than the people of the Black community she exploited & got famous
off). But I originally liked her and wanted to be friends.
I thought (and still think) that she's beautiful, smart, funny and
very positive spirited. But then
There is much here that I don't want to say. But Kimora has a thing
for "Pregnant women." It's a fettish. She likes to give head to women
once they've reached their fifth or sixth month of pregnancy. I couldn't
take an experience like that. And that is all I'm going to say on that.
And I am in no way against Lesbians, Gays, Transgendered or any people
with what society considers "Alternative lifestyles" ---because I don't
consider those to be alternative lifestyles; to me they are natural and
normal expressions of human sexuality. I love my lesbian sisters and in
no way am I saying that other women shouldn't enjoy that.
Many have claimed that comments I've made about Kimora on Twitter are
Racist against The Foon (Asians). This is so not true. I love all Human beings
of every type. Every type of person is welcome in my life and in my home.
But that doesn't mean I want to give up being Black and African to become
those other people. So when I talk about Kimora in terms of her benefitting
from Black people's colorism or when I make insults about her looks saying
for instance "the winking snail at Benihana"...I am not referencing her
race as an Asian woman. I love all races.
I hate to talk about the "breakdown" that occurred between me and Kimora
years ago, because it was literally the most oxygen-less moment in all of the
suffering of my life. I get a heavy brick in my chest whenever I remember it.
I had to be operated on for Brain Cancer (and by the way--this is not a new
"story" as some people have claimed; at least 100 people in the Book Industry were privy to the fact that I had brain cancer, over 50 people came to visit
me at Loma Linda hospital; so this is in no way a new disclosure. People knew
I had brain cancer).
What can I tell you? It was a horrid experience. But nothing was more lethally
painful or dangerous than going into an operation with KIMORA telling me only
an hour before that she had "slept with my man" and that he (my man) would not be there for me when I woke up--because he was leaving the country with
her for a vacation. Right before being whisked into BRAIN SURGERY!!
There's a lot that I always leave out of this story. There's a child involved and I
don't want to reveal that dimension. But someday when I do die, that story will be coming out Kimora. Just be glad that I'm nice enough to leave it out right now. In fact, be glad this entire PRESS STATEMENT is so "mild" --because deep
down, I don't want to destroy Djimon's image career or destroy you in the public's eye; which would affect your children.
It's one thing to lose your fake marriage...but quite another to be exposed as
other less likeable things that could affect your life achievement and ability to
provide for your children.
Though I did you dirt by screwing Djimon all through your fake marriage; my dirt towards you is still much less severe.
I could have seriously died in that surgery or been completely brain damaged.
The TRAUMA of being told such cruel news right before the cutting could have left my children motherless. And again, I'm not going to mention the other child--the one I miscarried and the circumstances surrounding that.
Not to be cruel...but in the marriage...Djimon was really just an unemployed actor whose best career move had been becoming a glorified assistant and Nanny to Kimora and Russell.
He was not really the African King, but the ego-busted PROP for Kimora'sP.R. about her perfect life and family. So yes, Kimora was very lazyabout taking care of Djimon's very ferocious sexual appetite.
The one thing that Kimora DID DO that I was unable to do sexually---is providethreesomes with other women. She often treated him to one of her lesbian"babes" and Djimon really liked that a lot and tried to pressure me to do itbut I refused. I told him that I would do it with two guys in the bed--but not two girls. I have to be the only woman in a sex act.
Still, I was Djimon's "look forward to" piece.
Djimon told me that Kimora's vagina was like "bubblegum" and that his peniskept falling out during intercourse. He also complained of hygiene issues asshe is widely known to go without showering for days and lounge around in Sweat suits funky and oyster-smelling without a care.
I am vaginally infibulated an African ritual that has great meaning to Africanmen and to all men who like tight tiny pussy.
To be clear "vaginal infibulation" (which has been the horrific nightmare of myentire life) is not Circumcision or Clitoris removal. *I have my clitoris. But at birth, they undo the vagina's inner muscles and reconfigure them to beunnaturally tight---they then sew the vagina shut until your wedding day.
On that wedding day, they give the bride a set of rings...and the groom a small razor to cut you open with. You then spend about a month being de-virginized by the groom.
In my case, because my parents were murdered and UNICEF placed me in ahome with a Black American family--I lost my virginity to a Black American"Boule Octoroon" from Howard University, my English tutor at age 17.
It took a month for Truce to fully penetrate me and have "stroking" intercourse with me.
Djimon and I were supposed to "cheat" just once...but I used my expertiseat sex to manipulate and control him.
We are both Sexual Athletes, but Djimon is very innocent. He's like that immigrant kid you show how to use the water fountain. Just so naive and easy to manipulate. And to get back at Kimora, that is what I was doing. In no time, Djimon told me that he was once again addicted to my pussy, my 44 double D all natural breasts and my ability to endure "face-banging" (we'd had a relationship years before). He also loves tall women and I am taller than Kimora.
Our affair began.
We saw ourselves as 'buddies.' Nothing romantic; but very much like basketball buddies or something. There is a definite affection.
WHY You Pissed At Kimora?
Kimora now claims I'm a delusional liar; an insecure "Pity" case.
But I've known her for years!
I taught Kimora how to play Spades and Bid Wiss (two games that my
Black American adoptive mother and I like to play all the time).
When I first knew Kimora, I really liked that she was tall like me and
I liked her energy. She was a little 'superior' (thought she was better
than the people of the Black community she exploited & got famous
off). But I originally liked her and wanted to be friends.
I thought (and still think) that she's beautiful, smart, funny and
very positive spirited. But then
There is much here that I don't want to say. But Kimora has a thing
for "Pregnant women." It's a fettish. She likes to give head to women
once they've reached their fifth or sixth month of pregnancy. I couldn't
take an experience like that. And that is all I'm going to say on that.
And I am in no way against Lesbians, Gays, Transgendered or any people
with what society considers "Alternative lifestyles" ---because I don't
consider those to be alternative lifestyles; to me they are natural and
normal expressions of human sexuality. I love my lesbian sisters and in
no way am I saying that other women shouldn't enjoy that.
Many have claimed that comments I've made about Kimora on Twitter are
Racist against The Foon (Asians). This is so not true. I love all Human beings
of every type. Every type of person is welcome in my life and in my home.
But that doesn't mean I want to give up being Black and African to become
those other people. So when I talk about Kimora in terms of her benefitting
from Black people's colorism or when I make insults about her looks saying
for instance "the winking snail at Benihana"...I am not referencing her
race as an Asian woman. I love all races.
I hate to talk about the "breakdown" that occurred between me and Kimora
years ago, because it was literally the most oxygen-less moment in all of the
suffering of my life. I get a heavy brick in my chest whenever I remember it.
I had to be operated on for Brain Cancer (and by the way--this is not a new
"story" as some people have claimed; at least 100 people in the Book Industry were privy to the fact that I had brain cancer, over 50 people came to visit
me at Loma Linda hospital; so this is in no way a new disclosure. People knew
I had brain cancer).
What can I tell you? It was a horrid experience. But nothing was more lethally
painful or dangerous than going into an operation with KIMORA telling me only
an hour before that she had "slept with my man" and that he (my man) would not be there for me when I woke up--because he was leaving the country with
her for a vacation. Right before being whisked into BRAIN SURGERY!!
There's a lot that I always leave out of this story. There's a child involved and I
don't want to reveal that dimension. But someday when I do die, that story will be coming out Kimora. Just be glad that I'm nice enough to leave it out right now. In fact, be glad this entire PRESS STATEMENT is so "mild" --because deep
down, I don't want to destroy Djimon's image career or destroy you in the public's eye; which would affect your children.
It's one thing to lose your fake marriage...but quite another to be exposed as
other less likeable things that could affect your life achievement and ability to
provide for your children.
Though I did you dirt by screwing Djimon all through your fake marriage; my dirt towards you is still much less severe.
I could have seriously died in that surgery or been completely brain damaged.
The TRAUMA of being told such cruel news right before the cutting could have left my children motherless. And again, I'm not going to mention the other child--the one I miscarried and the circumstances surrounding that.
But let it be known that I have never forgiven Kimora. And I never will.
She hurt my life with her selfishness and her inability to see me as more
than a 'Colored Side-kick' there to prop up her Princess role.
She is just...amazingly "unaware" of what she is and what she does to
people. She neither cares nor remembers.
And I will never forgive you for that Kimora.
BABY PHAT
Try all you want to convince people that I'm some lunatic "jealous black
bitter chick" who just randomly chose a B-List movie actor and his FABceleb wife to target with made up stories and abuse.
Why didn't I pick a bigger star, Kimora, like Denzel Washington or Will Smith? I mean...why wouldn't I pick celebrities that could get me some REAL publicity since you seem to think this scandal is making me popular and beloved?
Wow. You are such the grand selfish American LADY.
But right, you don't know Kola and all of this is happening for "no reason"...by an award winning bestselling author *who you don't know* and is just Black, ugly and jealous of you for being a Princess who's FAB.
Remember that day on Rodeo Drive when I slapped the living shit out ofyou Kimora?? Remember how you ran across the street in your pink sweatsuit screaming, "Call the police...call the police!" because your face wasstinging like ACID was in it?
I am so glad I did that. I think of that moment often and it gives me great comfort knowing I slapped you like an Old Southern Black Church woman would do it.
You are so lucky that I don't want to destroy Djimon's career or causeunnecessary damage to your children's lives by posting all the ammunition that I could be posting. But it's not worth it. I wouldn't gain anything and it would hurt me to see Djimon and the kids hurt. And right before Father'sDay, too. It's not worth it to me to hurt them that deeply.
But you, I don't care about.
THE SEXY PART OF THE BIBLE
You got so indignant Kimora last year when my novel "The Sexy Part of the Bible" came out and everyone kept telling you that the lead character
SeaHorse Twee was based on Djimon.
You got angry and called Djimon "Crispy ass" after my friend Bilal sent
Djimon an email saying if there's a movie made of the novel, Djimon would
have to play SeaHorse.
Well not only is the character of SeaHorse "inspired" by Djimon, Kimora.
But the fiery sex between Eternity and SeaHorse is basically the sex life of
me and your man.
And pages 138 through 141 of the book is all about your sorry ass Kimora.
It's about that little argument you and Djimon had over the baby's hair
texture and Djimon wishing for a nappier texture. Haha! Remember that?
Well Page 138 to 141 is for you.
Read it and see just what Djimon REALLY thinks of you. I'm sure it's part
of why he walked out.
And I'm not even going to ignore the PLASTIC SURGERY you started having in
late March (because Djimon walked on you). Others who saw you just a few
days ago in Vegas probably noticed your newly "gaunt" face--sucked of its
Subcutaenous fat and pitched with "makeshift" cheekbones. Too bad you
waited for Big D to leave to lose weight and get the plastic surgery, but
it's so ....noticeable. Girl, between you and Vivica Fox I just don't know.
So here we are with Russell Simmons and the legal papers you sent.
And Russell's threats and smear campaigns...attempting to stop me
from posting this Statement.
Russell Simmon's Threats
Yesterday June 13th 2012, in an attempt to stop this Official Statement, Kimora Lee Simmons sent me legal documents that appeared to be a lawsuit for 'mental cruelty' (against her).
There was also a blue backed "lawyer threat" asking me to stop talking about the couple on Twitter or in public--or else. I told Kimora that I was not intimidated
and that would kick her ass in court.
and that would kick her ass in court.
This was followed by representatives of "DADDY RUSSELL" (Russell Simmons) trying to cut deals with me not to post a statement and to just "fade out."
Kimora suddenly wasn't sure if she wanted to sue me after all. Money and gifts were mentioned.
Before that, when this thing first broke, those same folks offering money and gifts had been hinting that Russell might do a "Suge Knight" on me and that I'd
better be afraid for my life. I told them that I could arrange to have Russell killed as well and let's go for it--pit my Arab-African army against Russell's booty-bust'n EBT Card army.
Luckily, we became friendlier and pay-off offers replaced the macho murder
Kimora suddenly wasn't sure if she wanted to sue me after all. Money and gifts were mentioned.
Before that, when this thing first broke, those same folks offering money and gifts had been hinting that Russell might do a "Suge Knight" on me and that I'd
better be afraid for my life. I told them that I could arrange to have Russell killed as well and let's go for it--pit my Arab-African army against Russell's booty-bust'n EBT Card army.
Luckily, we became friendlier and pay-off offers replaced the macho murder
talk.
Just hours ago, the NY DAILY NEWS published an article about the back forth
"deals offered" and Kimora's wishy-washy lawsuit plans:
"deals offered" and Kimora's wishy-washy lawsuit plans:
Link: Kimora to sue Kola?
As a writer (and all writers are starving right now)...I could use the money. But I have chosen instead to have my say...because though some people just won't believe my side of the story no matter what I do; I want it known that I didn't go out the door allowing Djimon to dismiss me as a liar. I want it known that I stood my ground and spoke for myself, regardless of public favoritism for him and Kimora. And that he got some cat scratches out of this.
KOLA'S MENTAL RECORDS
To convince the media and others that I'm "insane"....Russell Simmons had his tentacles to start sending out information about my history with Mental Institutions.
I was born Naima Bint Harith in Omdurman, Sudan.
At age 6, after I saw my parents murdered in front of me, I was sent to my Egyptian grandmother (my birth father's mother) Najet in Kom Ombo. My grandmother got permission from the Mullahs to put me up for adoption because my skin was "too dark." My grandmother Najet even informed me, a 6 year old child, that the Kolbookeks has spent 120 years breeding the Black out of our family--and she didn't want me bringing it back in. She said she couldn't pass
me as the Dinka maid's child, because I had the exact face of the Kolbookek family--just dipped in cocoa.
I cannot tell you how devastating this was for me as a 6 year old. By the time UNICEF found me a home with Black Americans in Washington D.C. (my loving adoptive parents Marvin & Claudine taking over); I was an extremely damaged little girl. From age 8 to 19, I became an "out patient" Psychiatric Care case. I also wet the bed from age 8 to 19.
Russell Simmons made it a point to use the facts about me being treated by the Psychiatric Ward at John Hopkin's hospital from age 8 to 19 to make it look as though I'm mentally insane.
For many it has worked and there's nothing I can do. Despite my achievements as an author of 10 books published in 8 countries, people all over the internet keep referring only my "brain surgery" and history of mental childhood mental illness as factors in why I shouldn't express myself or have a say. I think it's despicable and he's a "Turtle without a shell pillow-biting asswipe."
KOLA'S MENTAL RECORDS
To convince the media and others that I'm "insane"....Russell Simmons had his tentacles to start sending out information about my history with Mental Institutions.
I was born Naima Bint Harith in Omdurman, Sudan.
At age 6, after I saw my parents murdered in front of me, I was sent to my Egyptian grandmother (my birth father's mother) Najet in Kom Ombo. My grandmother got permission from the Mullahs to put me up for adoption because my skin was "too dark." My grandmother Najet even informed me, a 6 year old child, that the Kolbookeks has spent 120 years breeding the Black out of our family--and she didn't want me bringing it back in. She said she couldn't pass
me as the Dinka maid's child, because I had the exact face of the Kolbookek family--just dipped in cocoa.
I cannot tell you how devastating this was for me as a 6 year old. By the time UNICEF found me a home with Black Americans in Washington D.C. (my loving adoptive parents Marvin & Claudine taking over); I was an extremely damaged little girl. From age 8 to 19, I became an "out patient" Psychiatric Care case. I also wet the bed from age 8 to 19.
Russell Simmons made it a point to use the facts about me being treated by the Psychiatric Ward at John Hopkin's hospital from age 8 to 19 to make it look as though I'm mentally insane.
For many it has worked and there's nothing I can do. Despite my achievements as an author of 10 books published in 8 countries, people all over the internet keep referring only my "brain surgery" and history of mental childhood mental illness as factors in why I shouldn't express myself or have a say. I think it's despicable and he's a "Turtle without a shell pillow-biting asswipe."
OSAMA BIN LADEN
I never loved Osama...I survived Osama and was held by him against my will.
Somehow, the general public has never bothered to read up on our history. They just assume I was his **willing** girlfriend who loved him.
That's camel shit!
Somehow, the general public has never bothered to read up on our history. They just assume I was his **willing** girlfriend who loved him.
That's camel shit!
They use terms like "Dating" (when there's no such thing as dating in the Arab world). They don't realize that I originally denied being involved with him until the London Guardian outed me as his "mistress" and the U.S. government threatened me and my children with deportation.
I was later deemed to be "innocent" by the U.S. government when Prince Ruspoli (the owner of the estate where Osama Bin Laden kept me) told the U.S. government that I was there against my will as a 'sex slave.'
Amazingly, people don't bother to know what they're talking about and demonize as some loving willing partner of Osama's. I did not love him. I survived him. I'm glad he's dead and I'm grateful for President Obama making the world a better place by killing Osama.
BEAUTY
People keep claiming that Kimora is more beautiful than me. They specifically say that I am "too dark" and ugly...that I look like a man (I happen to love 'Trannies' though I'm not one)....and that no Black man would want me. But notice my home, purchased by a wonderful Black ex-husband, is bigger than Kimora's. I live in a $3 million dollar house on the ranch my ex-husband bought me and have my own private lake.
When it comes to beauty----Americans (and especially Black Americans) don't know what the hell they're talking about. They think anyone who doesn't have light skin or look Eurocentric or Spaniard or Asian automatically goes on the
bottom. They also think beauty is the only thing men want.
They forget that Prince Charles dumped beautiful Diana to marry Camilla
Parker Bowles. They forget that President Clinton had an affair with a Fat
not all that glamorous Monica Lewinsky. They forget about Arnold Swarzenegar
and his frumpy stressed Maid. Just a few examples of why beauty doesn't mean shit if a woman has other powers.
I Kola Boof, am beautiful.
bottom. They also think beauty is the only thing men want.
They forget that Prince Charles dumped beautiful Diana to marry Camilla
Parker Bowles. They forget that President Clinton had an affair with a Fat
not all that glamorous Monica Lewinsky. They forget about Arnold Swarzenegar
and his frumpy stressed Maid. Just a few examples of why beauty doesn't mean shit if a woman has other powers.
I Kola Boof, am beautiful.
I don't give a damn what the Americans (and especially the Black Americans) tryto tell me Beauty is. They came out of my Black ass, I didn't come out of theirs.
I don't have the kind of money Kimora has. But I am a dark skinned BEAUTIFUL Black Egyptian-Sudanese woman and I have had just as many powerful, richfamous men as Kimora has had and the home my husband purchased for me and our two boys is far more impressive than Kimora's. So let the anonymous internet surfers with their broke McDonald-employed asses and biracial but still aint got a man selves call me "dark ugly man-looking ape"....whatever. The fact is, I came a very long way from a barefoot little orphan in war torn Sudan. My challenges and illnesses have been great...but like a classic Black African woman...I made a way out of no way. I triumphed.
FATHER'S DAY
I have never wanted to hurt Djimon Hounsou or his children. It's his racist who sleeps Black selfish money obsessed wife I can't stand.
For those reasons, at the last minute (and because of public pressure, I admit to a degree)...I decided to go easy on him in my statement.
I have not accepted any of the money deals the NY DAILY NEWS mentioned.
It's just that I have nothing to gain by jeopardizing Djimon's career or humiliating him and his children.
And let it be known that I have not lied in any way about my sexual experience
with Djimon Hounsou. He is the one who lied in his press statement. But I
understand his desperation for damage control and his need to protect his
career and his image. What else can he do but deny it?
Meanwhile, I am very happy!
Djimon's marriage is over and though Kimora will get him to do some "Photo Ops" pretending that all is fine--I and the media know they're not together and that I achieved my goal.
Please don't lose sight of the fact that Kimora is disgraced by the fact that a BLACK WOMAN is being publicized as breaking up her marriage--something that really embarrasses her because she's part of Hollywood and the Superior Mixed Race women clique that Black America holds as the Gold standard of their self-hatred and erasure. Women like Kimora consider losing their men to a Black woman to be the same as finding out he's gay. So this is a big thing for Kimora. The fact that I'm an African woman and the news is reporting I broke up her marriage. She doesn't want this on her record. Her friends are going to be laughing at her and throwing it in her face when they get mad with her.
My intention is to not say anything about Djimon and Kimora from here on out.
I would really like peace and to get back to MY life with my own man.
I will leave you with this quote that a very hateful colorstuck Black American man Tweeted to me last night:
"Kola Boof is so evil. She's your typical dark ass bitter bitch. She just will not be defeated!"
I say to all the Black Queens on the CHESS BOARD...let's give birth to a better son and not these losers who can't produce Black babies and have a psychotic desire to breed our people off the face of the earth.
KOLA BOOF
I don't have the kind of money Kimora has. But I am a dark skinned BEAUTIFUL Black Egyptian-Sudanese woman and I have had just as many powerful, richfamous men as Kimora has had and the home my husband purchased for me and our two boys is far more impressive than Kimora's. So let the anonymous internet surfers with their broke McDonald-employed asses and biracial but still aint got a man selves call me "dark ugly man-looking ape"....whatever. The fact is, I came a very long way from a barefoot little orphan in war torn Sudan. My challenges and illnesses have been great...but like a classic Black African woman...I made a way out of no way. I triumphed.
FATHER'S DAY
I have never wanted to hurt Djimon Hounsou or his children. It's his racist who sleeps Black selfish money obsessed wife I can't stand.
For those reasons, at the last minute (and because of public pressure, I admit to a degree)...I decided to go easy on him in my statement.
I have not accepted any of the money deals the NY DAILY NEWS mentioned.
It's just that I have nothing to gain by jeopardizing Djimon's career or humiliating him and his children.
And let it be known that I have not lied in any way about my sexual experience
with Djimon Hounsou. He is the one who lied in his press statement. But I
understand his desperation for damage control and his need to protect his
career and his image. What else can he do but deny it?
Meanwhile, I am very happy!
Djimon's marriage is over and though Kimora will get him to do some "Photo Ops" pretending that all is fine--I and the media know they're not together and that I achieved my goal.
Please don't lose sight of the fact that Kimora is disgraced by the fact that a BLACK WOMAN is being publicized as breaking up her marriage--something that really embarrasses her because she's part of Hollywood and the Superior Mixed Race women clique that Black America holds as the Gold standard of their self-hatred and erasure. Women like Kimora consider losing their men to a Black woman to be the same as finding out he's gay. So this is a big thing for Kimora. The fact that I'm an African woman and the news is reporting I broke up her marriage. She doesn't want this on her record. Her friends are going to be laughing at her and throwing it in her face when they get mad with her.
My intention is to not say anything about Djimon and Kimora from here on out.
I would really like peace and to get back to MY life with my own man.
I will leave you with this quote that a very hateful colorstuck Black American man Tweeted to me last night:
"Kola Boof is so evil. She's your typical dark ass bitter bitch. She just will not be defeated!"
I say to all the Black Queens on the CHESS BOARD...let's give birth to a better son and not these losers who can't produce Black babies and have a psychotic desire to breed our people off the face of the earth.
KOLA BOOF
Pray for Me! True to God, I need a man – Funke Akindele
Funke Akindele is a Nigerian success story. Here is a girl who has made it, who is a household name in Nigeria and beyond, who has fame and money, but one thing is missing: a man to marry her.
Like every girl, she dreams to have a home and a family all of her own. “Once I start my home, I hope to cut down on acting so that I can give my family more attention,” she says. But for now, the men are not coming, or too scared to come, making her to turn to God in prayer
“Man proposes and God disposes”, she says, waxing spiritual, “so people should keep their fingers crossed and pray for Funke Akindele to meet the bone of her bone and the flesh of her flesh and not somebody else.”
“It is one of my dreams to bear children soon and I believe it will come to pass soon.”
Not marrying early is something that seems to run in the family.
“My parents went through the process and it is their joy that I also pass through the same process,” she says.
There is a sense of poignancy to it all as the celebrity actress compares her situation to some of her age mates who are already married and have children.
“Some of my mates have more than three kids today,” she laments, again going spiritual: “Perhaps, this is how God wants me to be for now. When the time comes, and that time could be anytime, I hope to put acting on hold for a family”.
In a typical Nigerian family setting, there would have been parental pressures to marry, but not so with Akindele’s parents.
“I have a wonderful mother that prays and encourages me. She admonishes me not to go after money but true love.
“People who know me closely would tell you that I don’t have airs at all. Of course, I want to get married to somebody that I love and who
understands me; who loves me for whom I am.”
Funke’s situation is made difficult by the general perception of actresses as not being too good as wives.
“People say that men are often scared of actresses because they are famous, rich, drive around in posh cars and command a lot of attention. That all these make a ‘struggling’ guy gets scared and run away.”
“To all the guys scared of approaching her for marriage, Akindele says: “You don’t have to let inferiority complex overwhelm you. If God says you are the right person for me, then nothing will stop it.”
For a star actress of her stature to get a husband, Akindele knows she has to come down from her high horse or from her Olympian heights of pride.
“You have to be humble; don’t let it get to your head. Just be yourself and be down to earth.”
She recalls the so many occasions “when people want to walk up to me when I am in a public place and they are jittery. For instance, I was at Shoprite Mall recently and heard a guy telling his friend that he would love to say hi but felt I was a proud person but I shocked him by saying, ‘Hi, how are you? I am not a proud person o.’ I do that a lot of times.”
‘Where is the Glo money?’
Like every Lagos city girl, Akindele has had her own close shave with death, an experience that can easily be turned into a movie.
So far, she has experienced two different violent attacks.
“The first one was in the traffic,” she recalls “it was just a toy gun affair and I fell for it. They took my bag and said Jenifa jowo, ma bi nu (we are sorry).”
The second robbery took place at a popular Lagos Hotel where she lodged with three others during the shoot of Omo Ghetto 2.
For Akindele, it was one hell of an experience which nearly ended up in a rape because she was in her pyjamas and was getting ready for a massage. It was in the night, some minutes past 10 p.m., when she heard the shouts of Ole, Ole (thief thief).
“I immediately put a call across to the reception and they said there was nothing wrong and that it was just noise from the neighbourhood.
“Hardly had I dropped the call than I heard gun shots. I went cold immediately, I called out my friends. Bimbo was very strong, she quickly told us to wear our jeans and run into the bathroom.
“They were raiding the rooms’ one after the other. Our door was the last door to be opened. They didn’t find it easy. They left and returned into the room after one of them insisted that I was in the room.
“I recalled praying and my spirit told me that they would enter but I should pray that they won’t hurt any of us.
“They barged into the room and by the time they got to the bathroom door, my friends Bimbo and Joy had formed a shield in front of me.
“But when I heard them cock the gun, I leapt forward. One of them tried to hit me and asked for Owo Glo (Glo money).
“Another member of the gang came to my defence and told him to leave me alone, telling him I was the star of Jenifa.”
Was she raped as was widely alleged?
Akindele answered emphatically no!
“There is no iota of truth in the false story that I was raped. They took away money and jewellery. It was a close shave. Up till now, I am still wondering where I got the strength to face the robbers.
For coming out of robbery attack unscathed, Akindele has God to thank. She says, “God has been my strength. I pray regularly but I am no saint however. I don’t joke with my Psalms.”
A Nollywood icon who has starred in many big home videos, Funke Akindele’s defining movie was Jenifa, a comedy starring her as a campus “bush girl” who wants to belong to the circle of campus city slickers. So successful was Jenifa that Akindele wants to build the Jenifa character into a brand.
“I want to use Jenifa to change people’s lives” she explains. “Whenever Jenifa says “excuse me” the youth will listen, I see Jenifa later working in a crèche or as a nanny. A TV series on Jenifa is not out of the picture.”
Also in the pipeline is “The Return O f Jenifa” (TROJ) which will be in the cinemas in September. So far, it has been frustrating for Akindele to come up with the sequel to Jenifa. “our plan to make the event a grand one was threatened and it got to me at some point but I shook it off,” Akindele says “ I psyche up myself and reminded myself that there were so many people looking up to me.”
Naturally, Akindele is still expected to star as Jenifa in the sequel. Even though she excelled in the role, Akindele initially wanted someone else to feature as Jenifa.
“I never wanted to play the lead role in Jenifa. I played the role because I would not find anyone suitable for the character.
“The only person I would have assigned the role was Ronke Oshodi but I fell she was too big for the role and I couldn’t get anyone else. During the production, the workload was so much on me. Aside from writing, producing and acting, I had oversight of every department and process. I was exhausted at the end of the project but the grace of God has been sufficient for me.
“I have excelled as a producer and have received awards for these roles and I hope to get more by the grace of God. Like my mum will tell me, whatever thing one does, one should keep doing it because you will never know the one that will bring you fame and wealth. I will keep producing and I am sure one day, Hollywood will come knocking on my door.”
In a world where art imitates life, many think Jenifa and Funke Akindele are the same. It is one comparism that angers Akindele who says she cannot be compared “with that useless Jenifa character.”
“No, no, no,” she protests, “Funke Akindele looks better in appearance than Jenifa. This is because when you see Funke Akindele, she doesn’t talk or act like Jenifa as a person. They are two different people.
“The only thing they share together is that both Jenifa and Funke Akindele are nice individuals. Also, both of them don’t care about their dressing. I am not a designer’s freak. Because my colleagues are putting on Christian Louboutin shoes doesn’t mean I also have to do the same thing. I am just me. I don’t have to, but Jenifa would go all out to feel among.
“In addition, even in her ‘uncultured’ appearance, Jenifa doesn’t have a low self-esteem; same thing with Funke Akindele. I am first a simple, down to earth, go-getter and warmly lady. I don’t take life so hard. It’s not a do-or-die thing.
“Where I am today, I never knew I would find myself. I just love doing this thing. Anything I get involved in, I throw my will into it. At the end of the day, my success comes along the line.
“Whatever I do, I just want to enjoy it. I do my things well because, I love doing it. At the end of the day, I hear comments like ‘Funke Akindele is desparate’ or ‘she is a go-getter’”.
She likes to define her style in terms of simplicity. “I love to be single. Of course, I love looking good and I love to wear good things but I am not loud.”
When it comes to extravagance, Akindele says: “My vanity would be shoes, some of which even big celebrities don’t have yet, but I don’t wear them. This is because I hardly go out.”
Anyone wanting to marry Funke, should be ready for a workaholic who hardly attends social events because “If I am yet to finish work on a script, I won’t abandon my work. I work a lot.”
At the end of her hard work, Akindele is saddened by the cankerworm of pirates who feed where they did not sow.
“Piracy is eating deep into the fabrics of the industry,” she laments. “It’s now so sad that we hardly realize up to one million Naira in a movie.
“If we release in the morning, by evening, the pirates are out with their own edition. We don’t make money from DVDs again.”
Just like she is praying for a husband, so is she also praying for the day when the evil of piracy would be stamped out of the entertainment industry “so that a hard-working girl like me can fully reap from where she had sown.”
“One first needs to be prayerful and work hard,” she says. “I have not had a good sleep for some days now and that is because I have been busy lately. How I don’t break down has to do with the grace of God. I sleep a lot when I get the chance and I am trying to cultivate the habit of going to the gym and doing aerobic exercises. I sleep a lot and my folks don’t wake me, except when I have an appointment.”
UNILAG Runs Girl's First Day - Story By Umari Ayim
“Stop that!”
Her hand dropped sharply to her side and she stood straighter at the rebuke. Clara who had invited her and the other three girls who stood in the room for a night of party looked at her in annoyance. Her face was contorted horribly in anger.
“How many times will I tell you that it is for your own interest to let your assets show during the party, ehn?” Clara asked, her hanging lower chins quivering in anger. She moved with effort around the room, her squat four feet five inches looking like a cannon ball as she rolled past each girl, checking for any flaw to point out. Patricia looked at her ‘assets’ once again and tried to ignore the brown shadow peeking past the neckline of her blouse.
“Sorry. I..,I didn’t know,” she said, biting down on her lower lip. Clara said nothing. She checked her wristwatch again.
“Wetin dey do this Paw paw sef?” she asked no one in particular in Pidgin English. Patricia remembered that the guy Clara called Pawpaw was the light complexioned driver of the Toyota Camry that picked her from the campus. She looked at the other girls. They hadn’t said as much as a word to her since she squeezed into the car with them that evening. She wanted to ask a lot of questions. She wanted to bond with them. If anything, their fates seemed intertwined that evening. One of the girls with rows of white beads on her neck caught her eye. Patricia tried to smile, but got an unfriendly stare instead. Oh well! She thought, looking back at the thirty five inch plasma television in front of her. Can’t say I didn’t try.
She was nervous. Tonight was the first time she had decided to join the hordes of girls who left the campus every night in search of money. Money that came from one night stands with men they didn’t know. Runs was what the girls called their trade, but Patricia and her best friend Onyinye liked to call it prostitution.
“I am now a call girl.” She whispered almost in awe to herself.
“What?” Clara was coming towards her, her phone held out in front of her. Patricia looked at the phone, wondering how fast it could be turned into a weapon. Clara didn’t seem too pleased at the moment.
“Nothing.”
Clara regarded her in puzzlement for a second before turning away with her phone again. Patricia let her thoughts go back to the threat of her hostel manager.
“If you don’t pay for your bed space, tomorrow, I will personally see that your belongings are thrown out of this hostel.” The heavy set dark complexioned man who before then had been receiving her tokens of meat pies and bottles of Coca-Cola seemed to have had enough of petty appeasements. He wanted his money. After all, she had gone through the ‘backdoor’ and acquired the space from him instead of applying legitimately for a bed space from the Dean of student affairs.
She had left the man thirty minutes later, but not without a firm assurance that she was going to pay the money she owed him the following morning. With very little money in her account and her parents in a difficult financial situation, contacting “Big” Clara was the only option she had. Her bunkmate was a regular of the fat woman who came to campus every Friday for runs girls. It had taken her less than an hour to make the transition from a decent, religious, first class student to an over made up, scantily dressed runs girl. She thanked her stars that Onyinye had to go home that weekend. It would have been difficult explaining to her friend that she could no longer accept the loans she had been giving to her from the beginning of the semester. It was time to be responsible for own financial needs.
The door opened and Pawpaw entered the hotel room. Clara shuffled towards him, shaking the phone in her hand at his lopsided grin.
“Why you like to bleep up like this, ehn?”
“No vex. Na hold up.”
“Which kain hold up?” Clara asked, her nose going up in disbelief. Pawpaw looked ready to defend himself again when Clara’s phone began to ring. Patricia could see him mentally wiping his forehead in relief.
“Good Evening Ben.”
Clara seemed to have undergone some sort of transformation. Gone was her usual brusque manner. She sounded cultured and well mannered as she spoke to someone on the phone.
“Oh yes of course,” she said, turning from the window where she was to stare at Patricia and the other girls. She walked towards them, inspecting their clothes as she spoke. “Trust me. These girls are the latest state of the art types on campus.” She laughed at her own ingenuity as she looked them over. She nodded to herself in satisfaction before walking back to the window to continue the conversation in hushed tones. Patricia felt bad for herself. She wondered what type of people she was going to meet that night. If they found any humour in Clara’s statement, then she was in for a terrible experience. Oh, shut up! A voice said inside her. Like call girls now have a choice.
After one more loud cackle, the phone conversation was over. Clara turned to them. “Time to go and meet our friends.”
For some reason, she was all smiles now, but instead of this to relieve Patricia, she found herself panicking. She looked down at her chest again. She would have given anything to have her chest covered in that instant.
“So it is time for you guys to leave now,” Clara said, shooing them towards Pawpaw who stood at the door grinning like an . Clara shoved him out of the way when they got there, and he bounced to the side with a wider grin.
“Big mummy, take it easy now. Abi se na because ah no be state of the art babe.”
Patricia followed behind the three girls, their heels clicking loudly on the marbled staircase of the hotel as they walked down to the lobby and to the Toyota. Pawpaw managed to hurry ahead after exchanging a few words with the doorman of the hotel.
They drove in silence. The ride to Ikeja seemed to take forever. Patricia could not wait for the night to be over. At last, they parked in front of an imposing black gate and drove inside a big compound when the gate was opened by a security guard.
“What did I tell you?” Clara turned backwards to ask them. Still pondering her sudden change of status, Patricia was thrown off balance by the question. The other girl beside Patricia, who had been almost invisible except for her heavily lashed eyes from which large gobs of mascara hung untidily, sat up suddenly.
“Anything we get, you get ten percent.” She said in a businesslike manner.
Clara beamed with pride as she observed them. “Good girl. I am so happy you remember that. You see, I am not a nice person when people try to cheat me, so remember that.” She removed her phone from her bag.
“They are here,” she said simply into the phone. She nodded and turned to the backseat again. “Get out, wear your bright smiles and make money.”
Patricia followed the girls out the car. She wanted to ask Clara if she was leaving them all by themselves with strangers they had never met before, but the look on Clara’s face was hostile despite the smile there. Her teeth were bared like fangs. So Patricia changed her mind and hurried along, determined to survive the night.
They knocked once, and the door was opened. A tall, handsome young man with a glass of wine appraised them quickly with a smirk before turning to the crowd behind him.
“They are here.”
The announcement drew hoots and shouts from the men inside the house and Patricia knew now that there was no turning back. She stepped into the house and put on her best smile, even if it shook a little.
“Please, come in young ladies.” A voice said in the background. The other girls walked past her hesitant figure, almost rushing into the living room. Patricia was surprised to count only three men in the living room. They all looked fairly young, but judging from the bottles of champagne and fumes of expensive perfume, Patricia could see that they were successful. The one who had called to them to enter the living room was sprawled on a gigantic cream leather sofa, and was already winking at the girl with the heavy lashes and she began to move towards him. Patricia bit down on her lower lip as the man who opened the door pulled the girl with the rows of beads on her neck towards him. She could not help feeling left out as she found herself standing in the middle of the room without a partner. There was only one man left, and he sat on a high bar stool at the end of the room, nursing his drink. He didn’t seem to show any interest in her, and she didn’t know if to walk up to him and offer her “assets” to be valued. She looked down at her shoes, feeling awkward.
“Ha, there is still one left.”
Patricia looked up from her shoes and saw the one who had spoken. He was the one who had opened the door for them. He had managed to pause in his groping of the girl with beads to smile at the man at the bar, making not so discrete gestures towards her direction. The man ignored his friend and looked at her instead. Patricia tried to study him, but he was too far for her to make out his features. Suddenly he was on his feet, walking away.
“Send her upstairs,” he said curtly as he marched towards a staircase just close to the bar.
“Come with me.” The man who had the girl with the beads stood up and led the way for Patricia to follow, and she walked behind him on rubbery feet, wondering why she had to be the one who ended up with the recluse. The journey up the carpeted staircase didn’t take long, and they stopped before a door. The man with her knocked once.
“Come in.”
Her escort nodded at her, and turned back towards the staircase again, leaving her staring at the door. Drawing a deep breath and making a quick prayer to God not to abandon her on her adventure of sin, she pushed down the door handle and stepped into the room. The room seemed to spread out before her in a picture of elegance and she stared in awe at the life sized paintings on the wall. The man who was to be her “client” for the night reclined on the chaise at the far end of the room, his drink in his hand as he watched her.
“Hi,” she said. It wasn’t so bad if she showed courtesy, regardless of how low she had sunk that night. He didn’t bother to answer. He raised his drink to his lips, his eyes never leaving her face. Okay, where do we go from here? Patricia thought, moving towards the bed. As she moved closer, she was surprised to see that the man was actually younger than she had made him to be, and even more handsome than the man who had opened the door for her. His brooding clear white eyes were set on a face that was square. He had high cheekbones that gave him an almost aristocratic air and a strong neck that the collar of his shirt opened to show.
“My name is Patricia.”
Patricia almost kicked herself as she remembered that she had made plans to come up with a fake name. Jade had been her pick. She had always heard tales on campus on how girls gave fake names to the men they met during their nighttime business. I am such an , she thought, sitting on the side of the bed that was close to the lounge where the man sat.
“I see.”
Since a conversation didn’t look like a near possibility, she reached for the hem of her blouse and began to pull it up.
“Wait!”
Patricia dropped her hands, looking up at the man. “What are you doing?” he asked, a frown darkening his handsome face.
“I..I am undressing.”
“I didn’t ask you to.” He managed an amused smile. “At least, not yet.”
Patricia pursed her lips, looking at the blue rug on the floor. Does he want a conversation now?
There was a long pause, and Patricia was beginning to wonder about her escapade. Suddenly, his voice cut through the silence. “You are a pretty girl Patricia.”
“Thank you.”
“So,” he said, reaching towards a stool beside him to deposit the glass in his hand. “Why are you in this business?”
“What?” Patricia asked, feeling very much like a call girl now. She wondered if the other girls were being interviewed too.
“You heard me Patricia.”
There was something almost paternal about his tone. She fiddled with her fingers on her lap, feeling very much like a child caught doing something bad.
“It is personal.”
“Well, if I am going to be taking you to bed barely ten minutes after knowing you, then maybe I have already crossed the line to personal. So fill me in.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Not too much. I will be satisfied with just an answer to my question.”
“Well, I need money.”
“Everyone needs money Patricia.”
Patricia looked at his expensive leather loafers and his gold wristwatch. What could he possibly need money for?
He laughed at her appraisal. “Everyone has problems, regardless of who they are.”
“I need money to pay for my bed space in my hostel on campus.”
Another long pregnant silence. Patricia fiddled more with her fingers.
“What about your parents?”
“They can’t afford to help me at this time.”
Patricia looked up at him and caught him studying her with narrowed eyes. “So you figured that the only way to raise that money is to lie on your back for a stranger you don’t know?”
“I had no option.” Patricia thought of Onyinye. I overused my option, she corrected herself inwardly.
The man cocked his head. “Really?” he asked with a look on his face that suggested that he didn’t believe her.
“Yes.”
The room was quiet again. Patricia didn’t know what to do. How come nobody told her that interviews were part of runs. She was fast developing a new respect for those girls she used to condemn with gusto before.
The man began to reach for a small book on the table beside him. Patricia looked at him in confusion as he pulled out a fountain pen from his shirt pocket. What is he doing?
“So Patricia, what is your surname?”
“Ayodele,” she said, almost hyperventilating. “A-Y…”
“Please stop, I can spell Nigerian names. Thank you.”
“Okay.”
“You have a means of identification, don’t you?”
Patricia looked at him, befuddled. “Yes.”
“What type?”
“I have my school I.D card.”
“No, not that.”
“I have a national I.D card.”
“Okay, that will do.” He raised his head to check what he had written. “Here.” He said at last, handing over a slip of paper he had torn from the small book. Patricia looked at his hand in surprise. It was a check1
“Don’t you want it?”
She shook herself out of her inertia. “Thank you.” She said, quickly plucking it from his hand. Her eyes almost popped when she saw the amount on the check. He is giving me three hundred thousand naira?
Patricia bit her lower lip. What if it was a fake? She had heard stories of how men gave fake checks to runs girls.
“Don’t worry, it is genuine,” he said as if he read her mind. “Check the back too.”
She turned the check over and saw his spidery looking signature at back of the check. Please pay bearer, the words above his signature said.
“But..” she began, thinking of Clara and her ten percent cut.
“But what Patricia?” the man asked, putting back his pen in his shirt pocket. She looked down at her chest. The man followed her gaze with a look of confusion on his face.
“You still have to sleep with me.”
The man seemed to do a double take. “Sleep with you?”
“Please don’t take it the wrong way. I am grateful for this.” She held the check gingerly in her hand. “But I have to give Clara her ten percent cut.”
“Who is Clara?”
Patricia was surprised that he didn’t know Clara. “The woman that brought us here.”
There was understanding in the man’s eyes. “Oh, you mean your handler.”
“Yes.” Patricia said in a small voice, looking down at the rug again. She thought handler was quite a nice term for the fat woman who brought them there. The woman was a slave driver! She heard the rustle of new notes.
“Here, take this.” In the right hand that extended towards her were several notes of one thousand naira. She opened her mouth in wonder as she took the money from the man. “But this is a lot.” She held the money in her hand, unable to believe her good luck.
“It is okay. I hate to see you run into problems with your … em…handler.”
Patricia nodded and transferred the notes into her bag. Then, she sat looking at him, wondering if she still owed him sex.
“How long have you been doing this?”
They were back to their interview.
“Today was my first time.”
“Hmmm.”
Patricia felt the need to defend herself. He didn’t sound like he believed her. “It is true. I have never done this before.”
“Are you a virgin?”
“No.” she said looking away. The man sighed and reached into his brown leather wallet. He pulled out a card from it and gave it to her.
“Stay in touch after tonight.”
Patricia held the card, feeling dismissed.
“I guess this means that you are done with me.”
“Yes Patricia you guessed right.”
She didn’t know whether to be happy or sad at the dismissal of this handsome stranger who had just doled out huge sums of money to her. She stood up from the bed and smoothed down her top. The neckline of her blouse dipped dangerously again and she quickly plucked it back up.
“Thank you very much.”
“No problem Patricia.”
“Goodbye.”
“Goodnight Patricia.”
Patricia moved towards the door, swinging her bag to her shoulder. The toothbrush she had packed there rattled against the can of her body spray, and she could not help feeling embarrassed.
“And Patricia…” the man said when she got to the door. She stopped to look back at him. The glass of wine he was just lifting stopped halfway before his lips. “Just go straight back to campus, even if you don’t see your friends downstairs.”
She nodded and began to turn the door handle.
“And..” his voice reached her again. “Keep my card from your handler. I don’t pass out my private numbers around so much.”
“Okay.” She turned the handle.
“Oh by the way…” Patricia turned to see his stunning smile. “Maybe one of these days, I might take you up on your offer.”
Patricia nodded, blinded by his gorgeous teeth.
“Goodnight,” He said, raising his drink to his lips again.
Patricia nodded at him again, giving him a small smile of her own before stumbling into the passage. She floated on air as she went down the stairs, still in shock over her good fortune. Downstairs, the living room was quiet. There was no one there. She remembered the man upstairs telling her to go back to campus. She thought about the girls.
“Oh well, they weren’t even friendly to me anyway.” She said, floating again to the door. The security guard gawked at her chest as he opened the gate for her. She gave him a frown and walked off in a huff out of the compound. The road was as busy as ever as people sparkled brightly in their fancy cars. She quickly flagged down a cab.
“Unilag.”
“One thousand.” The taxi driver barked sharply. Patricia looked at the new Naira notes in the bag under her arm and smiled at him.
“Okay.”
She slipped into the cab and the man sped away into the night. As the breeze teased the strands of her hair, she brought out the card the man had given to her. She gasped in surprise. The taxi driver looked curiously at her in his rear view mirror before turning back to his driving.
“I can’t believe this. How come I didn’t recognize him?” she asked herself, still staring at the card. Her first experience of “runs” had become the night when she met the most sought after bachelor in town. The much talked about Tola Opanuga, heir apparent to a business empire had given her his card. Maybe one of these days, I might take you up on your offer, he said as she left the room. She closed her eyes in embarrassment. Oh God, hope he never remembers this night if we ever meet again, she thought, settling back in her seat and watching the city fly past in a combination of several blinking neon lights and girls with miniskirts on street curbs.
It wasn’t the usual face of the city she was used to seeing. She sighed as a girl pouting at a slow driving car shook her mammoth sized chest at the driver. Things were different in the city at night. As she drove towards the campus, she was no more the sheltered girl from a middle class family living in Abeokuta. She had lost her innocence and things would never be the same again.
- written by Umari Ayim, an award-winning writer.
EFCC Slams Money Laundering Charges Against Former Bayelsa Governor, Timipre Sylva
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has formally instituted criminal charges against former governor of Bayelsa state, Timipre Sylva, for laundering close to N5 billion of funds belonging to Bayelsa state.
The charges filed by EFCC prosecuting attorney Festus Keyamo accused Mr. Sylva of money laundering, conversion and obtaining by false pretense.
Mr. Sylva has just ended a grueling political battle with president Goodluck Jonathan regarding his candidacy for the gubernatorial election in Bayelsa state.
Mr. Jonathan's handpicked candidate, Seriake Dickson won the election under controversial circumstances.
EFCC operatives are hunting for Mr. Sylvia who they claimed is on the run. the court is expected to issue a bench warrant for his arrest.
See charges below:
N THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT
HOLDEN AT ABUJA
CHARGE NO.: FHC/ABJ/CR/23/2012
BETWEEN:
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA………… COMPLAINANT
AND
TIMIPRE SYLVA ……………………………….ACCUSED PERSON
CHARGE
COUNT 1:
That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, sometime between October, 2009 and February, 2010, at various places in Nigeria, including Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court did conspire to commit a crime to wit: conversion of properties and resources amounting to N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira) belonging to Bayelsa State Government and derived from an illegal act, with the aim of concealing the illicit origin of the said amount and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 17(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act), 2004 and punishable under Section 14(1) of the same Act.
That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, on or about the 22nd of January, 2010, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, converted the sum of N380,000,000.00 (Three Hundred and Eighty Million Naira), property of the Bayelsa State Government, through the account of one Habibu Sani Maigidia, a Bureau De Change Operator with Account No. 221433478108, in Fin Bank, Plc, which sum you knew represented the proceeds of an illegal act with the aim of concealing the nature of the proceeds of the said illegal act and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act) 2004 and also punishable under section 14(1) of the same Act.
COUNT 3:
That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, on or about the 5th of February, 2010, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, converted the sum of N50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira), property of the Bayelsa State Government, through the account of one Enson Benmer Limited with Account No. 6152030001946, in First Bank, Plc, which sum you knew represented the proceeds of an illegal act with the aim of concealing the nature of the proceeds of the said illegal act and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act) 2004 and also punishable under section 14(1) of the same Act.
COUNT 4:
That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, on or about the 5th of February, 2010, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, converted the sum of N20,000,000.00 (Twenty Million Naira), property of the Bayelsa State Government, through the account of one John Daukoru with Account No. 04800250000418, in United Bank for Africa, Plc, which sum you knew represented the proceeds of an illegal act with the aim of concealing the nature of the proceeds of the said illegal act and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act) 2004 and also punishable under section 14(1) of the same Act.
COUNT 5:
That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, sometime between October, 2009 and February, 2010, at various places in Nigeria, including Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court did conspire to commit a crime to wit: inducing Union Bank, Plc, with the intent to defraud, to deliver to Bayelsa State Government the sum of N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira), under the false pretence of using the amount to augment salaries of the Bayelsa State Government and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(a) and punishable under section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2004.
COUNT 6:
That you, Timipre Sylva, as Governor of Bayelsa State, with others now at large, sometime between October, 2009 and February, 2010, at various places in Nigeria, including Abuja, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court induced Union Bank, Plc, with the intent to defraud, to grant an overdraft facility of the sum of N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira) to the Bayelsa State Government under the false pretence of using the amount to augment salaries of the Bayelsa State Government and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2004 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act.
Source: Sahara Reporters
Gunmen Kill 4 Cops guiding IGP's house In Kano
Unidentified gunmen this morning struck in the city of Kano, Northwest Nigeria.
During the attack, four policemen were feared dead while several others were injured.It was not clear at the time of filing this report if Boko Haram carried out the attack. According to eyewitness account, the incident happened in the heart of Kano around Gwandu Albasa within the family house of Acting Inspector-Gener
“The incident happened at about 9 a.m. today. Mobile policemen were strolling on the streets possibly to buy some items when at a junction close to the IGP’s house, gunmen numbering about five disguised in mobile police uniform shot them,” a source told P.M.NEWS.
When contacted on phone, the Kano State Police Command Public Relations Officer, PPRO, ASP Musa Magaji Majiya confirmed the incident but insisted that the attack occurred along BUK road.
“Yes, this morning, at about 8:30 a.m., our men were walking along BUK road, Kano when gunmen on a motor bike attacked and killed two of them,” Magaji said, adding that the police are on the trail of the assailants.
The Kano PPRO could not confirm whether the slain mobile policemen were attached to the IGP’s house.
Though the police spokesman said only two police officers were killed during the attack, eyewitnesses insisted that four policemen were gunned down.
Following the incident, security has been further beefed in the troubled city.
P.M.NEWS correspondent who moved around the city observed helicopters hovering over Kano.
Also on ground were men of the Kano Joint Security Task Force patrolling major streets and others deployed to strategic locations.
There is palpable fear in Kano as a result of the attack.
Also on Wednesday, gunmen believed to be Boko Haram members have killed two policemen in central Nigeria where the radical Islamist sect killed dozens of people on Christmas day, police said Thursday.
“The gunmen who rode on a motorcycle shot and killed two policemen watching over a highway and sped away,” police spokesman for Niger State Richard Oguche told AFP.
The attack occurred on Wednesday in Niger state’s town of Lapai, west of the Federal Capital Abuja.
He said the gunmen were suspected to be part of a gang that raided a prison and freed 119 inmates in nearby Kogi state last week.
Boko Haram claimed it was behind the jail break to free seven of its detained members.
Authorities said at least 25 of the detainees were later captured.
“We believe the attack was in response to the re-arrest of their comrades they set free in the prison raid,” Oguche said.
He said police had this week recovered three Kalashnikov rifles in Lapai, raising concern that the area is an Islamists hideout.
Attacks blamed on the sect appear increasing around the central Niger state and its environs.
Nearly 50 people were killed in Christmas Day bomb attacks, most of them on St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State which borders the capital Abuja.
Election offices were also bombed in the same state last year.
Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day attack, as well as last August’s bombing of the UN headquarters which killed 25 in the capital.
The sect launched an uprising in 2009 put down by a brutal military assault that left some 800 people dead. After going dormant for about a year, it re-emerged with a series of shootings and bomb blasts.
Its attacks had previously been concentrated in the northeast. But a month ago, it launched its deadliest assault on Kano, the country largest city in the north, leaving 185 dead.
SOURCE: PMNEWS
Where is my daddy?
THE scene was heart-rending. Neighbours on the quiet street in Mowe, a community along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, were gathered in small groups bemoaning the sad event. From a distance, the Nigerian Compass on Saturday could already sense the tragedy.
On getting into the apartment, another crowd of people were crying as loud wailing rent the air. While the widow sat on the floor amidst sympathizers, a middle-aged woman was trying hard to hold down a barely-dressed toddler. The toddler wasn’t left out of the mourning. She screamed as loud as allow. She tried to break herself free from the lady’s grip. The 11-month-old infant, Christiana uttered the magic word: ‘Daddy?’. She gathered her voice and spoke again: Daddy’.
This only brought more wailing as sympathizers wondered who would explain to little Christy, as she is fondly called, that Daddy was gone forever.
Someone hinted that the tot was very close to her dad as she often ran in her baby steps with outstretched arms to welcome Daddy when he returned from a hard day at work. The late Ademola Adedeji would sweep her in his arms and throw her up to her utmost delight.
She ate with him, fell asleep on his chest, adored him. The family had looked forward to the birthday bash her father planned to throw for her as she turned one in a couple of days...but all that isn’t to be anymore as he died in Police custody.
What could have killed a business man in the custody of the Nigerian Police, just about 12 hours after his family members were forced to leave him in search of N1 million that the officials placed as bail condition?
The venue of the macabre theatre was the Area F, Divisional headquarters, of the Police in Ikeja, Lagos State on Thursday, February 9. The death came less than 24 hours after a company for which he was a distributor ordered his arrest over a controversial N10 million debt. When Ademola Lawrence Adedeji marked his 39th birthday on Sunday, 12th of this month, little did he know that he would not complete the week with his friends and relations who would have equally been called back for another birthday of his daughter, who will clock one next week.
On the morning of Thursday, February 9th, his two male children, namely: Temiloluwa, 7, and Mojolaoluwa, 5, bade their father farewell as he dropped them in their school before leaving for the company at Adebola House, Ikeja to take goods.
Little did the kids know it was the last time they would see their father, who was not ill at the time he was bidding his family farewell.
In 2010, Ademola was given the best distributor award by Rite Foods Limited, makers of Bigi Sausage rolls. He had sold goods worth over N200 million for the company.
On Wednesday, February 8, he had gone to Cotonou, Benin Republic, to supply some goods on behalf of the company to one of his customers.
On Thursday, he was back in the company with some of his assistants, to buy yet another set of goods from the company. After loading his truck and preparing to take the goods to his customers, word was passed to Ademola that a senior official of the company required his attention. He obliged, and unwittingly embraced death.
That was the beginning of the ordeal that has ended in the death of the enterprising businessman. Lying in wait for Ademola at the office of the senior official were some Policemen who promptly arrested him for accumulating a debt profile of N10 million and allegedly issuing a dud cheque to the company.
The questions that agitate the minds of the family is: How could a man who was alive and well in Police custody suddenly drop dead? Was he battered by Policemen or was he handed over to hardened criminals in Police cells for thorough beating because he did not play ball, as expected? If he suddenly developed a health challenge, why did the Police not contact the family or the complainant who could help them contact the family for information about his medical history, if ever there was one? Why did the Police take the body of the deceased to the mortuary without informing the family? Why had the Police refused to grant the family access to the body of the deceased, up till press time one week after? Are they hoping that the body would have decompsed to hide the cause of death by the time the body is eventually released? The family is distraught.
When the Nigerian Compass on Saturday, visited his house on Tuesday this week, sympathisers were seen thronging the place. The widow, Cecilia, who will equally clock 38 on Tuesday, the 21st of February, was filled with surprise over what had happened to her husband for whom she had attempted obtaining bail that Thursday night to no avail.
Cecilia said: “On Thursday afternoon, my husband left home to collect goods he wanted to sell from Rites Foods, the maker of Bigi sausage rolls. In the afternoon, he called and told me that the company had ordered him arrested because he owed them some amount of money. He said the company claimed that he owed it N10 million.
“When I was going to the company, one of his friends told me not to go there but to go to Area F divisional headquarters in Lagos. When I got there, I met my husband and he told me that he had written an undertaken on how to be paying the money. He said he never said that he was not going to pay the money.”
She added that though, her husband sounded confused about how the company came about the sum, he agreed to pay the money. Hence, the family’s expectation that Ademola would be released to them that night.
But the plea of the family fell on the deaf ears of the security agents and the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the company as they insisted on a deposit of N1 million before he could be released.
“Though my husband said he didn’t understand the account, he agreed to pay the sum, since they said he was owing them. However, the Inspector in charge of the case said he would not release my husband to us until the CSO of the company saw and approved of the undertaking. So we waited till evening.”
One of Ademola’s friends, a Police Officer, was said to have offered his brand new car, worth N1.5 million as an alternative for the N1 million demanded by the company and the Police so that the detainee could be discharged that night. All pleas fell on deaf ears.
“When the CSO came, my husband and the rest of us went in together. The CSO said that Ademola should be released to us so that he would go and sell some goods and make some payment.
“But after that discussion, the CSO and the Inspector went inside and had another discussion which was not known to us. When they came out, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) said that my husband could not be released until he paid N1 million.
“One of his friends even told the Policemen that if they locked Ademola up, they would still need to released him so that he could work to be able to pay.
“Even one of his friends volunteered to offer his car worth of N1.5m just for them to release him to us that night and we would provide him the following morning. Eventually, we left the place around 9.00 pm,” she added.
He was equally said to have phoned one of the boys working with him, Omolayo Rotimi, to look for a driver among his friends, so that the goods he purchased could be sold that afternoon and he could make some deposit to the company. This move was also said to have been resisted by the CSO as the seized loaded truck was kept in the company’s compound.
Rotimi said, “Then, he Adedeji told us he was going to see the M.D. about five minutes after, he came down with the Police. Our boss then told us that he wanted to go to the Police station to settle the case on ground before he could go to anywhere.
“They asked him if there was anyone that could drive the bus to go and supply the goods but our boss told them he drove it by himself.
“While we were waiting for him to come back from the station, he called us that we should look for a driver to go and supply the goods. He then called one of his friends to come and drive the bus.
“After, his friend came to take the bus but the CSO arrested the bus and drove it inside the company.”
While the family agreed to leave Ademola in the custody of the police for them to source the money the next morning, he died before their arrival the following morning.
His wife said, “On the following morning, I didn’t know anything. When they came back, they told me that the police insisted that they needed N1 million to release my husband on bail.
“In the evening, one of the staff members just called and said they heard my husband was dead. It was the two friends that went inside.
“Since then, nobody has visited us here. In fact, the bus he took to the company on that Thursday to collect goods was seized by the company and is still there fully loaded at Right Foods Opebi, Adebola House.
“Since then, the Police have not been able to explain what caused his death. He died in their custody and they didn’t call anybody until we got there. The corpse is still with them and they have not released it to us.”
It was gathered that Ademola’s remains were deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) that Friday by one Solomon, a Police officer.
On Tuesday, when some members of the family in company of their lawyer visited the company to ask about Ademola’s whereabouts, the staff at the information desk resisted attempt to see any of the executive members, as she claimed they had all gone to a meeting.
The desk officer, a female explained that all information about Ademola’s whereabout had been directed to the Area F Police station hence, she could not offer any explanation on the matter.
A petition against the company and the Police by the family’s lawyer, Chief Lanre Adeniyi, described the circumstances surrounding the death of Ademola as “criminal conspiracy, unlawful abduction, detention, torture and brutal murder.”
The petition is directed to President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President David Mark, House of Representatives
In the petition, the family declared thus: “Neither the Police authority in Ikeja Police Division, Area “F” nor the company had demonstrated the mildest form of modesty and courtesy to formally inform our client with the sudden disappearance and or alleged death of her husband. That all her personal efforts and that of her solicitors to reach the management of the company on the circumstances surrounding the sudden disappearance of our client’s husband have been thwarted and frustrated by the company which had deliberately shielded itself from any access by either by our client or her solicitors. However, the company had also impounded the Toyota Hiace Bus of our client’s husband with the company’s products he had purchased worth about N500, 000.00.”
The petition reads further: “It is however, disturbing and disheartening to note the fact that both the police authority and the company had remained adamant in making any official statement about the mysterious and shady disappearance of our client’s husband.
“Sequel to the above, our client who is a full time house wife and young mother of three (3) children: Temiloluwa (7), Mojolaoluwa (5) and Christianah (1) and the entire family of her husband have been all subjected to distressing and frustrating suspense as a result of the cruel silence of the Nigerian Police, Ikeja Division and the company.
“Our client and her family have been thus subjected to live under confusion and the fear of the unknown as she does not know what next may happen to her life nor that of her family. It is important to stress that going by the current trend of frequent unequalled brutality associated with the officers of the Nigerian Police, issues of unlawful arrest and detention or abduction and alleged torture and murder of our client’s husband should not be treated with levity or casually. As a result, our client has been rendered a widow prematurely through sheer inhuman and barbaric acts of the Police and the company.
“Three (3) children of our client have all been made fatherless at their very tender age through the brutality of an agency statutorily established to protect lives and property in connivance with the company. Hence, our client’s family liberty and peace had been practically infringed upon as she is now confined for fear of the unknown.
“We wish to reiterate that the police authority have a constitutional duty to protect the lives and properties of Nigerian citizen which includes our client’s husband and his family. It is on the above premise we therefore solicit your timely and immediate intervention and inquiry of the mysterious and shady circumstances surrounding the criminal conspiracy, unlawful arrest or abduction, detention, torture and murder of our client’s husband, Mr. Demola Lawrence Adedeji on Thursday, the 9th of February, 2012 craftily executed by officers of the Nigerian Police Ikeja Division, Area “F” at the instigation, instructions and supervision of Rite Foods Ltd so that the case can be given the urgent attention it deserves leading to the timely apprehension and prosecution of all the culprits connected thereto.”
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for the state, Jaiyeoba Idowu Joseph, last night gave the Nigerian on Saturday an account of how the arrest and death took place.”
The Police spokesman said: “He (Ademola) issued a dud cheque of N9 million in four different cheques. He had been a regular customer to the company. When he continued issuing the cheques, the cheques continued to bounce. The company then reported the matter to the Police and he was invited to the Police station.”
Jaiyeoba continued: “The CSO was the one that invited the Police. In the process, there was negotiation that he should pay N1 million. The guy was still there in the station, he couldn’t pay the money. Around 9pm, the family left the Police station to look for the N1 million. At 11pm, he developed a medical problem and was rushed to LUTH for medical attention.”
Insisting that the story that proper care was taken in the matter, the PPRO said: “He was admitted, he even had a card. I have a photocopy of the card with me. An outpatient card was issued, which means he was admitted.”
He added that the matter has now been transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Panti, in the state, saying: “We are waiting for the autopsy report to determine the cause of death.”
On claims that the Police had not granted the family access to the body of the deceased, ostensibly to allow it decompose and make it difficult to determine the cause of death, Jaiyeoba said: “A Policeman is not a medical doctor. Are we medical doctors? We don’t have the legal power to bar the family from seeing the body, it is the hospital that can do that, if it has a reason to. How can the Police say they should not see the body? It is the duty of an expert to determine the cause of death.”
Source: COMPASS
Fuel subsidy palliatives not possible again – Jonathan
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment programme promised by his administration was no longer realistic. The President said SURE was hurriedly conceptualised in January on the heels of the nationwide protest against the removal of the fuel subsidy. Jonathan added that the implementation was no longer feasible since the zero-subsidy policy planned by his administration was not being implemented.
Jonathan spoke at the 58th National Executive Committee meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party where he ordered his party men to retrieve copies of a SURE publication that had been advertised. The PDP members had distributed the publication to attendees at the meeting, but on sighting the document the President expressed surprise and ordered that it should be withdrawn.
The President said, “As I came in, I saw this SURE book being distributed, we are withdrawing it. This is the old one. We developed this with the expectation that we were going to completely deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry, (after) the 100 per cent removal of subsidy.
“You know we could not achieve that though there was an increase in the pump price. I don’t want this thing to be distributed; it will give a wrong impression.
“We are working on a new document based on the reality, but we don’t want to promise what we will not achieve. Those who have it please withdraw it, we cannot realise the money that is stated therein, but we will still come up with a document based on what we get.”
Curiously, Jonathan had inaugurated a board for the implementation of the SURE programme barely a week ago, on February 13. The board is headed by a former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade.
Critics of the government and opposition parties had earlier predicted that the government could not be trusted to implement SURE which some of the critics had described as a “fraud”.
In the SURE document, which was distributed on Monday, government has put the total subsidy reinvestible funds at N1.134tn based on an average of $90 per barrel of crude oil.
According to the document, out of the total, N478.49bn would accrue to the Federal Government, while state governments and local governments would get N411.03bn and N203.23bn respectively.
The document adds that N9.86bn would go to the Federal Capital Territory while N31.37bn would be transferred to the Derivation and Ecology, Development of Natural Resources and Stabilisation Fund.
Among the items the Federal Government promised to spend money on were the construction of the East–West Road; construction of some roads and bridges in the six geo-political zones of the country; and the completion of rail routes.
The government also listed some of the irrigation projects it planned to embark on, promising that the revitalisation of the irrigation projects would increase the local production of rice by over 400,000 tonnes per year.
The withdrawn document further adds that government will contribute to the power sector reforms by improving generation capacity through hydro and coal power plants.
“The current subsidy regime in which fixed price is maintained irrespective of market realities has resulted in huge unsustainable subsidy burden,” the document says.
The government had on January 1, 2012 announced a total removal of subsidy on petrol but the consequent jump in the pump price of the product from N65 per litre to N141 had attracted nationwide protests and a strike action championed by organised labour and civil society groups.
Following a week of paralysis in the socio-economic sector, the government on January 16 agreed to revert the price of petroleum to N97 per litre.
The Federal Government, however, on February 15 proposed additional N656.3bn to the 2012 budget to cater for its subsidy on petrol.
Jonathan’s coordinating minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had in a statement explained that the 2012 Fiscal Framework earlier submitted to the National Assembly assumed 100 per cent subsidy removal and that only N155bn was provided for the carry-over of 2011 subsidy payments.
Okonjo-Iweala explained that the estimated total figure for subsidy in 2012 was N888bn, made up of N656.30bn for 2012 and N155bn as carry-over from 2011.
Shedding light on the subsidy budget for 2012, the minister stated that the amount was arrived at after extensive consultations with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency. via PUNCH
WONDERS HALL NEVER END IN NIGERIA
The Mystery Woman Who Charmed TB Joshua
Many questions have been asked and speculations made about TB Joshua’s marital life. The answers are provided in this unique interview, conducted by Weekly Spectator…Many myths surround Prophet Temitope Joshua, the youthful General Overseer of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations. When cynics are not raising questions about his source of supernatural powers, they are perpetually wondering what manner of man is he. Yet, the more people seek to unravel or spin stories about this enigma, the more confused they get.
But apart from the astounding miracles that unfurl in the church every day, critics also never cease wondering if the man actually has any marital life.
Yet, they sure know he is not a monk, even though like a monk, he is holed up in his religious commune, devoting his time and substance to prayer, solitude and contemplation. But today, we unveil that vital aspect of TB Joshua that you never knew or know very little about…
A bevy of ladies, very beautiful ladies, strut elegantly into the penthouse presidential suite at The Synagogue Church of All Nation s where The Spectator team is patiently waiting, and watching videos of some of the explosive miracles the church has witnessed in recent times. At this hour, the team is watching the video of the special thanksgiving service held for the brand new Ghanaian President, Professor John Atta Mills, on his recent ascendancy to power.
When the door closes behind the ladies, the first thing you notice about Evelyn, the delectable wife of Prophet TB Joshua, the General Overseer of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations, is her infectious radiance and unmistakable enthusiasm. Both attributes, even more, make her the most powerful, yet most adorable woman in the spiritual empire that her husband has built. An empire which presidents, kings and queens, princes and princesses, and assorted dignitaries from across the globe, routinely throng for their diverse spiritual needs.
Yet, not many among the teeming parishioners, even in the outside world, know that this absolutely delightful woman is the moving force behind the world acclaimed, yet much vilified prophet – Temitope Joshua. “Apart from God,” quips one worshipper, her voice barely audible, “this woman is the next most powerful force behind Prophet TB Joshua. She is a workaholic. She is a wonderful counsellor. She compliments her husband.”
Yet this self-effacing beauty carries none of these testimonials like a banner in the manner of some. Indeed, as the sultry lady struts into the suite, this cool afternoon, clad in a simple but colourful gown, she carries no emblem that usually typifies a powerful hand behind the throne. Rather, from the shining beads of sweat on her temple, you would need no soothsayer to tell you that the woman has been working herself to the bones. Even as she sinks into a settee opposite the team, an aide still wants her to attend to a detail. “But I can’t keep these editors waiting,” she retorts with her velvety voice. “I think that can wait.”
Mrs Evelyn Joshua
Excerpts:
Your husband made a promise about nine months ago that The Spectator would be the first Nigerian newspaper you would talk to. After waiting for so long, we thought it was never going to happen. But it is happening now. So, let’s start by asking you, how does it feel to be Mrs Evelyn TB Joshua?
I count myself very lucky among women. My husband is a man every woman will want to have as a husband.
That presupposes a serious contest over him (general laughter…). Seriously speaking, do you fight any battle to keep him?
Not at all. I know that every woman will desire to have him as a husband, but there are not struggles on my part to keep him.
Prophet Joshua is very handsome and a great instrument in the hands of God, sought after, all over the world, by presidents and kings. You mean there are no special battles you fight to gain his attention and also keep him from prying female eyes?
Not at all. But I know that when a man is hardworking and God-fearing, every woman will like to have him. But believe me, I fight no special battles to keep him. He knows who he believes and God whom he believe and serves so well is capable of keeping him, and has, indeed, been keeping him.
So, how do you cope with his tight schedule? This is somebody who spends every minute of his life in the church ministering to people’s needs and all that; and we do know that women need their husbands as much as their husbands need them.
We are into the same cause. So, I don’t have any difficulties handling that aspect at all because we are pursuing the same goal. God has so made it that we complement each other perfectly well in very many ways.
Are you a pastor, too?
No, but I am helping.
So, you never trained as a pastor?
We are many here; we are under training.
Under him?
Yes, and it is a life-long training. It is a continuous, never-ending training like the school of life. Of course, as long as we are living, we will continue to strive in God’s will.
So, how exactly did you meet Prophet TB Joshua? We want to know the year, the circumstances and all that…
(laughs heartily…) It was around 1989
That was 20 years ago?
Twenty years now, yes. I visited a sister somewhere at Ikotun-Egbe, and, then they were talking about a particular man, a prophet to be precise. It was a kind of meeting to be precise. And it’s like everybody in that gathering, or at least half of the people in the room, had actually visited him. So, they were saying a lot of good things about him. I was thrilled. At the end of the whole thing, I called a sister outside and asked whether she could take me to the prophet. I didn’t ask to go there out of curiosity. I actually needed a guide at that point in time.
Were you at any crossroads at that point in time?
Not really. I wasn’t at any crossroads, but I desperately needed a guide.
Or were there some challenges you were facing and for which you needed to see this man of God?
Not quite so. But I had seen pastors. I worshipped in a church and I had read about prophets in the Bible, though I had never come across any. But at that particular time, I needed a guide, sort of.
Spiritual guide?
Yes, a spiritual guide. A counsellor.
Could you tell us the church were you were worshipping before you suddenly and desperately needed this spiritual guide?
I was in Assemblies of God Church.
How long were you there?
As long as I can remember.
Were you born there?
No, I was not. Can we go back to my story, please? So, the sister and I scheduled a date. We got to his place and he was not around.
Not to The Synagogue, I believe?
No, to his house.
Okay, where was his house then?
Down in Ikotun-Egbe, at Agodo.
It was a mansion was it?
(Laughs loudly…) Yes, by the grace of God, it was.
If we may take you back, what things were people talking about that made you get interested in him?
Many things. This one said he prayed for him and things became okay from there. Another said her life was at a bend but straightened up when she met him. You know, things like that. So, we went there. Unfortunately, we did not meet him at home. But looking back now, I thank God that we didn’t meet him that day.
Why?
Because that would have been the end of this story.
Why would it have been the end of the story?
It would have been because what he told me the very first day that I set my eyes on him, if the sister were there, I would have believed that maybe she had gone behind me to tell him all about me. And that would have ruined it.
So, did the man of God tell you the story of his life?
Yes, of course.
Without any pre-knowledge of who you were?
Yes. Okay, I’m coming (laughs…). Some months after, I visited him. That was in 1990. I could remember that day was a public holiday. I remember also how I nearly lost my way because I had never been to the place before, except that day I went with the sister.
That is to say, this time you went alone?
Yes, I did. I went alone. But before I was able to locate the place, it was a bit difficult for me. When I got into the waiting room, I met two men waiting to see him. Before this time, the idea that I had about a prophet was that of an old man with a white, long beard and things like that. So, on that day, I was reading a novel that I came with when I suddenly saw someone come into the room, pick one or two things and went back. But the shadow of whatever I saw was not that of an old man.
Did you greet him?
No, I didn’t even look at his face. But when he left one, one of the two men was telling the other one, ‘that’s him. That’s him.’ I looked up but he had gone. They went into the consulting room before me. Finally, it was my turn, and I went in there. We sat opposite each other. And, he was gazing at me for about a minute and some seconds. I gazed at him, too. Transfixed as I was, I noticed that there was a piece of paper before him. Still looking at me, he wrote the word, ‘Ejide’, on it. (Transliterated, Eji de – twin has come). Lest I forget, I’m a twin.
And before then, you had not told him anything about yourself?
No, we were just looking at each other until he, at a time, wrote my name on the piece of paper. So, we started talking. He told me a lot of things about myself, both things that I knew, and those that I never knew. I was shocked. He told me about my family, about my past, my present and my future. Altogether, we spent about 45 minutes. At the end of the whole thing, he spoke to me in Yoruba and said: Joo ma binu o. Ma ro pe bi mo se nba gbogbo eniyan ti o ba wa s’odo mi soro ni eleyi o. Mi o ni ale, mi o dee fee ni ale. Sugbon, se oo fe mi? (Transliterated, this means: Please, don’t be annoyed. Don’t think this is how I talk to everyone that comes to me. I don’t have a concubine, and I don’t want to have a concubine. But can you marry me?)
Just like that?
Just like that. It was strange, but that gives us an insight into what the Scripture says that the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. I think that was it. That was how I met him. Some months later, I asked him why he thought it was right seeing a lady for the first time and going on to propose to her. He said he had seen me four days before that very day.
Where?
I don’t know
In his dream?
I don’t know.
Or was it a revelation?
Honestly, I don’t know.
Okay, let’s go back to the time you entered his consulting room. You said you sat opposite him and looking at each other intensely, I believe. At that particular moment, what was going on in your mind?
A lot of things. In the first place, I was expecting to see an elderly man.
But instead you saw a dashing, handsome, young man?
(Laughs). Oh yes! That was it.
He too must have been captivated by a ravishing beauty like you…
(Laughs again…) I wouldn’t know. But like I told you, he wrote my name on the piece of paper before him. That was the first thing that really shocked me. And the fact that he proposed to me the first time that we met without waiting to know some things about me.
Wait a minute. Don’t you think that one of your friends could have had contact with him and told him about you?
Unfortunately, I don’t have friends. As I told you, it was a sister that I visited who took me there in the first place. So, there is no way anybody could have gone to tell him about me. And, when I was going there the second time, she wasn’t there. I went alone.
Why did you choose to leave where you were worshipping?
I’ve told you how I got to know about him. I told you too, that I didn’t go there out of curiosity. I needed a guide, whom, I believe, I could get from the prophet. That’s why I went.
In what area of your life did you need a guide before you went to him? Was it on marriage, business etc.? What area?
You know, life is full of challenges. As a young lady, I knew God was there. I have a Creator and I know He can guide me into the right path. So, I wouldn’t say business or marriage drove me to him. I just needed someone to guide me into the right path in life.
What were you doing in the secular world before this time?
Should I say as it was then, so it is now? After my secondary school education, at that time, you could get a job in a factory or whatever, hoping to be staffed one day. So after my secondary school education, life was like: today, you are in business; tomorrow, you are in a printing press, and so on. I think the last place I worked before I met him was in Nigerian Distilleries in Ota.
I was going to ask what you trained in because you are so fluent in expression and other things…
(Laughs)
What qualities eventually cemented the relationship between you and Prophet TB Joshua?
As I told you, he is a very honest and humble man. Yes, he is a God fearing man too. I saw a kind-hearted man, a zealous man, a man of one purpose, a man with a sole aim: to please God at all times, with every other thing being secondary. I think those qualities were what cemented our relationship.
Okay, how were you convinced that he was the man that you were going to spend the rest of your life with?
When I woke up that very morning, I never knew. But something in me said: ‘Go to the prophet.’ And when he proposed to me, it was strange, but then, my heart agreed with it instantly.
Did you say ‘Yes’ there and then?
I don’t think I have said yes up till now! (General laughter)
You can say that again. So, from there, one thing led to another and then your marriage or wedding. When did it take place? How many months or years of courtship did you have?
I am not sure that we courted for long. The wedding took place the same year – 1990.
Where did you get married?
In my place (laughs)
Was it a church wedding or traditional wedding?
Both
Let’s have you talk a little about yourself, when you were born and where, about your family and where you come from.
I was born about 40 years ago into a family of seven.
You don’t look it at all…
(Laughs)
What’s your position in the family?
Fifth, my twin brother and I.
Twin brother? Where is he?
He is late.
What a pity.
There’s no problem. I was born to the late Mr and Mrs Nicholas Akabude in the quiet town of Okala Okpuno in Oshimili North local government of Delta State. I started my primary education at St. Emecheta Primary School, Ezi Town, also in Delta State. Years later, I came to Lagos, that was in 1977, and completed my primary education here at Orile Primary School, Oshidi, and my secondary education also in Oshodi. That’s all about my education. But a few years later, my husband sent me to Ghana and I was able to take some management courses there.
So, in what practical ways has your ministry complemented your husband’s? I know you are a minister in The Synagogue. What’s your own ministry? Tell us about your ministry.
It’s the ministry of reconciliation.
In marriage?
In all aspects – parents-children relationships, marriage and things like that. I think they go hand-in-hand with one another. You can’t actually separate them.
How does this ministry complement your husband’s ministry, bearing in mind that he is into a prophetic and healing ministry?
When we talk about reconciliation, you need a lot of time to listen to people, to hear them; they want to bare their minds and a prophet hasn’t got that time, especially after talking for hours. But I do that.
What are the peculiar challenges that face you as Mrs TB Joshua?
Challenges?
Yes, are there challenges that you face?
Life is all about challenges. All those problems and trials, I see them as challenges.
Maybe you are getting used to not seeing him regularly as you would have loved to…
No, no, no. What’s he doing? Whatever it is, he has my support.
Seeing a lot of people and having to minister to them…
That’s good.
You mean it doesn’t affect the home in anyway?
Not at all.
Okay, how come you have kept to yourself for so long, because if this is not your first interview with the press, you’ve granted very negligible few? Or is it that you dislike the press?
Not really. You said very few, not that I have not granted any.
You mean you have not come across any?
I’ve not. I hope this will go very far so that someone else does not come to ask me, you’ve not granted any interview… (general laughter) Actually, like the Bible says, there is a time for everything, and God’s time is the best. Maybe, the time is just ripe for what we are doing now.
That is to say, there is a time to keep to yourself and…
And of course, a time to talk. (general laughter)
So, how do you combine your roles as a minister of God, as a mother, as a wife? And, as a mother too, to the teeming crowd that comes to The SCOAN…
Where God guides, He provides. And those whom God has called for any service, He makes them fit for it. So, there is not much problem about that at all.
People believe that there are a lot of myths surrounding your husband. I’ve been his friend since 1989. I’ve heard people say a lot about him. I’ve seen people publish a lot of things about him, and they are still publishing. When you read or hear things that are not palatable being said about your husband, which ultimately must affect the family – how do you react? Do you feel any bitterness?
Point of correction – it is not affecting my family, and can never affect my family in any way because I know my husband, I know who he believes, and I know who I believe. I don’t have any doubt in my mind and I know that the good work the Lord has started in him, He will accomplish and complete, in Jesus’ Name.
So, you don’t feel any bitterness when people write negative things about your husband?
Not at all. I don’t because I know him very well, and I know the God he serves.
How does his ministry complement yours?
I’ve said before that they are one. You can’t actually separate them. People come around. They want to see the prophet. They want to spend time with him. But he hasn’t got such time. You know, many of them want to bare their minds. You need to listen to them carefully. You need to be with them. So, I took up that. You’ve got it? They actually came for him but along the line, you find out that they want to spend more time with him. That’s where I come in.
How do you help your husband to overcome the gargantuan temptations that come his way every day, because this is a man exposed to thousands of people every day, especially women? How do you help him?
You see, you don’t have any alternatives in life. I can as well tell you that we don’t have alternatives in life. Anything that is contrary to what we stand for or what God sent us for, is what we are going to fight against. I can say that God has been merciful enough, guiding and protecting us in that angle.
The reason I asked that question is because I’ve seen many men of God fall because of women, money, fame and other extraneous things…
You should know what you believe. Did you get that? As I said, you cannot afford to fail. There is no other way. So, you must guard against that. And that’s what we’ve been doing.
Could you tell us, in practical terms, how you’ve been guarding against that?
The Bible says our heart is the communication point. If the fear of God is registered in your heart at any time, if you are doing evil, you must know. And so, you must guard that heart at all times. Anything that is contrary to the will of God, you shouldn’t take part in it.
Kenneth Hagin wrote in his book about how he fights the temptation of women. He said his office and his wife’s office are next to each other, and he said he deliberately made it so. And that at every given time, the two doors are open so that the wife sees the person he is counselling and he also sees the person the wife is counselling, just to make sure he fights and defeats the tendencies of the flesh.
Well, it is God that guides. It is God that protects. How long do you keep on watching over a man? I mean, as I’ve just told you, I can say that I know him (Prophet TB Joshua) very well, and I can tell what he is capable of doing. So, that’s no problem at all. All right?
I was expecting you to tell us what measures you’ve put in place to ensure that your husband doesn’t fall into the temptation of immorality while counselling woman…
I don’t take any other measure than to pray for him.
So, what counsel would you give to ministers’ wives as to how they can help the ministry of their husbands, as to how they can protect and preserve their homes while serving God and humanity?
The counsel is, be the woman that God has made you to be. Don’t measure yourself by yourself and don’t live by other people’s standards. Rest in the place God has for you. Be a good mother to your children and a good wife to your husband, and a woman of faith to humanity. Whatever situation you face in life, God is saying something through it and about it.
If your husband were to be in the secular world, he would be a superstar – because here is somebody who sits here, and presidents, top government officials and important people come from across the globe to see him. Do you have that feeling in you of having been married to a superstar?
All we do here is just absolute grace of God. Everything that happens here is by the grace of God, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. So, we don’t feel anything special because important people are coming. Rather, we appreciate the grace of God upon our lives, upon the church, and we give Him all the glory. So, there is no superstar feeling. If there is any superstar, that superstar is Jesus through whom we can do all things. So, I don’t feel any different from who God says I am. My husband doesn’t feel any different from who God says he is.
Prophet TB Joshua
As I told you, apart from being a prophet, I actually saw what I needed in a man. So, it is not a question of being a prophet. It is about his character, his inner being.
What kind of man did you pray to marry before you met him?
Every woman desires to have a good husband, although appearance is deceptive. But God looks at the heart. I wanted a God-fearing man, an honest man and a kind-hearted man. And those are the qualities that I saw in him.
Over the years, you’ve been to many places. What memories do you have of the places you’ve been to, whether in Nigeria or outside?
Good memories. I’ve been to many places, you are right. After this, I still have something good to talk about them, about the people and what they receive from the Lord. We don’t just to because we want to go. We actually visit places because God wants us to be there. And, when we leave there, there are good things to talk about.
What’s your greatest fear in life?
Fear?
Yes.
I don’t fear anything because I know God is there, and He can handle every situation.
What about embarrassing moments? Every human being does encounter embarrassing moments, things that will just happen and they embarrass you…
Embarrassing moments? Have I ever had any?
So, it has all been smooth?
There have been many challenges. I have said that.
What are these challenges? You’ve not told us.
Good and hard times (laughs)
You mean the wife of Prophet TB Joshua can have hard times too?
Because we are human
A man sought after by presidents, kinds and ministers, by everybody?
Sure, we are human.
Thank you very much.
I thank you, too.
SOURCE: Weekly Spectator,
Bombshell: Revelation Linking IBB To MKO Abiola & Abacha’s Death – Reports
New York [RR] New York—new shocking revelations show that “IBB killed Abiola, Abacha, Idiagbon, Ige and Elewi – Abacha died of spiked viagra – SSS kept Abiola’s sex tape – Abiola kept Samuel Doe’s money in Swiss Bank – Abiola funded 1985 Coup with $10 million – Nigeria might break up soon”, reports say.But RepublicReport was first to report that not only did Babangida kill many innocent people, he sometimes killed double agents that worked for him, he, Babangida is also alleged to be a CIA agent. Reports alleged that IBB also recruited Orji Uzor Kalu as a go between agent for IBB and CIA during 1980s Nicaragua WAR in Latin America when US Congress caught funding to fight US secret wars in Latin America including Nicaragua, Panam, without the approval of the US-Congress.
Reports alleged when funds was caught by US-Congress, CIA turned to drug trafficking and due to chaotic nature of Nigeria political landscape picked & used Nigeria as shipment and supplies conduit for drug trafficking, with funds accrued from the drug-trafficking used to prosecute Nicaragua war and other wars in the 80s.
These and many other reports about alleged IBB-CIA links, is why United States trust Babangida more than Goodluck Jonathan to lead Nigeria come 2011 general election. Indeed, if anything, America would even use ”by any means necessary” to impose IBB, regardless whether 2011 presidential election is free or not, if US have their way.
Nevertheless, with massive publications and increasing publications by other media outfits out there, aggressively exposing so-called strategic interests of the US may force US to stand-down from overtly & overtely backing IBB, but I doubt it. We must brace for an impact, because anything, if not earthquake, something terrible will happen that will change forever the geo-political equation of what is called Nigeria very soon.
Already IBB’s side-kick, Orji Uzor Kalu is a mess at hoem and abroad, with recent death of one Chinwe Masi [Ogbonna] in his US-Mansion with him smuggled out of the US shores, that was widely covered and expository reports electonically mounted telling about his fraudulent and criminal baggage, efficiently and effectively circulated in the US and in the homeland makes OUK and IBB a dead wood but don’t count anything over, until it’s OVER.
Read more…
From the Excerpts we learn that: – IBB killed Abiola, Abacha, Idiagbon, Ige and Elewi – Abacha died of spiked viagra – SSS kept Abiola’s sex tape – Abiola kept Samuel Doe’s money in Swiss Bank – Abiola funded 1985 Coup with $10 million – Nigeria might break up soon
No other journalist in Nigeria would challenge his impressive fearless reportorial style with which he took on the military for a deceptive transition agenda in 1993 Nigeria. The 1988 graduate of Education and Political Science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria threw himself into the thick of the effort to dislodge the military from power.
Long before many of his contemporaries understood the game of deception foisted on his native country Nigeria, by gap-toothed sly by smiling Babangida, husky trimmed Egba Lawyer Ernest Shonekan, and the dark goggled General Sani Abacha, Fayewimo clearly interpreted, investigated and reported how Nigerians had helplessly turned to pawns in a complex political chess manipulation.
He used his media, Razor, to monitor and expose every move of the 14 year Nigerian military dictatorship.
The military was irreverent and extremely stubborn in tormenting Nigerians. Fayewimo was a consistent and dogged nemesis. He used the power of words to expose the stealing and plundering military politicians. He was always publishing their secret and coded foreign accounts containing money stolen from Nigeria.
The military caught him and kidnapped him from exile in neighboring Benin Republic in 1997. He did not see the light of day light until after Abacha’s death. Abacha would not release him even after Pope John Paul II came to Nigeria and entered a plea on his behalf.
Since he left Nigeria in 1999, he has not returned to the country of his birth. As a matter of fact, he said he may never step his foot on Nigerian soil again. But he has done well with himself. An holder of three masters degrees, one in MA Journalism (2004) from University of South Florida at Tampa, another one from State University of New York in Information Science (2006), and yet another from the same University in African History. He is also finishing his PhD in Public Administration and Public Policy even as he has just started another doctoral work in law Juris Doctor (JD). He finds time to practice as an International Consultant, writes a weekly column for pointblanknews.com and has also worked as a journalist with The Informed Constituent of Albany, New York, The Crow’s Nest Newspaper, Florida and The Works Magazine.
This is his first major interview since leaving Nigeria in 1999. When he came to pointblanknews.com’s corporate headquarters in Manhattan, New York last week, he was again his characteristic self. He held nothing back. He confessed the undue favors extended to him by some of the key actors in the Nigerian intrigue. And issued a range of challenges to living Nigerian leaders to speak up on their atrocities and rape of the country.
He was interviewed by POINTBLANKNEWS Managing Editor, OLADIMEJI ABITOGUN.
Excerpts:
You got into student union politics very early. How did that happen?
I was interested in politics immediately I entered the University of Lagos. University of Lagos, as you know, was very unique and strategic in Nigeria, not because of anything, but because of its location close to the government, because Lagos was where the seat of government was then.
So very early during my undergraduate years I was involved in students’ union politics. In 1983, one of my friends, actually I was his campaign manager, Lateef Gbadamosi, became the president of University of Lagos Students’ Union. If you could remember, his secretary-general was late Chris Imodibe who eventually died in Liberia while working at the Guardian as Foreign Correspondent.
Mr. Imodibe was part of our group and it was the first time I met Chief Abiola. It was Gbadamosi who invited him to our campus. He was with us at the Students’ Union Building. From there we went with him to Eni Njoku Buttery he ate with us and addressed us. That was my first time of meeting Chief M.K.O. Abiola in real life. Gbadamosi later graduated and left the University of Lagos. I participated in politics and became the president before I was eventually removed.
What led to your removal and how were you removed?
Well, we had problems. When Abiola learnt that I was preparing to play politics in UNILAG in 1984, he sent for me. But I ran into problems with the administration of the then Vice Chancellor, Prof. Akin Adesola as a result of my principled opposition to some of the policies. I was banned from contesting the presidency of the Students’ Union. I had problems at the University. I almost became a permanent student. It was hot (laughs). So I took a year off. And I went to Abiola’s house and explained my situation.
Were you on suspension or you acted on personal volition?
I was not on suspension. I acted on my own because I was also having some academic problems. Let me just say that I was not in a hurry to graduate. That is why I said it was fun. Well I had an interesting meeting with Chief Abiola who, having listened to me, gave me a letter to the then Deputy Editor of National Concord, Mr. Ismaila Mohammed. That was in 1984. That was how I knew and witnessed the Babangida coup of 1985. You want us to continue from there?
What kind of personality did Chief Abiola project when you first met him?
There were many students. We all surrounded him at the Buttery. Gbadamosi brought him. So many people hated Gbadamosi because there was the erroneous impression that the students’ union was being sold to the government of National Party of Nigeria (NPN) led by Shehu Shagari. Lateef Gbadamosi had gone to congratulate Alhaji Shagari for being re- elected in 1983 shortly before he was removed by the military.
Abiola was a very simple person. He ate with us. He waited in line. Everybody saw him in queue, he was served. He projected a populist personality. He made people laugh. People liked him. That was my first time in his company. He took and shook my hand after I was introduced to him by Lateef Gbadamosi. And that was it.
Nigerians often complain about falling standard of education. I feel it has always been that way. How were things during your time?
I was president of UNILAG Students’ Union from 1985 to 1986. To me, I think Nigerian students can hold their own anywhere in the world. Pointedly, it was General Babangida who spoiled the Nigerian educational heritage. His pathological hatred for any organized opposition made him to move against the educational system. That was why he targeted students’ unionism.
Student union association was not voluntary during our time. So long a student was duly admitted, such a student was made to pay the union fee alongside the university tuition. Students cannot aspire to full leadership training without a rallying point like the union. The cults mushroomed because Babangida sacrificed the union.
Administrators, professors and every other component of university system are in place because students came to school. When students are denied their rights to associate, when the platform for such association, the union is destroyed, something so important for students to agitate for their interests, students become cultists. You are here in the United States; you see how Nigerian students excel. But the Babangida regime was very silly. The man systematically destroyed our schools and he destroyed our heritage as well.
But the man had his argument. He said some professors were “extremists” who were teaching what they were not paid to teach. He felt that unionism was being democratized when students had options of joining or not joining but strictly listen, learn and graduate…
He was only trying to run Nigeria like a military barrack. He could not expect to arrive at a consensus on behalf of 120 million Nigerians. He also could not assume that Nigerians, 120 million, would have consensus on an issue. That is what society is about. What is a university? The university is supposed to mould its products to have questioning minds. That is what the university system is supposed to teach, to develop minds to such a degree where they can question things.
There is no way you proffer solution to the multifarious problems of modern societies if university students do not have questioning minds. So it is mere bunkum. Universities are not supposed to be military academy where ideas have to be regimented and you have to regurgitate what your professors are teaching you. That has been the tradition. All over the world that has been the tradition of the university. Babangida and his cohorts, all these people they never attended a traditional university, so what do you expect?
They wielded out radicals like Patrick Wilmot and Festus Iyayi from what should be a natural environment.
Who should decide what university students are supposed to be taught?
You had met Abiola. You later became the president of the students’ union government of UNILAG. You have not explained what actually led to your removal from office.
There was a contemporary called Panaf (shortened form of Pan Africanism). His real name was Olajide Olakanmi. He was the president of ULSU (University of Lagos Students’ Union) in 1981. Unbeknownst to most students of University of Lagos, he was, and I think till today was an informant for the State Security Service, SSS. He was given some money; most students would not know this that is why I am disclosing this, after almost twenty years. He was parading himself at UNILAG as a radical but he was actually working for the SSS. He first brought some money when I was contesting for the presidency to assist me in order to become, purportedly, the president of the students’ union. They claimed they embezzled some union funds but my budget had not even been passed by the Student Union Senate but every right-thinking person at Unilag at that time knew they orchestrated my removal because Akin Adesola, the VC knew I was too tough for him. That was the whole
truth.
How much?
At that time, it was two thousand naira. Meanwhile, my friend, Lateef Gbadamosi, had warned me about the foggy moves of Panaf. Elsewhere, in some of the places we used to go, we had tips that Panaf had collected money from the SSS. He had assured them that he could influence political events at UNILAG. Things were usually super-charged in those days and the security service were always interested in who should become the leaders in those days. And actually, I was approached after I became president, if I was interested in becoming an operative or informant. And since I was not interested, they demanded to have a nominee from me. I gave them the name of one guy we used to call Tonee. He was my campaign manager.
Was this another payment apart from what Panaf was to pay your campaign?
Panaf had already graduated and he was actually working with UNILAG then. He read integrated social science. He served as president and graduated. Then he went back to the university as a worker. As a matter of fact, Olu Shodimu, the present Registrar of the University of Lagos, was actually a student leader, later worker for the SSS. The point is, at the University of Lagos, if you become a student union leader, the SSS would approach and try to recruit you. So there are many student leaders who the Nigerian masses often take for radicals, even activists out there. They are mostly phonies (laughs). So, Panaf Olajide Olakanmi got the money and used the money to buy himself a Citroën car. Anthony Kayode, whom I had nominated for the SSS job did not get the job because at that point, there were serious disagreements and we were sacked.
How much was involved sir?
Well, I would not know. But Panaf brought to me two thousand naira. And Alozie Ogugbuaja, the then Police Public Relations Officer told Lateef Gbadamosi and I that we used to visit Ogugbuaja, the man who accused the military of always idly drinking pepper soup and had the time to stale cups. He was removed. But because I had the information and I travelled to Bayero University Kano for NANS convention and before I came back, Panaf Olu Sodimu and the students’ union authorities colluded and removed me before I came back from Kano. This was in February 1985. That is exactly what happened.
Would you say if ULSU was an exception or was it the standard practice all over Nigeria for the SSS to aggressively recruit students’ leaders?
Hmn, I think throughout the 80’s down to the time Babangida came after Ahmadu Bello University, ABU crisis of 1986, when students were killed in Kaduna and Babangida set up a panel led by Segun Okeowo and some leaders, up till the time that the Justice Akanbi panel recommended voluntary unionism, I think they felt the need was no longer strong to compromise student leaders. Uptill my time, it was standard practice like I explained UNILAG being the cynosure of all eyes, due to its strategic location, I think that they did that in other universities, Ibadan in particular.
They say NANS president now has escort cars with sirens. Was it also like that in your time?
No. I am sure they are doing that because of politics. That was not the practice. Students’ union officials may be important to them now because of politics. And of course some of these so-called student leaders, there are other things they do now, take university girls and go and give them in Abuja. Things do not happen in Lagos anymore. It is now Abuja. And I read many heart breaking things from Nigerian news papers. But my conclusion, before I left Nigeria ten years ago was that, students’ union is dead in Nigeria.
How did you come to know so much about the August 1985, Babangida coup d’etat?
I had left university of Lagos for one year like I said. I lived in a military barrack, the Ikeja cantonment. I lived there with an uncle and that was when I started working with the Concord. I actually had three people in Ikeja cantonment at that time. I do not want to mention their names because one of them is still in active military service. One is here now in the United States, came originally as a political assylee. The other one has retired. I would not like to mention their names. But I was living with them. The Babangida coup was planned around Ikeja cantonment. I have to tell you this General Muhammadu Buhari, the then Head of State is still alive, he knew it two weeks before the coupists struck. And for the first time, Nigerians should be able to know why Babangida staged the coup, because we have heard so many stories. There have been several guesses all over the place. Of course I am not a coup plotter, but we heard the real truth because we
lived in the barracks.
My senior colleague, Dr. Taiwo Ogunade of City University of New York has been able to also disclose some of these information. Basically, what I want to say is that Chief Abiola was the one who sponsored the Babangida coup in 1985. And the reason Babangida struck was because he had been marked down by Buhari and Idiagbon for drug running. For posterity reasons, all these things should be disclosed to Nigerians. Brigadier Aliyu Mohammed, you have heard of his name. He later became a Lieutenant–General. He was brought back by Babangida to become National Security Adviser, NSA to Obasanjo. This man and Babangida were actually involved in drug running when Babangida was chief of Army Staff to Buhari regime.
Babangida has been amply rewarded as one of the arrowheads of the coup that toppled Alhaji Shehu Shagari.
The other key players in that coup were Late Tunde Idiagbon, Mamman Vatsa and late Brigadier – General Ibrahim Bako. Buhari was brought in as the head of that government as a compromise leader after Bako had been killed in the coup at the presidential palace in Abuja while attempting to arrest Shagari. Idiagbon became Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters for ethnic balancing. Remember? He was a Yoruba from Kwara state. The coup plotters ran into serious problems. Major Jokolo, who became the Emir of Gwandu, was one of them. He threatened them that none of them would leave Dodan Barracks alive after the takeover. Idiagbon had made a broadcast to the nation. That was 31 st of December, 1983. Buhari was then the General Officer commanding in Jos, Plateau State. They were deliberating on who would step into Bako’s shoes. Jokolo insisted…
Point of observation, sir, General Babangida, in an interview with Point Blank News/people’s magazine, said that Brigadier General Bako was never in consideration for the exalted office of Head of State.
Then who were they considering for that position? As usual, the deceptive general said Buhari was the first choice Buhari was never part of the original plotters of the coup.
He said Buhari had always been the first choice. No question. Number two, you said there was an ethnic balancing, but that was not obvious. Buhari/Idiagbon was a moslem/moslem and North/North ticket. Ilorin was in the North.
Remember I was not in the military, I am a civilian. I did not take part in their coup. But you know Ilorin people. When things are robust they claim south. When things twist otherwise, they claim north. The name Tunde Idiagbon, is a Yoruba name, the man wasa moslem. They put him there to look like geo-political balancing. The point is that Buhari was not one of the ring leaders of that coup.
He came in as a compromise candidate. The composition of that government was changed because Bako died at the presidential palace. I was twenty three or twenty four at that time. It wasn’t as if I knew much.
The one I knew very well the coup that Babangida himself planned. The coup was neither motivated by altruistic motive nor by patriotic motive. It was a self survival coup d’etat. That is the point I want to stress. There are different ways coups take place in third world countries. It could be to reject oppression, change a bad direction for a country or to serve patriotic purpose on how a nation should be governed. None of these reasons motivated Babangida to organize his coup.
His career was on the line. He had his back to the wall, because of his activities as a former GOC and as the Chief of Army Staff under Buhari regime.
You should also know that Obasanjo knew and subscribed to the coup that toppled Buhari. Like Babangida, Aliyu Mohammed was also a drug baron that was well known to Buhari and Idiagbon. Aliyu Mohammed was slated for retirement as well. Babangida and Mohammed were both marked down for retirement and possible trial.
Ambassador Mohammed Rafindadi was in charge of the then National Security Organization, NSO, now known as State Security Service, SSS. He, Rafindadi was an uncle to Buhari. When they came into office, a lot of things were going on and they discovered Idiagbon insisted on death penalty for drug pushers. And most of the drug peddlers and international couriers were Babangida’s boys. As a matter of fact, Babangida’s clique introduced drug-running into Nigeria. When Buhari regime uncovered the elaborate entrenched Babangida drug-running network and the rumor of his wife, Maryam’s involvement as well, they penciled him down for retirement. We shall talk about the Gloria Okon connection later.
The Babangida’s removal announcement had been scheduled for October 1, 1985. Babangida knew and staged the coup to pre-empt the calamity of October. They had the coup plans. They wanted to strike in October, but with Babangida’s pending retirement, they quickly brought the date back to August.
After they had agreed, the boys, Abubakar Umar, Abdul Aminu, Lawan Gwadabe and Anthony Ukpo went to Otta to inform Obasanjo that they wanted to remove the Buhari/Idiagbon regime. Any military coup also needed Obasanjo’s clearance. There is no coup in Nigeria, either successful or abortive that Obasanjo does not know of. You know he had this phony organization called African Leadership Forum. It was all a ruse He used that organization for anything but leadership training. He came here to the Council of Foreign Relations to collect the initial money to set up that clandestine organization. Anyway, that was the body they used to plan anti-people policies at Ota including coup planning.
Nzeogu’s coup as well?
I am talking of anything that happened after he became Head of State in 1976. He was even in the know about the coup that killed General Muritala Mohammed.
You mean he knew about the Dimka’s plot?
Yes of course. That was why he left for Abeokuta that day. The CIA has documents in the United States here about this.
But he maintained the face of the avenger of his boss’s death to all of us. Are you accusing Obasanjo of hypocrisy?
Yes. He became the Head of State and checkmated the other plotters. He knew of the 1976 coup. That is why I said he always knows about every coup plot including that of Abacha.
Well maybe because he would have access to intelligence estimates as a former leader of the nation.
We shall talk more about that. So the boys went to him in Otta. They gave him a note to know if he had a candidate in office. He did not want any obvious association, but he gave them the name of his cousin, Onaolapo Soleye who was a lecturer at the Department of Economics at the University of Ibadan to become Buhari’s Minister of Finance. Buhari drifted and his economic policies were harsh. Obasanjo tried to advice him then, they snubbed him. He was annoyed and that was why he said he would never talk to a “deaf regime”. He had a pre-existing axe to grind with the Buhari regime.
So when the IBB boys came to tell him that they wanted to remove Buhari, he asked to know who they had as Buhari’s substitute. They said Babangida. He said o.k.
He said that? Would he not have had intelligence that IBB was a drug baron?
He said o.k. I don’t know what he knew or what he did not know. He gave them his blessings. They told him they had a problem. What was the problem, he asked? They said with Buhari, it would be very easy to topple the government, but with Idiagbon, they did not want to kill anybody. How would they get Idiagbon out of the way? They want Obasanjo to call Idiagbon to lure him to go out of the country to go to Saudi Arabia on Umrah, the lesser Hajj. Obasanjo invited Tunde Idiagbon. Tunde Idiagbon came to Obasanjo’s farm at Otta. It was the first time Idiagbon smiled to journalists. He was always frowning, but he laughed for the first time in Obasanjo’s farm. Obasanjo gave him the bogey advice that it was time for Nigeria to court the economic co-operation of the Saudis and the Middle East, so that the economy of the country could be revived. It was a dummy idea of the Babangida boys to get Tunde Idiagbon out of the way. And when Tunde Idiagbon was
going, they were also afraid of Vatsa, he was in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. Vatsa was asked to go with him on Holy pilgrimage to Mecca. During the Sallah celebration, they took over power. The coup was staged on a Friday. It was at Ikeja cantonment.
The private jet that conveyed Babangida from Lagos to Minna where he went for the Sallah holiday was an Abiola personal aircraft. Abiola had travelled out of Nigeria a week before the coup which took place on 27 th of August, 1985. Abiola had walked into our newsroom at Concord to address all of us in the newsroom and that was where he told us “we should forget about this government”.
Most people did not know what was happening. I was working at Concord and was in the news room when he said it. He said that the government was gone. A week later, the coup was staged and Babangida became the Head of State.
The point I want to make was that the coup was that of a self- survival. It was not patriotically motivated. It had nothing to do with nationalistic agenda. It was selfish and that is why Babangida exhibited the kind of evil reign that we witnessed for eight years. That is the point I want to make. Buhari-Idiagbon came to rescue Nigeria from the destruction of Shehu Shagari. 22 months later, Babangida came not for any reason but for his own survival because he was about to be tried for drug-running.
It is not so obvious to the general public that IBB was a drug dealer. We heard of his wife and Gloria Okon, Dele Giwa’s connection. We do not have any fact of IBB’s direct involvement. How is it hidden from us?
No. It is not hidden. I don’t know why in Nigeria. The press is there, the newspapers are there. It is not hidden at all. All the top journalists are there and nobody is talking now because IBB is still alive. You will see them talking immediately the man is dead. He has interests in virtually all the newspapers. You know what I mean?
Let all these people talk. Segun Osoba, Farouk Mohammed, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Ajibola Ogunsola, Sam Pemu Amuka, Stanley Macebuh, Patrick Dele-Cole, Imeh Umanah, Alex Akinyele, Tony Momoh, Doyin Abiola, Felix Adenaike, Banji Kuroloja, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed, Soji Akinrinnade, Raymond Ekpu. Let all of these people open up. And they all know why Mr. Dele Giwa was killed.
Infact, the story you are talking about that Dele Giwa was killed over, these people, top journalists they have it in Nigeria. If I could have it then, I was the first person to go public with the story in September 1993 before my senior colleague; Dr. Taiwo Ogunade of CUNY now came out to corroborate it. I was the only person through Razor, who came out to stick my neck then.
Sir, that was the story?
It was Babangida who planned the death of Dele Giwa. It was Babangida that killed him. It is very obvious. Senator Florence Ita – Giwa, Dele Giwa’s former wife knew. The one they now call Mama Bakkassi was a girl friend to Aliyu Mohammed, the one I just told you was to be retired with IBB, although he later changed his name to Mohammed Gusau just to deceive Nigerians.
You sure he is the same person?
Oh sure. He is the same person because immediately Babangida became Head of State, Babangida brought him back. Gusau Mohammed was about to be gazetted by the Buhari regime. I just told you why they struck. Babangida left him with Abacha, and Gusau later became a Lt-General. He was the person whom Babangida brought back to become National Security Adviser to Obasanjo. That is why Obasanjo was governing but did not rule and Nigerians did not know for eight years. Every step that Obasanjo wanted to take Aliyu Mohammed Gusau was always there. I mean your national security adviser is your life. Don’t you know? That is why IBB foisted the guy on Obasanjo. There are a lot of things in Nigeria, that Nigerians cannot hear about now until when IBB is dead. That was why he spread his tentacles all over the newspapers. And those whose names I have mentioned are alive…
What is the deal that IBB made with those notable journalists?
Immediately Babangida came into power, he knew that any journalist who was about town had the story. The first thing he did was to make Aliyu Mohammed (Gusau) the Directorate of Military Intelligence man. He surreptitiously was Babangida’s National Security Adviser, NSA. They had to cover their past dirty stuff. The man called all the top journalists in Nigeria, all these names that I have just given you, they assembled at the DMI, there was no DMI before IBB took over. He set up the Directorate of Military Intelligence at Apapa where they took me to under Abacha (Lagos).
So he now called them and said gentlemen, we want to cultivate the friendship of the press. If there is any story that is incriminating, we want to be sharing ideas, let us know. You understand now? You know they have their press briefing, media chat. Exactly. I have told you that there are always two stories in Nigeria: the official story, which they want the people to hear and the unofficial underlying real story that they do not want you and I to know.
Are you saying, sir, that the media is guilty of mediocrity in all of this?
No. I have told you of the institutional problem of media operations and ownership. The guys who are stealing the money are the ones rich enough to set up newspapers in Nigeria. And who will pay the piper would dictate the tune. Look at all the newspapers in Nigeria. Tell me which one is not being bank-rolled by these bad guys. That was why when I set up the Razor, it became a phenomenon in Nigeria, besides being modest. If I had one of the Generals as my chairman, do you think I would be able to publish all those stories? This is the problem in Nigeria. Nigerian newspapers are owned by the same set of people who are causing the problems; they have control over all the newspapers. Tell me which paper, tell me in which paper does Babangida not have shares in Nigeria, by proxy?
After killing Dele Giwa, he told one of his guys, Mike Adenuga, to go acquire shares in Newswatch. Babangida has shares today in Newswatch. Let Ray Ekpu, Soji Akirinnade, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed come out and tell Nigerians. That is why those guys can’t do anything.
Is it Vanguard you want to tell me about? He has shares. Let Amuka come out and deny it. How much did he have when he left Olu Aboderin’s The Punch? VANGUARD was about to die. Are you listening to me? VANGUARD was about to die when Babangida came and injected funds into the place.
O.K. Is it Tony Momoh? IBB knew that Tony Momoh knew about the death of Dele Giwa, he made him Minister of Information. Is it Alex Akinyele? Akinyele was a Director on the Newswatch’s board. He also made Akinyele Minister of Information.That was why IBB said “Oh, I know Nigerians very well”.
What of Guardian? Do you know that the Dasuki family in Sokoto has shares in Guardian? I am telling you that they sit on the board. And you know the closeness of the Dasukis and the Babangidas. How would Guardian write anything? You know the owners, the Ibrus collected contracts from the Babangidas too.
Is it Ajibola Ogunsola of The Punch that would go against Babangida? There is only one news organization in Nigeria that can rattle the government, perhaps, maybe The News.
All of them. Is it The Sun? It just came out through Orji Uzor Kalu. Kalu was also a Babangida boy. The Daily Independent is owned by Ibori. James Ibori was an Abacha goon. He has not spoken up on his connection with the death of Chief Alfred Rewane. Which other one? The Nation owned by Tinubu?
Sir, Tinubu was a democracy crusader…
He said he was (laughs) He was.
You were part of the movement, how sincere was he?
There was no movement really. We were fractured. We shall get to that later. It was a loose coalition of like minds. There was no platform that we really had. Even NADECO (National Democratic Coalition) itself was a contraption. We all just felt there must be a way for us to resist the Abacha INSULT, the dictatorship. We were so disjointed. Everybody had different agenda. There was not concerted effort.
Let us go back a little bit on your allegation that prominent journalists benefitted over the death of Dele Giwa. Investigative journalists like us find it difficult to connect the dots.
What dots?
Yes, it was not so obvious that the letter bomb came from IBB. Gani Fawehinmi and many other theorists said it did come from “C-In-C”, Halilu Akilu, Col. Togun are not talking.
Let me clear that one for you. Buhari wanted to make Dele Giwa Minister of Information. Buhari actually granted his maiden interview to Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu and Yakubu Mohammed for the Concord in February, 1984. In the interview, Buhari said “I would tamper with the press”. That was how Decree No. 4 was promulgated.
After the interview, Buhari made overtures to make Dele Giwa the Minister of Information. Buhari called M.K.O. Abiola and said “I want to make your editor the Minister of Information”, because Dele Giwa was editing Sunday Concord then. M.K.O. Abiola said Dele Giwa would not be interested. That was one of the reasons Dele Giwa left Concord. He was not consulted before Abiola determined his fate.
His fate was determined just like that?
Exactly. Meanwhile Dele Giwa was married to Florence Ita – Giwa. The one who later became a Senator. Ita – Giwa was annoyed that Abiola could not own Dele Giwa’s life even if he was working for him. She wanted him to leave and set up his own. Don’t forget the two, Dele Giwa and Florence Ita had met shortly after Dele returned to Nigeria. They met in Surulere. There was the lady called Ani Okpaku that Dele had separated with. They were in good company with Vera Ifudu. Her other sister was Dora Ifudu at the then NTA. It was Vera who had a birthday celebration party. She invited all the big guys. The late Chris Okolie was there, Sam Amuka – Pemu was there. Florence attended. She had just had a problem, frustration with her former guy here in the U.S. There at the birthday gig she met Dele Giwa and they went home and became so close and that was how they later married.
Dele Giwa only knew of what Abiola did through Florence. Florence was going out with Aliyu Mohammed. Mohammed was the one who told her that Buhari planned to make her husband Minister of Information. Florence was still a lady in town. Several of the top military brass were having a good time with her. She was generous with her endowment around then. Thank you very much, and would then get her contracts. This was one of the reasons Dele Giwa divorced her. They both could be intimate and in the heat of that moment one General or the other would be on the phone with her. Her Husband could be hearing the voice of a General underground. Dele was annoyed. But he bargained for it. They met at a party and went from there into marriage. She would tell Dele to “shut up, I have known these people before I knew you”.
When the parcel bomb that killed Dele was to be delivered, they did not know Dele Giwa’s house. Dele had moved to a new place in Opebi area in the same Ikeja. Abiola had told him to leave after he left Sunday Concord. He had a Mercedes Benz given to him by Abiola. He moved because they now believed so much in their new project, Newswatch. They did not know his new house.
Aliyu Mohammed was the one who volunteered the information that he knew his former wife, Florence. He sent for Florence and when she came, he asked for Dele Giwa’s new residential address. He knew they still saw from time to time though they were no longer married.
She described the new address to them. She pointed her former husband’s address. She did not know that they were after his life, that they wanted to kill him.
She said oh, she normally goes there but that he had moved from Adolphus Davis and that he now lived at Opebi. They said they needed to know the place that was how the babe volunteered the address at Opebi.
The lady knew a lot. That was why Aliyu Mohammed (Gusau) brought her into the strategic position of Presidential Liaison Officer in the National Assembly during Obasanjo’s regime. They were the ones who gave her money to go and contest in Akwa Ibom. Florence Ita – Giwa should speak up. Why has she kept quiet for almost twenty three years?
So this is a challenge for her to speak up?
Yes. I am throwing her that challenge. If the incident I have just narrated is a lie, let her come out and say so. But you see it is the truth. Nigerians must know. She should be able to tell us what happened to her former husband like that. Do you know, she has not granted any interview to anybody?
But she is media savvy. I am surprised she has never spoken about this, if it did happen?
Yes. The press in Nigeria will not ask her such questions (laughs). This is the tragedy of the Nigerian press. They would not ask her. They would be shouting “Mama Bakkassi” with those inconsequential questions. They should be able to ask her “what do you know about the death of your former husband”? “Why, all of a sudden, was she so close to Aliyu Mohammed? She lived far away from her home base. How did she work it and become a Senator? How did she do it and hold the position for eight years? She was in Aso Rock. Obasanjo’s Presidential Liaison Officer, National Security Matters. I have just told you how she got there. It is just to shut her mouth up. Your next question.
You said that the pro-democracy movement was not organized as such, that it was a loose coalition. Could you please explain what you are talking about?
How do I mean?
I need to be educated further, because what Nigerians saw was organized onslaught against the military.
It was an ad-hoc movement. It was an emergency set up. The arrow head was the late Papa Ajasin (Adekunle) Ajasin, who felt the stupidity of the military must be stopped. As a young Nigerian then, that was the only Nigerian that I had seen that had Nigeria’s genuine interest. He loved Nigeria as a nation. That old man was very committed. Very very incorruptible. If there was any Nigerian who lived what they preached, it was that man. He was transparently honest. There are only very few Nigerian politicians who will be placing phone call on the Inland Revenue to demand when his next pension would come. Only very few people would be chairman of a Local Government Area in Nigeria or Governor in a state without a private generating set. He did not have a generator. NEPA would take light and that was it. Baba would call for the candle to be lit. This is not what I read or because we were from the same hometown, I studied him at close range. Several times he
would be sleeping, Abacha would call. He would say that they should tell him he was sleeping. They could not wake him up. That is Baba for you. Remember that he was older than Awolowo.
Yes, he was born in 1908 and Awolowo was born in 1909.
It was Baba and Abraham Adesanya who championed the cause of NADECO. When I met Pa Adesanya in Obalende in 1994, before I left Nigeria, I told him once Abacha got one or two of you guys, that would have been the end. The people who were really committed were Ajasin, Adesanya, Dan Suleiman. The other guys who we are praising today, I don’t know where they belong because I would disclose to you today that Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade they are talking about, some of them I don’t know how committed they are. My picture that was taken and sent from prison to Alani Akinrinade in London eventually landed on Abacha’s desk. How that happened, how the photograph got back to Abacha, he never knew.
So you think there was a mole in the house?
That’s right. There were some photographs I took in detention insideAlagbon Prison with Major Kosoko, we were planning to send them to CNN or BBC and I sent them to Mrs. Alice Ukoko-Ugono, a Nigerian-Briton attorney in London, under diplomatic cover. Mrs. Sugono, you would recall was the founder of Women In Nigeria International, WIN, Women International of Nigeria, WIN, in London. That woman really played a great role that was heroic. There were lots of people who championed this June 12 struggle in Nigeria and we never hear of them. They were outside the country and they fought brilliantly.
She braved all odds and came to Nigeria. The pictures were smuggled to her. And she took the pictures to Lt. Gen Alani Akinrinnade. I was shocked when they showed me the photographs when I was eventually captured and kidnapped. How did the photograph that was sent to London under diplomatic cover get to Abacha and his agents? The woman told me that the only one who had custody of the pictures was Alani Akinrinnade. He was the only one they said asked to just see the picture. Well if Akinrinnade is reading this, because I am sure he must be back in Nigeria…
He was at Alausa Democracy fiesta.
That is why I am saying this. Most of these people… By the time I got to Ghana and I called Tokunbo Afikuyomi in Radio Kudirat. He was my colleague at UNILAG. I called him and I asked him what was happening, his excuse was incoherent. That is why I am saying openly now, everybody was just fighting here and there. The only movement that was solid was NALICON that was set up by Prof. Wole Soyinka.
Was that one formidable?
Oh yes, it was. The movement added fillip and energy to our struggle back home, otherwise Abacha wanted to crush all of us. It was a coalition of disparaged ideological minds.
But the story was that Senator Tinubu, who later became governor of Lagos State, did make limitless funds available for the struggle. How true is that?
Yes. Bola Tinubu was an individual. You asked me for a movement. There were more other individuals too like Prof. Banjo who used their resources. But was there any movement? There was no movement. Tinubu made some financial contributions. Other people also did. He was close to Abiola. He accompanied Abiola to Abacha’s office where they discussed that Abacha should stay for six months. And when Abacha reneged, that was how Tinubu ran away from Nigeria.
Was that deal not like a dinner with the devil?
But Abacha told them. He gave them the impression that he would stabilize the place and bring up Abiola. It was a charade.
Was Abiola naïve or he was acting in the best interest of the country?
Not an issue of naiveté. Abiola was trusting. He was an unorganized and indisciplined person, because of money. I mean for someone to live that kind of life. Can you compare between Abiola and Awolowo for instance? Abiola wasn’t organized. He wasn’t a disciplined man. But he was very trusting. We are talking of politics and power.
Do you think he was ever transformed by the betrayals of June 12?
We never knew and we would never know if he had Survived his incarceration. Prison has a way of bringing one’s real character.
How about his tenacity?
Tenacity has nothing to do with discipline. One becomes disciplined while alive.
You had your reservations about his life and you still had your weight and skills behind him?
It was a systemic change. If Obama’s election was annulled because he was black, that would have been the end of America. It is not about personality. A lot of presidential candidates came and were banned before him, nobody fought for them because there was no general election.
When did you choose to abandon intellectual war for armed struggle?
You should understand that many people died because of Babangida’s wickedness. Do you know the kind of pains Babangida inflicted on Nigerians? It appears that the man would go scot free. It should not have happened in any civilized society. That was why I left Nigeria. The annulment of June 12, we may be pretending now that things are ok.
Is that not like taking an extreme position on a matter that appears settled?
We are talking about June 12 now. Your children, mine and their children’s children would talk about the gross injustice. We may be pretending now that let us move forward, things are o.k. Things would never be o.k. in Nigeria. I know that there are forces at work, but the point is that Abiola won on June 12. It would have been alright even if they removed him after a day, one month or ten years in office. But that a man would just wake because he was military general and peremptorily annul an election, because he was a Military General, when the results were everywhere.
At what point in the debacle did you decide to float Razor?
I never knew there was going to be an annulment. What was certain was that Babangida was not ready to go. Because the election was held on 12 th of June, 1993, by March Babangida was dissolving parastatals and constituting boards and memberships. I told my colleagues in Daily Times like Bunmi Aborishade and others that the man would not go anywhere. Six months to that election, the man should have started his farewell tour. Anyone with a sense of history would see it on the horizon that this man would not go anywhere. What was the point of changing officials if he had to go in three or four months? He even made Abiola the Chairman of Nigerian Export Import Bank NEXIM. And I said what is this man IBB, doing?
I never thought of June 12. Razor was a child of circumstances.
Your publication became completely engrossed in that agitation. Didn’t you go beyond normal reportorial routine? You almost became a politician. Why that choice?
Things were abnormal. The role of the media extends beyond gate-keeping or merely informing, educating or entertaining the people. What I saw and discovered was that in any military regime, the press do not only have to become adversarial, we also have to play advocacy role. And that was what happened at that time. There were no democratic institutions. The military pocketed the country. There was no voice of dissent. Newspapers should not have to be a gate keeper only, but to go beyond the normal role of the press in any civilized society. Be advocates. That was how I saw it. We had no access to guns. We could not stage a coup. The only weapon was to wield our pen and fight.
I think the Razor and other militant publications at that time played a militant role.
You actually did more than that. Your connection with Professor Segun Banjo…
Well, you see…
Why the option of arms?
I subscribed to that notion at that time that the way Abacha was going, the man wasn’t interested in dialogue and something needed to be done. Concerning the role of the press in informing, the soul of Nigeria was at stake. I just felt that the monopoly of the military to ammunitions should be broken. There were other colleagues who felt that we would all be crushed if we stayed inside Nigeria.
We had some U.S. based professionals who would form the Peoples Liberation Army of Nigeria, PLAN. The arrangement was afoot. It was said that they were ready to help Nigeria. They would support us to go inside the bush and fight Abacha.
First and foremost, it was not planned well.
Secondly, he wanted to turn it into an exclusive movement. And besides, there was no thorough home work. Choosing Benin Republic to me was the first faulty step. Cotonou was more or less the twenty-second State of Nigeria. I mean that it was reasonable to think of bringing arms and ammunition into Nigeria and say the people should train. But where were they going to train them? There was no political contact. No link whatsoever with those who were fighting inside Nigeria. It was more or less like a one – man show.
You don’t organize a movement like a one man show.
Were you able to point out these weaknesses to him?
We had an argument in Cotonou. I said, because left to me, he has not acknowledged that I had his life and that of his wife in my palm for almost forty-eight hours. The Nigerian government, through S. Adoli the Nigerian ambassador to Republic of Benin, was ready to offer me money to betray them. And I said no.
They should not have used Cotonou or anywhere near Nigeria. These were people who had been out of Africa for a long time. They should have done their home work before importing arms and ammunition. People should have been waiting on the ground for them. Uganda should have been a place of preference. Even I could not make the mistake of choosing a place like Ghana. Ghana, Niger, Chad, Cameroon are too close for comfort to train and want to fight in Nigeria.
The man should have chosen elsewhere. It looked like the man did not have enough money. I read an interview in The Nation in Nigeria, that the man is broke. If he can come to the U.S., there is money waiting for him. He should use this occasion to know that he could contact me through you guys.
You mean there is some money waiting for him here?
Yes. For Prof. Segun Banjo and his wife Ngozika
Do you think he spent up to $4m on the struggle?
I can’t affirm or deny.
I did not see the cache of arm. But at the same time, I would not deny it. I don’t know.
Did your recruitment involve voodoo initiations?
Not necessarily voodoo. When we got to Ghana, there was the suggestion. They were suggesting that kind of stuff, for the purpose of trust and all that. I laughed, because we were not talking of General Ukunda kind of warfare in Congo. I am a Christian. I don’t need to take any concoction or voodoo. I said I would not be involved in that kind of a thing. Many were ready to do the initiation. The struggle is my life and I don’t need to go through any nonsense to be able to prove that.
The Nation said you were arrested because you had assisted the man to plan an escape. What is your story?
I was not arrested. I was kidnapped. I had been invited to Alagbon. I made up my mind after an encounter with Zakari and later Nuhu Ribadu. It was my first time of meeting him. Zakari Biu used my arrest to get Fred Ajudua. They had the idea that Ajudua was the one who was sponsoring me. Ajudua contributed to my…. I want to say it openly today that no matter what anybody may say about 419, no matter your grouse with Ajudua, the man contributed so much to the struggle.
People did not know. There are 419 in America. I don’t want to go into that one. But that man, Zakari Biu raided our office and saw some documents showing correspondence with Ajudua. Ajudua was having a quarrel with Coomasie, the then Deputy Inspector General of Police, D I-G, and Aliyu Atta, the Inspector – General of Police was a friend to Ajudua.
The man never had any respect for Ibrahim Coomasie. Coomasie stepped up after Atta had retired. Then they began to spotlight my closeness to Ajudua. They saw some documents. Ajudua was on my board. Zakari used that connection to go to Ibrahim Coomasie and that was why they arrested Ajudua.
There was the rumor in Nigeria, that I gave up Ajudua. No. They saw my correspondence with Ajudua when they raided my office, that was why they went after him.
When I left Nigeria, it was with my family from Nigeria. When I got in touch with Benin Republic, it was too close to Nigeria. There was nothing we could do. The best thing was for us to stay in Ghana until we had a country that could give us reception. Then we could continue there. But because Nigerian Security guys had already infiltrated Benin Republic, Banjo’s life was in danger. I just put my life on the line and I said I was not going to betray him. What you should know was that I was so concerned with my family, that I wrote a letter to the Beninois government concerning the activities of Mrs. Naryse Fontus. She was the Chief Protection Officer of United Nations High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR). That woman was on the payroll of the Abacha government. We had it on authority that Abacha was sleeping with the woman whenever he was in Cotonou.
Going to UNHCR was like going back to ones death because the woman would virtually betray you. So we knew. She was the one who, however, paid. She gave me money to get Segun Banjo out of Benin Republic. I had photocopies of the money she gave me. So I wrote to the Beninois government on her activities.
I told my family that the letter should be released if anything happened to me. It was that letter that saved me from being killed.
There were lots of people who showed interest in the Nigerian problem at that time. I would not deny, I would not confirm. I would not know. Maybe yes. Maybe it was exaggerated. I don’t know. I don’t know if he spent close to $4m. But on the issue of voodoo and initiation, I told him we were not running Alice Lakwema the LORD’S Resistance Army of Uganda (laughs). You know what I mean. Not the rebel army of Congo. We are educated people. If the struggle is my life, I don’t need to be used. I don’t need to take any concoction. I do not compromise my Christian fundamentals. I said I would not be involved in that kind of a thing. Many people were ready to do the thing. Even some who did not believe in my struggle, just wanted to be initiated voodooist.
It was said you travelled to Ghana with the man (Banjo) and that the reason you were arrested by the DMI was because you enabled and smuggled him to escape.
I was first arrested by FIIB, Alagbon. Zakari Biu effected my arrest to get Fred Ajudua. Biu had that idea that Ajudua was the one who was bankrolling me. Remember Ajudua contributed. No matter your grouse concerning 419 with Ajudua, that man was one of the Nigerians who were committed to the struggle. There are 419 people in the American system as well. I don’t want to go into that now. Zakari Biu ordered a raid on our office. He saw some documents between Ajudua and I which was a strong link of Ajudua with me. Remember, Ajudua was not having a good relationship with Coomasie. Aliyu Atta was a friend to Ajudua. Ajudua had no respect for Coomasie.
It was after the retirement of Atta, that Coomasie went after Ajudua. And somehow, Ajudua was connected with me. Ajudua was a director of our board. Zakari used that to demonstrate to Coomasie that the document must be used to nail Ajudua and that was why they arrested him. I want to use this forum to clear the air of the wrong information in Nigeria that I gave up Ajudua. No. It was our correspondence that they saw when they raided my office that led to his arrest. I did not give him up.
How was Ajudua your boss?
I said he was on my board. He was a member of the board of directors of my company, Razor. I also knew he gave lots of money to several pro-democracy people and leaders. Unfortunately, they have not treated him well.
So what actually happened? How and why were you arrested?
I took my family out of Nigeria. Cotonou was the first stop point. But meeting the Banjos, I knew that Cotonou was not safe. Benin Republic was very close to Nigeria. There was not much we could do. It was better for us to stay in Ghana, maybe we could eventually get a country to give us reception, the struggle would continue from there. Nigerian Security guys had already infiltrated Cotonou and they wanted to take Banjo out (kill him). I put my life on the line that I was not going to betray them. But what you should know was that I was so concerned with the safety of my family that I wrote a letter to the Beninois authorities concerning the activities of UNHCR.
I had detailed the activities of the woman, and I gave a copy of the letter to my former wife. The UNHCR boss was the one who gave me the money with which I took Banjo to Ghana. I made photocopies of the currency notes. The letter I had given to my wife on the woman’s activities became the reason why I was not killed immediately I got to DMI.
That is the story I want to tell you today. When they saw that letter, they were fooled that I could not be working with Banjo and still had a document alleging inappropriate things against the woman. Remember we heard the woman was a girlfriend of Abacha’s and that she was on the payroll of the Nigerian government then.
I was taken to Nigeria on Saturday February 15. I was kidnapped at 10 p.m. Friday February 14, 1997. On Saturday, February 15, 1997, when I got to DMI, Apapa and they were interrogating me, that letter was brought out. It was that letter that saved me when Mustapha, Omenka and all of them arrived to interrogate me. I was grilled for twelve hours. That letter that I wrote in which I said I did not cause the escape of Professor and Mrs. Banjo, and that it was the UNHCR woman that did it, that was what saved my life.
So they asked me “why did you leave Nigeria?” I said because I could not practice anything. “Did you go to join PLAN?” I said “No”. “But you said it in your paper that there was only one way to remove Abacha, and that was through Armed Struggle. So did you go to Benin Republic to give effect to what you wrote two months ago?” I kept quiet.
So they produced the letter. I had written it in English and I got a professor friend of mine at the University of Benin in Cotonouto translate it into French. Very good French. I had a copy in English. They produced it. When they read it there, they started looking at themselves. And I said this letter confirmed that I wasn’t a member of PLAN. I was very diplomatic otherwise…
But in actual fact you were a member of PLAN.
I have just told you now that I wasn’t a member because of some of the things that I disagreed with Banjo over. The idea of voodoo. There was no meticulous plan. Why smuggle arms and ammunition through Benin Republic? Only a fool and tactless person would do that. Benin is just an annex of Nigeria. Why not go to Senegal. Even to Gambia. Why not go to Congo. Or Sudan, the largest country in Africa where one could be in an enclave and no one would know. I just don’t know. PLAN was not planned well.
And I told Prof. Banjo. But that doesn’t mean that I should betray them, because they offered me money. S. Adoli, the Nigerian Ambassador sent emissaries to me that if I betrayed Banjo they would pay me, and I said no way.
How much were they offering sir?
Well, I don’t know and I did not care to know.
Were they non- specific?
No. It was that letter that I wrote. The woman left Benin Republic within 24 hours. She just vamoosed. And I found out that she is in Kenya now. They were after her life because she was collecting money from the Nigerian government. I told you that Abacha was allegedly sleeping with her. She was telling them that I was the one who caused the escape of Banjo.
I did not need to argue for myself, the letter that I wrote nailed her. I did not submit the letter to President Mathew Kerekou, it was just a back-up plan. I knew that they would come for me. They were so desperate. God inspired me to write that letter and I sold them a dummy. When Omenka and Al Mustapha saw the letter they said that it was the woman they were paying who betrayed them and not me. That was why I was not killed that night.
But they still went ahead to torture you, in spite of that?
Yes. But torture is different from killing.
I want to know what the holding cell looked like.
It was a gulag. Rodents co-habit with humans. Once you entered the place, you can’t know your way out. It was a real dungeon. An underground tunnel. I was there by myself. When I got here, to the U.S., I was still having flashbacks and nightmares. It was a harrowing experience. I’m o.k. now. It was not a pleasant experience. (Voice increasingly became pensive) I was there for two years. I was quarantined. I did not have any contact with any human being. I was thinking that they did not want to shoot me but knew a civilian would not survive the place because that was the same place they kept late Gen. Mamman Vatsa.They just wanted me to die somehow and that my body would be collected and that would be it.
Understand that one of my cousins was one of those who interrogated me. They did not know. He is still in the system. He pretended that he did not know me. That was the cousin with whom I lived when Babangida took over power. He did not torture me. He pretended that he did not know me.
So you did actually drive Professor Banjo to Ghana?
I did not drive him. I ordered a cab for them. I took them to a hotel. It was a non-descript hotel. Nobody knew that they were there. The UNHCR guy wanted me to take them out at night. I made up my mind that I would take them out in broad day light.
The Nigerian Security people didn’t know that they could come out in the afternoon. Bad things happen at night. They were waiting for them at night. We got to Benin Togo border at 11 a.m. The Nigerian goons were there from 12 midnight to 6 a.m. I hired the taxi like any other passenger. I did it through my United Nations Card.
They stopped us at the border, I flashed my card and I said I was taking U.N. Official to Ghana, they waved us on. And then I returned.
Were you indeed suspended, hanged downwards to roast gradually on a burning stove while at DMI dungeon? Was it that bad?
(Laugh) It borders on exaggeration. You know I said it in my column. It was exaggerated.
You mean that never happened?
Well, I wasn’t tortured to that level. All that fire thing, no, no.
You were only released after Abacha died?
Remember there was a fight at DMI. They were not coordinated. Sabo was the second in command to… There was a lady military officer that used to come to me at night. We were exchanging information. She could not have access to my place. She was the one who went to Bamaiyi to tell him about my case.
Remember Alima Asuku from Kogi state, a girlfriend of Abacha’s was there. She had four children for Abacha. The lady was from Okene. She was detained with us. She was very nice. She was nice to me.
Ishaya Bamaiyi was the only military officer who visited me in the underground tunnel after my case had been presented to him by the lady military officer. We spoke. Bamaiyi thought that if Abacha died, he would step into Abacha’s shoes. God had shown me that Abacha would die.
Did you tell him that?
Yes. The message was open. I told the lady as well. Omenka and all of them heard me when I said that Abacha was going to die. I started saying it in 1997. Almost a year before Abacha died. It was an open thing.
And it was not as if you had any clandestine plan with anybody?
No. Just a vision from God.
When you said that to the military intelligence people, did they accuse you of treasonable felony?
They thought I was crazy. They asked if it was going to be through a coup. I said I don’t know but that the man was going to die. And it happened like that. And I made up my mind. From there, we knew they were going to bring… Up till today, Nigerians do not know how Abacha and Abiola died and how they arranged for Obasanjo to become the President. I shall now place that information and the dots to connect it all at your disposal. It was Babangida and the northern oligarchy that planned it all. Obasanjo is just an Uncle Tom. The slave in the house. He is not in the inner caucus of anything. He is a cannon fodder.
You don’t see the names of those Hausa Fulanis who rule Nigeria on the pages of Nigerian newspapers. They do not speak Hausa. They speak Fulfulde. They speak the language of the Fulani. They traced their lineage to Othman (or Usman) Dan Fodio. They are sworn to rule Nigeria from the North until they deep their Koran inside the (ocean) and make all Nigerians to become Moslems. They are still active inside Nigeria today.
Most Yorubas, Urhobo, Edo, Ibos, Deltas, Ijaws, Efik, Ibibio and Nothern Minorities do not know what is happening. There is internal colonialism going on in Nigeria. All the talk of Adamawa, Sokoto, Bauchi is rubbish. There is only one Hausa-Fulani oligarchy.
That is why people much resist the attempt at making our children second class citizens in that country. Awolowo saw it very early in the life of the Republic. Abiola saw it too. When you have your own money, you will have a voice. The only person that they have even been able to buy over is Obasanjo. He is their errand boy.
But Obasanjo would argue to the contrary, sir.
It doesn’t matter. It is like saying there is no God. It does not remove the fact. You wake up in the morning; you see His creation, the sun and daylight…
Nigerians in my generation think we should stay inside one nation and engineer a good political culture.
For eight years that Obasanjo governed, he could not do anything. All these things you are hearing from me, if we were in Nigeria, no newspapers would carry it. This idea of Babangida’s past was what Bola Ige had when he became Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. He had all the papers on Babangida and his gang. He was coming to the U.S. to expose him and they had to kill him. Did you know that?
Not exactly. So you are saying that was why he was assassinated?
Yes. Obasanjo knows this fact. Let him speak up. He said it himself that Bola Ige did not know his left from his right. These are some of the dirty things that they needed to perpetuate. That was why Babangida brought Aliyu Mohammed (Gusau) back. The story could not come out now in Nigerian papers. It is when the man dies that Nigerian journalists would be pretending to be investigating.
Are you saying that Nigerian journalists are lazy?
The so-called Nigerian mainstream media has always been like that. That is why Babangida always says “I know Nigerians”. He has spread his tentacles and has bought into all of them.
We know credible Nigerians like Professor Wole Soyinka and even leaders from the North are talking about these things.
Why are they not saying it openly? Prof Soyinka, I respect. He has international clout, but he had one or two things to do with Babangida. Although his intentions were pure, Babangida granted him some favors in order to later arm string him and shut him up.
Do you know what those one or two things are sir?
Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi was one of Wole Soyinka’s lieutenants. Ogunbiyi’s job was on the line at the Guardian. I worked in the Guardian then. His appointment was terminated. He approached Alex Ibru that Ogunbiyi should be retained and nothing was done. He was annoyed. So Soyinka approached Babangida. And that was how Dr. Ogunbiyi became the Managing Director of Daily Times. Ogunbiyi eventually gave me a job at the Daily Times. I am confessing that. Ogunbiyi went to Daily Times and made his money. Babangida knows how to apply rude squeeze. Soyinka does not owe him anything. At least he did not collect anything directly from Babangida. I know that alright. But like I said when you do me a favor, you could expect something in return.
Even in the death of Dele Giwa, Prof. Soyinka and Dr. Ogunbiyi would have known. Remember that Ogunbiyi was the Master of Ceremony at the funeral of Dele Giwa. And he was the Director of Publicity at the Guardian.
Sully Abu, Stanley Macebuh, Andy Akporugo, Ogunbiyi were all close to Dele Giwa. They knew why IBB killed their friend. Nobody wants to talk. They are all still alive. That’s why I am talking from the U.S. now. This is a challenge to them.
Andy Akporugo is dead. Segun Osoba is still alive. They should come out and tell Nigerians what they know. They know why Babangida killed Dele Giwa. They all had the story that Dele Giwa had. But they can’t publish it. And I was the only one who published it. That is the truth.
Let us go back a little bit. The lady, Gloria Okon, identified as a drug courier for IBB and his wife, who was she? Is she still alive or not?
Well Dr. Taiwo Ogunade, like I said, my colleague, has already told us the whole story. What else would you want me to add?
What did he say?
He said that Gloria Okon is still alive and that she changed her name and lives in London.
You want to challenge her to come into the open and say what she knows?
Well, Dr. Ogunade said it and nobody has contradicted him. I am waiting for the day Babangida will come into the U.S. He goes everywhere and he doesn’t come here. His wife did, but we want him to come and then we shall dock him…
But he can argue that his situation is about subverting civil governance and not about being a drug baron or a murderer?
Let him come here and that issue would be … Do you know how many people he killed? Idiagbon is dead. But Buhari is still alive. He should speak up. He knows why his government was toppled. I challenge him to come out and speak out about why he was toppled.
I disagree with you on how you trump Buhari as honest and all that. He was in Abacha’s government. He served as Head of Petroleum Trust Fund. Idiagbon’s son also served with him. They were part of the looting gang…
You see, among thieves, there is honor. Tell me who doesn’t steal in Nigeria. When I say I respect him, Local Government Chairmen, they all steal. But you cannot compare between how Buhari would steal with Abacha’s voracious hunger for money, power, women and all of that. In the company of thieves, there is always a little bit of honor.
Like Babangida and Abacha, these are sophisticated highway armed robbers. They are rapacious looters. Their level of corruption you cannot compare with that of Buhari. That is what I am saying. Abacha, Obasanjo, Babangida are international highway robbers.
You can’t redeem Obasanjo and Babangida.
How did your family cope during your incarceration?
I have acknowledged my gratitude to a lot of people. Dr. kayode Fayemi, Prof. Wole Soyinka, people in the pro–democracy fold. People in Republic of Benin – especially the Yoruba speaking area. The West African Journalists Association, my friend, Bunmi Aborishade, Mr. Amikal Kabrah in Ghana,… Reporters Without Borders, Committee for the Protection of Journalists.
You haven’t gone back to Nigeria since you came in 1999.
Yes. And I am never going to go back. I am a U.S. citizen forever.
But you can be told that your struggle has culminated in democratic rule?
No. Which democracy in which Babangida still rules by proxy? In which David Mark who once said that telephone is not for the poor is leading the senate? Mark who stole the telecommunications sector dry is ruling again in our time. You say that is democracy? You know Muktar, one of the Babangida boys is now at the NSA. The same set of deceptive characters is ruling.
Which democracy? The one in which election results are ready before people go to cast their votes?
What should we do to earn the respect of the world?
There is no leadership in Nigeria. It is an organized chaotic place. The followership should push for complete reorganization of the country. Northerners demonstrated on June 12 that they cannot release people from servitude voluntarily. They are still in control. I don’t know why we suffer from collective amnesia. Everybody is suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD). They merely brought Obasanjo to assuage the injustice. Obasanjo was governing but he was not in power. He thanked them for the eight years they gave to him and they said “thank you boy”. That’s all they did (laughs).
If you own a house, you go into any room. You tell your tenants where they have as their own place. You don’t jump anyhow. They collected the keys from Obasanjo. That’s what they did. The Southerners are tenants in Nigeria, the Northerners are the landlords.
So they gave it to Obasanjo, supposedly on behalf of the Yorubas because of the death of Abiola. And then everybody started shouting and said eh! Look at the man who midwife the so-called democracy. Abdulsalami Abubakar, it was Babangida who planted him there. He wanted to retire, Babangida said don’t leave, you will still do one thing for me (laughs). And then Babangida called all the Generals and said they no longer needed to stage coup anymore.
We know who they would want to give power to because results were ready even before elections. That’s because the media is owned by the big guys. Most of the guys in the media are hungry. How much do they pay them? Once you lose your job that’s it. You saw how Godwin Agthey treated Godwin Agbroko. No insurance, nothing. Your family would just suffer. It is just struggle for survival in Nigeria, that’s all.
How many Nigerian newspaper houses have insurance for their workers? Is there any culture of insurance ever in Nigeria? The question is that how many of the journalists are even being paid what they are worth? Everybody is just doing it to put food on the table. Take your children to the school. Everybody is in survival mode. So which media? That’s why they carry same headline all the time (laughs).
Do they even have the money to look for stories? That is why they have myriads of awards. “Governor of the Year”. It’s all rubbish (Laughs). How many of them have the money to investigate stories? Is it Compass that is owned by Gbenga Daniel? People are suffering. Unless you are in government, you have to steal. It is that bad.
That is why I asked why my friend Dr. Fayemi should go and stay in Nigeria. There is no newspaper in Nigeria. Look at the way you guys are serializing the Biography of M.K.O. Abiola. I issued the challenge to Nigerian newspapers to serialize it free. None of them has been able to take up the challenge. Nigeria is a failure. That is why I am one hundred percent behind the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND). I don’t hide it. That is what we need in Nigeria. Until the landlord/tenant relationship between the north and south stops, the problem would continue. The North wants to corner power for life, that is not a nation, even if it happens like that in America, people will fight. You remember how the blacks rejected slavery here.
MEND may be accused of anarchy and brigandage…
No. The brigands are in Abuja. Those leaders in Abuja are the brigands. MEND is what Nigeria deserves. Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable. Should you and I be outside Nigeria if we have good leaders and good governance? If not for divine intervention do you know what Abacha was planning for Nigeria? When I published it that Abacha had stolen three billion were they not calling Razor junk publication?
All the stories that we are just hearing now, do you know that I carried them almost twenty years ago, while the so-called mainstream press were blackmailing me that my stories were junk. If Abacha did not die, would we have known that he coveted 7 billion out of Nigeria? That was a man who spent just five years. Do you know how much Babangida stole in eight years? Do you know how much Obasanjo stole in eight years? Plus the one he stole when he first came? How much were they paying him in the military that could make him own that Otta farm? So we know those who were stealing in Nigeria.
Just give me the opportunity and I would release the list of Nigerians and how much they own in their foreign accounts. When I published it in Razor in 1994, were they not blackmailing me?
All those stories that later came out at Oputa Panel in Nigeria, I was the first to publish them.
This disclosure after years of the fire-bombing of Dele Giwa, I was the only one who carried it in Nigeria. The so called established press, even his friends and partners were scared to touch it. They only wanted money to take care of their families. None of them could come out to say “ah why? Why did you have to kill our colleague?” The worst that could happen would be to go into exile. Must they practice in Nigeria? But because of money. And Babangida had the audacity to go to Newswatch and buy shares and they allowed him. That is how you know that most of Nigerian journalists are stupid. They cannot fight for anything. They are only interested in money. That’s all. There is no one who is interested in honest leadership in Nigeria.
Why would you consider it fair to pin all the mis-governance on Hausa/Fulani area. You know other individuals from other tribes and parts of Nigeria are guilty as well…
People who are students of history, especially those who have studied the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy, if you have read a book by J.F.A. Ade – Ajayi, Africa in the Nineteenth Century, it is about the history, explained the history of Hausa State, talks of the arrival of one Baya Jida from the Middle East who married the Queen of Daura. I think from the present Katsina State.
And between them they had seven Hausa sons who are called the Banza Bakwai. And then there were seven other illegitimate sons of same man. The seven illegitimate sons later formed the fourteen Hausa States. Daura, Katsina, Zau Zau (Zaria), Kano, Rano and Biram, Gwandu
The Fulanis arrived in the Northern area and conquered the Hausas. Hausas and Fulani had historically been separate people. I studied African History at the graduate level and learned from respectable and unbiased professors; the best in the field. It is important that people understand this story, and eventually, the Fulani legitimized their power over the Hausas and imposed their religion and ways of life on the Hausas. Historically, Hausas were not Moslems; their religion was what they called Maigazuya or Maigazurra kind of religion. This comprised magic, witchcraft and all the rest, mixed with Islam. The Fulanis came and emasculated the Hausas, changed their religion and even their ways of life. Today, these Fulanis who speak Fulfude are in Northern Nigeria. They became Hausa-Fulani and are determined to turn Nigeria into an Islamic enclave. This is the war that Chief Obafemi Awolowo fought to resist; we are still fighting it today in Nigeria.
People do not know what is happening and that is why I said those who are ruling Nigeria, who are destroying that nation, you can count them, a handful of them. What they do is that they believe that political, religious and economic powers in Nigeria belong to them. They see others as second-class citizens, they are full of hubris. The way they operate is to plant Emirs in even non-Moslem and non-Hausa-Fulani towns and villages. Can you believe that Lafia in Nassarawa State with just a handful of Hausa-Fulani should be governed by an Emir? I served in Ilorin, Kwara State during my NYSC and could count the number of Hausa-Fulani resident in that city yet they are ruled by an Emir.
While we, in the South are running after money, not yet able to put our acts together, these people have perfected how they are going to rule Nigeria forever. Yorubas, Ibos,Ibibios, Efik, Benin, Kalabaris, Itshekiri and the rest in the South should wake up otherwise our children and grandchildren will curse us in our graves after we have gone. They will ask just as my children are asking me now in America; Daddy, what did you do? Are you just watching?. There is discrimination in Nigeria to the level that since the 1960’s no person outside the Hausa – Fulani oligarchy has ruled Nigeria. The two periods under southern leadership was more or less accidental.
The death, the assassination of Muritala Mohammed paved the way for Obasanjo to rule in the 1976 and after a democratically acclaimed election was held in 1993, the only person who could represent the genuine aspirations of Nigerians, M.K.O. Abiola was stopped by the oligarchy. They brought their man, Olusegun Obasanjo, to rule again. Between 1976-1979, Obasanjo was not even ruling; the power really was in the hands of the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, the elder brother of the one there now; Umaru. The late General Olufemi Olutoye once narrated a story in his autobiography where he said, immediately Obasanjo was sworn into office in 1976 following Muritala Muhammed’s death, he came to Doddan Barracks and explained the situation of other ethnic tribes to him in federal appointments and the need to redress anomaly. He left after his discussions with Obasanjo and few hours later, Obasanjo set for him. The late Gen. Musa Yar’Adua, the then Chuef
of Staff Supreme Headquarters was already waiting and in the latter’s presence, Obasanjo asked him to repeat what he had just said few hours earlier. He, Olutoye repeated what he told Obasanjo. The following morning, Olutoye’s retirement was announced on the FRCN. It was so bad in the 1970s down till the 1990s that some Southerners in the Nigerian Military had to change their names to Mohammed, Umaru and even converted into Islam to get promotion. I knew those Southerners who left the Nigerian Army out of frustration because of this nonsense. The fact of the matter is there is no Nigerian Army, what we have is Northern Nigerian Army. We cannot continue like this as a people, Southerners must assert their legitimate rights in their own fatherland or we go our separate ways, period.
Do you know I have more rights as a Nigerian-American here in the United States than my native land Nigeria?
So look at Nigerian history, by next year, we shall be fifty years old as a nation. No non-Northerner has always earned a genuine mandate for the aspirations of our people. They control the military; this is the reality, the internal colonization of the country that I am talking about.
The southerners must sit down and organize and say that it is either they are accepted as equals or everybody must go his own way.
What is the real legitimate reason for the annulment of June 12 elections? What do you know in view of the fact that some people claim IBB had intelligence, almost incontrovertible that Abiola was a CIA operative?
Some analysts say Babangida was pressurized, this and that, in annulling that election. That was hogwash. A person, a rogue, a coup plotter like Babangida, a former drug baron like Babangida, could not be pushed by anybody. They even said what they wanted you journalists to believe that some officers in the military put a gun to his head. That did not happen. Which officer could do that so that he could annul the election? These are the rubbish they are feeding Nigerians. It is so sad that those who called themselves leaders appear on television and lie barefaced to Nigerians and we believe them. These are not men and women of honor, I tell you. They lie, they steal and they kill. Since 1960, the act of governance, administration has always been in secrecy. There are two stories to every government decision and policy in Nigeria as I have pointed out to you. Two levels of information exist in Nigeria, to create a façade and avoid public
scrutiny. Political actors give us two stories, the official story and the unofficial story. And the Nigerian press goes with the official story. They are part and parcel of the official. That organized conspiracy was elevated to official pastime during the disastrous years called the IBB years. You know they always appeared on television or during their media chats with these ludicrous epithets; “We do not run our government on the pages of newspapers.” Remember?
Even the so-called Obasanjo “elected government, you hear them telling Nigerians “oh this government is not run on the pages of newspapers”.
Why should government not be run on the pages of newspapers? In a democracy? That is why you will know that there are two versions of stories. The truth, which only few people would be privy to are the official stories that they use the media to push out to the Nigerian Public. That was what happened on June 12.
We all know that June 12 is the ultimate culmination of the 1985 coup of survival which Babangida staged for self – preservation.
Let us be frank, the man did not want to leave the place. He was coming out with the idea of diarchy. He sent people like Mukoro Tony Nyiam to study the idea in Egypt, Santiago in Chile, and an admixture of civilian and military leadership. That was what the man was planning until Abiola decided to contest. Of course you know the story of how Abiola emerged as the candidate of the then Social Democratic Party S.D.P. Abiola was able to emerge as the presidential flag bearer as the SDP in Jos as late Major – General Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua discovered that, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe was pealing away votes from Atiku Abubakar for Abiola.
The forces of Atiku and Abiola teamed up and worked for Abiola’s victory. What they did was that six people met at the residence of Ambassador Yaya Kwade on Ibrahim Taiwo Avenue in Jos, M.K.O. Abiola, his first son, Kola, Dr. Jonathan Zwingina (later became a senator), Major General Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua himself, Atiku Abubakar and Yaya Kwande. And they agreed, and Abiola himself appended his signature that the forces of Atiku Abubakar will co-operate and that when Abiola emerged as the flag bearer that he would make Atiku Abubakar his running mate. Abiola agreed. He became the flag bearer of the SDP.
While they were there, because we have to be frank, it was not actually a primary, for those of us who were there, Abiola bought the ticket, because of his money power. Where Ambassador Kingibe was spending N500, N2, 000 to buy delegates, Abiola upped the stakes to N10, 000, N20, 000 per delegate. Unknown to Abiola, Babangida’s agents were filming everything live. They captured everything on tape. For example, Abiola gave N10m cash to Lamidi Adedibu. And the late Adedibu was captured on tape with wads of Naira notes shouting to Oyo State delegates “Eyin ara Ibadan, Owo Abiola ti de”, meaning “Folks from Ibadan, Abiola’s cash has landed” (laughs) openly. You know the man was a political jobber, half-illiterate. And suddenly, delegates for Atiku and Kingibe moved and switched to Abiola. Abiola instructed Kola to increase the stakes to N20, 000 against N500 from the others. It was cash and carry for Abiola. They were all caught on tape
and that was the tape that Babangida sent to the State Department here in the United States to justify the annulment among other reasons
So all the trips to Abuja where he allegedly accused Abiola of operating for CIA….
No. He did not even give that reason. It was his crony, Sani Abacha, I am coming back to that issue, and it was Obasanjo who prompted Sani Abacha to stage the November 24, 1993 coup.
There were basically three reasons Babangida annulled the election.
First, the man didn’t just want to go. He wanted diarchy. That was why Olumilua, Adeleke, Ebri, Osoba, Otedola ruled with him for two years.
Secondly, there were deep – seated animosities between him and Abiola. Most Nigerians do not want to hear this that the money kept in Abiola’s account through an arrangement brokered by Babangida was one of the reasons that caused the problem. And of course when Maryam Babangida went to Beijing in China, there were reports that Abiola slept with the woman, which no one knew. Whether it was a lie, it was going to be a lie. These were the personal reasons. Babangida’s personal self entrenchment and the betrayal of each other over Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe’s money.
Doe was looking for where to keep the money he had stolen from the Liberian economy. He was looking for a place to keep the money for his wife Nancy and his children. So he approached Babangida. And Babangida told him “hey, I’m president here and I don’t want to put the money in my account. We have a friend who we can use”.
That was how he suggested Abiola and of course, Abiola had investment in Liberia. So the money was paid into Abiola’s Swiss Account.
After Doe died, Nancy, his wife came all the way from London to Nigeria. No Nigerian newspaper, most editors knew, but did not want to carry it. None of them could carry the story, the plan was for…. Babangida had suggested to Doe to go on exile at the thick of the Liberian war. He felt he could go to Saudi Arabia. The late Idi Amin also came to Nigeria and stayed in Sheraton Hotel during that period. Idi Amin called and advised Doe not to go on exile, that with timing, the war may eventually favor Doe. Idi Amin was the one who told him not to go on exile.
The Saudi authorities were ready to take Doe. As it eventually turned out, Doe was killed by Yormie Johnson’s soldiers. So his family, Doe’s families were now in need and they came to Nigeria to ask for what their bread winner had kept for them. Babangida welcomed them, and then he sent for Abiola. Abiola replied that, well the money was paid into the late Simbiat Abiola, his first wife’s account. And that he wasn’t the person holding that account, that it was Kola Abiola and that Babangida should call his first son, Kola. So Babangida felt insulted that this was a friend of both of them who was in need so that he could take care of his family and Abiola was saying all those kind of things. You know how I was able to authenticate the story? Through the late Shehu Musa Yar ‘Adua, because Chris Mamman, who eventually became Chief Press Secretary to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar took me to General Yar’ Adua’s office in Victoria
Island. Nancy Doe, the wife of late Samuel Doe of Liberia is in London, you guys should track her down for an interview. Nigerian newspapers don’t have the resources in the first place to pursue that kind of story and secondly, no editor in Nigeria will dare venture to publish such a story. I told you that Babangida has corrupted virtually all of them either directly or indirectly. It’s just so bad that most editors are on the payroll of the SSS while some are moles in the newsroom. Some editors have to be looking over their shoulders when they are planning stories because you just don’t know who would betray you to the soldiers in power. I doubt whether that culture has changed much. As I have said, we have the finest and the best journalists in the world but the institutional obstacles in media houses are formidable. Nigerian Journalists are poorly paid, there is no insurance and the tools are not there for them to work.
Was Mr. Mamman there during this conversation?
Yes. It was General Yar’ Adua who gave us the story. And he also said it that when Abiola ran into trouble, that he said, that he, Yar’ Adua had warned Abiola that “are you sure”, he was telling Chris Mamman that he told Abiola “are you sure that our friend Ibrahim was ready to leave?” That was what he said he asked him when he wanted to run for the presidency. “I wanted to be president too, the man banned me. Are you sure you would not be banned?” That even if you win the election, are you sure that Babangida was ready to go?” All that with the Doe offer…” and Abiola assured him that he too had done a lot of favors for Babangida in the past, he was the one who gave him money when he struck in 1985, that the two of them had extended favors to each other, and that he did not see a reason why Babangida would not want him to succeed him. This was from the mouth of Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua in the presence of Chris Mamman. But
most newspapers would not carry this story in Nigeria.
Babangida had been saying that Abiola would not last more than sixty days, ninety days. No soldier, no person put any gun on his head.
Have you met Babangida in person before?
I wouldn’t say that I met him one on one. The first time I saw him was in 1985, while I worked with Concord. One of Abiola’s wives had a baby and they were having the naming ceremony. Virtually all the top editors of Concord titles were in Abiola’s house that night at Moshood Abiola crescent at Ikeja; that was the first time I saw Babangida afar. In fact it was at that ceremony, the naming ceremony, that the details of the August 27, 1985 coup were fine tuned. That was where they planned everything. That was where Abiola released the money for the boys…
How much?
Ten million U.S. dollars cash. They wanted money. Babangida and his boys never knew whether the coup would succeed or not. And they needed money. There was no other safe meeting point were Babangida and Abiola would have a conversation. Rafindadi, the National Security Organization, NSO’s boss, had already bugged Babangida’s telephone lines. They used the innocent child’s naming ceremony as a cover – up. Duro Onabule was there that day. I think it was Ebenezer Obey that entertained, there were lots of musicians. I think Sikiru Ayinde Barrister also played that night. So while guests were in front of Abiola’s house, the military guys who came with Babangida, Abubakar Umar and the others retired to the back of Abiola’s house. It was in that place that they struck. They had chosen October 1 st, 1985 as I told you before but acted faster. Buhari is still alive; he should confirm or deny what I am saying… They knew the details. I
am issuing that challenge. Up till today Buhari has not spoken on why he was toppled. He should speak out. Top editors can corroborate what I am telling you now. They know it. May be they’re waiting for Babangida to die and then they would come out with their “exclusive.”
You promised me you would reveal the story behind Abacha’s coup and how and the way he died.
Oh yes. Not only that, let me also tell you how Abiola died. When Babangida was chased out, his tail between his legs, or whatever he chose to call it, “stepping aside”, he had lost the initiative, right? They put up the contraption called ING (Interim National Government). He knew that his friend, the Chief of Army Staff and the Defense Minister, Sani Abacha would stage the coup. There were some young Army Officers led by Col. Bello Fadile, who wanted to stage a coup, to pre-empt Abacha’s take over. Those guys went to Ota farm to inform Obasanjo. Are you listening to me? Those guys were between the ranks of majors and colonels. They were young guys who wanted to stage a coup and remove Shonekan. We don’t know whether they were planning to revalidate June 12. They went to Obasanjo at Ota Farm, Ogun State to tell him and when they left, Obasanjo wrote a personal letter to Abacha. When Obasanjo saw that the boys, he knew they were
radicals. He knew that if those guys succeeded in their coup, there would be a lot of things that would happen in Nigeria which he did not like. So he wrote a personal letter to Abacha to do something about it. And that was more or less a coded way of telling Abacha to stage a coup. It was that letter that Abacha used to rope Obasanjo into the coup saga later on when Obasanjo snubbed Abacha. That letter got him in jail.
Abacha had also sworn to have his day against Obasanjo for spiting him by declining a ride in the presidential plane with him to Mandela’s inauguration in South Africa. He invited Obasanjo for a ride. Obasanjo said he would not be going. When Abacha staged his own coup in November 17, 1993 because of the personal letter of instigation from Obasanjo, Obasanjo refused the presidential ride. When Abacha got to South Africa, he saw Obasanjo and he said “ha ha”. When he came back, he had this attitude like Idi Amin that “if you are not my friend, you must be my enemy. And if you are my enemy, you must die”. (Laughs) So he got the message that this guy was trying to avoid him and that was why he did not ride with him to South Africa. That Obasanjo’s snobbery was what landed him in trouble. He was double-dealing. Consulted for Abacha in secret and avoided and distanced himself in public. For Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, he got into trouble for
sponsoring a motion calling for return-to-civil rule in 1998 at the so-called Constitutional Conference set up by Abacha. He went to the NUJ Lighthouse to address a press conference and later that day, as Abacha’s hit men were after him, he jetted out of the country to Saudi Arabia. Three weeks later when he returned to Nigeria, Abacha ordered he should be picked up and you know the rest of the story.
So, how did Abacha die?
Remember there are two story lines to events in Nigeria. The official one that they dish out to you journalists which they use to hide the real truth, and the unofficial one which is the real thing but which would not be published in the newspapers. That is the real story which is usually unofficial. It still happens today. Remember how they desperately denied your story that Yar’ Adua was sick? You see that the man still looks very sickly. You cannot rely on government spokesmen or their ubiquitous press releases.
They want Nigerians and the international community to think that Abacha died in the hands of two Indian prostitutes. It is a lie. I was kidnapped and kept by the Directorate of Military Intelligence, DMI, at that time. You know being detained by DMI allows one has a peep into the real happenings in Nigeria. That is the secret of government. The DMI is where most intelligence stories come out.
This is the way Abacha died. Abacha was eliminated by the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy. There were three reasons why they took him out. When he came into power and removed the ING and refused to revalidate June 12 election, the Northerners were happy. While he was clamping the NADECO people and was hounding most of us in the radical media and threatened to destroy and kill people in Lagos, the oligarchy and followers were happy and cheering him.
But when Abacha decided to attack Yar’ Adua by administering toxic injection on him and the man was killed inside Abakaliki prison, killing the head of the Kaduna Mafia like that, the Northerners now knew too late that Abacha was not fighting for the oligarchy. It was the death of Musa Yar’ Adua that opened their eyes; that this so called Abacha had a personal agenda.
You know they were hiding his real identity. They were shielding his background that he was not originally from Nigeria. He was not Hausa/Fulani. He was Kanuri. They were not part of the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy. Although he adopted Kano as his home town he was originally from Chad. His family migrated from Chad. There are many of them in the North who joined the military at that time. There is no serious journalist in Nigeria who has been able to trace this guy’s background at least to three of four generations. If you go to Owo or Akure today, at least I would know the Abitogun family. Right. I would be able to tell the world that your great grandfather was a king of Ijebu – Owo… Nobody has been able to do that concerning the Abachas. In Nigeria, nobody is interested in all these kinds of things.
So the man…
Have you done that yourself?
That is why I am telling you that the man was not a Nigerian. If a child’s father died… I lost my father early in life, but when you hear, you know that there are only two Fayemiwos in Yoruba land. One family in Ilesha and our own in Owo. And then the Ogedengbe Yoruba intra tribal war happened, and was displaced.
But in the case of this man, Abacha was not a Nigerian. The Nigerian army was anything goes. When Yar’ Adua was killed by Abacha’s agent, if there was any godfather of the Hausa/Fulani, it was Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua. He was the head of the Kaduna Mafia. He was instrumental in advancing and placing many Northerners in the civil service. The current president Umaru and the former Chief of Supreme Headquarters, Shehu, were both born by the same man, Musa Yar’ Adua who was the first Minister of Lagos during Balewa regime under the Northern People’s Congress Government.
Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua was the only Nigerian Military officer promoted from a colonel to major general. He was never a brigadier.
The man was powerful and killing him because of political differences was an eye opener. And they said Abacha himself must go.
Abacha was planning to achieve three things by October 1, 1998. He was planning to remove the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, because Ado Bayero did not come to Aso Rock to commiserate with him over the death of Ibrahim Abacha, his controversial first son who died in the plane crash. That was another story on its own.
Abacha wrote it down.
Secondly, he was to move and arrest Babangida on October 1, 1998, as he would have been sworn in as civilian president. Babangida was to join Obasanjo and Abiola in prison.
Thirdly, he was planning to remove Abubakar Abdul Salam as Minister of Defense. These were the three things on his list of things to do. He wrote it down and it was on his table.
The people leaked out the information. His Chief Security Officer, CSO, Major Hamzat Al – Mustapha saw the information and went to Kano to leak the information to Ado Bayero. Brigadier Sabo who was in DMI came to Abuja to brief Abacha and he saw the information. Abacha had excused himself in the middle of a discussion with Sabo. He looked at what Abacha wrote down that Babangida would be arrested on October 1, 1998. Sabo was afraid. It was Babangida who helped him into his position. Immediately, he left Aso Rock Presidential Villa, in Abjua, Sabo went to Babangida in Minna and told him what Abacha was planning to do. So the mafia went to work. The mafia and Babangida pulled resources together. They made up their mind that Abacha must be removed as early as January 1998. They were planning how to remove him. Babangida knew him very well that he loved women.
So that man did not die in the hands of two Indian women. That was a lie. It was a Nigerian who was used. His estranged girlfriend. Babangida and Abacha did not talk; they were not on speaking terms in the last two years of the regime. I knew that as far back as 1996, Babangida and Abacha were not on speaking terms. So when Sabo took the story to Minna, that this was what Abacha was planning, to arrest Babangida before October 1 st, Babangida and the oligarchy teamed up, a coalition of forces. They knew that if they had acted earlier, that Diya would likely become the Head of State, so they waited and removed Diya, who was pro Abiola first before striking against Abacha. Do you understand the story of Nigeria now? They knew Diya was pro June 12 and they had to frame him up and discredit him thoroughly so that he could not succeed Abacha…
Are you saying that Al – Mustapha’s tale about Diya’s cowardice was more baloney?
Al – Mustapha spoke within the limits of what was immediately open and obvious to him. He himself did not know the complexity of the situation of what we are talking about. Mustapha who came from Kano only knew that Abacha wanted to remove his Emir and told the Emir, so that, perhaps that one could initiate reconciliation. Babangida knew Abacha very well.
There were no two Indian prostitutes. They found the old girlfriend of Abacha and they gave her spiked Viagra.
Following the script crafted by Babangida, the lady went to Jeremiah Timbuktu Useni and told him that she wanted to settle the lingering squabble with her boyfriend, Abacha. Useni brought the girl and genuinely thought she actually came to make up with Abacha.
He took her to Abacha’s guest house, and from what I gathered, the lady was probably a friend to Useni’s daughter. Useni has a daughter; his first daughter, Hadiza who graduated from the University of Jos and she was a friend to Abacha’s girlfriend that the Babangida group used. Useni may not be aware that the lady and his first daughter Hadiza were friends. These guys are dirty, I tell you. They sleep with their friends’ wives and their daughters. And you can understand Abacha’s sexual escapades if you have read Dr. Taiwo Ogunade’s interview. Usually by one or two pm, Abacha would have left the office. The man would just go to his guest house and then the easy virtue ladies would be taking a queue. The man had high libido. So when Jerry Useni brought this lady, she apologized, and she made up with Abacha. So Abacha said it has been a long time they did it and that he wanted to do it from the anus. Abacha liked sodomizing his women.
Then the lady said if he wanted to do it that way and for her to enjoy it, Abacha needed to use Viagra. Are you following me now? It was the lady who gave Abacha Viagra. These are stories that no Nigerian newspapers would publish but had relied on Abdusalam Abubakar version.
May be they don’t know about it?
I don’t know what is wrong with them. It is an international story, but they won’t publish this kind of story. Besides, if anyone gave it to them, they would be afraid and lamentably, they don’t have the resources to investigate. They would give you the official story that is the story everybody would run away with “oh two Indian prostitutes”. Where are the Indian ladies? It’s all rubbish. So once you are given spiked Viagra, you can’t survive it. Immediately Abacha started jerking, the lady just vamoosed. The security details came and wondered what was happening. Abacha died before 12 midnight. They brought him to Aso Rock around 11 pm. They didn’t know what to do.
Meanwhile, Useni had gone home after delivering the lethal lady to Abacha. He had gone his way after delivering the cargo. The man did not know what happened. He too was a useless man. He’s alive. Let him corroborate what I am saying.
Jeremiah Useni is still alive. Let him tell Nigerians what happened that night. No Indian prostitutes. Nothing happened. Abacha died in the evening. We heard about his death very early in DMI. The three guys who would have been president were Omenka, (please emphasize this place) Abubakar Abdulsalami would not have been Head of State. Al – Mustapha, Omenka and Sabo were the three guys. They would have seized power. Abacha actually died inside his private car in the guest house. He was foaming. He was very loose during that period. He was always moving about in unmarked 504 without any security detail. You would think he was an ordinary person in the tainted glass car. He was very loose. The Peoples Liberation Army of Nigeria was able to tail his movement in Abuja. They knew where the man was going; they knew everything that was happening. Of course, Prof. Banjo can corroborate what I am saying. The man was very loose and not very
security conscious, even at night.
When his remains were brought to Aso Rock, Al – Mustapha completely took charge. He allowed Sabo and Omenka to come in around one or two a.m.
Babangida called from Minna, because he knew what he had done, the call was so coincidental because Mrs. Maryam Abacha took the call, not knowing what had transpired, broke the news to Babangida. And Babangida landed at Aso Rock that night. And Babangida took over Aso Rock. He was the one who allowed Abubakar Abdulsalami inside the Dome. Abubakar Abdulsalam was completely oblivious of what had happened to Abacha. Babangida entered Ask Rock before Abubakar. Omenka is in Brazil with his wife, you guys should call him and let’s see if he will talk. Al-Mustapha is in detention and I hope the young man will regain his freedom so he can talk.
In the hierarchy of military seniority, Useni should have become Head of State immediately Abacha died but be was not allowed in until around 7 a.m. He wanted to come in but Babangida said he should be disallowed. Maryam Abacha was annoyed with Useni, because she saw him as the enabler, who was teaching her husband all the bad things. Useni was really loose when it came to women. Useni did not know what was happening. He came to Aso Rock with the mind to enter, Babangida was inside. So it was Babangida who now proclaimed Abubakar the new ruler.
Babangida had told Abdulsalami few months earlier not to retire because he still had one more thing to do for him (Babangida), in other words, I’m going to “remove Abacha, remove Diya and I would bring you in”. That was how Abubakar Abdulsalami became head of state.
Is there a way to know this Abacha’s alleged girl friend?
I don’t know. There are lots of mysteries happening in that country. There is no Indian prostitute. Women are so many in Nigeria, that Abacha would least think of any expatriate prostitute. You too should think about it. No Indian prostitute (laughs). They had already made up their mind that this was the story they want to sell us.
The same thing about Abiola, Babangida knew that if Abiola survived, Abiola would possibly put him on trial. Abiola would have tried Babangida. Babangida could have been killed or put in prison. Immediately after Abacha’s death, they made up their mind that they had to kill Abiola. That is why Babangida is infecting a lot of people. So after his death only few people would be able to talk. If I were to be in Nigeria, I would not be able to say all this but I would probably have published it anyway. The man has done a lot of damage to that country. I am telling you, a lot of people have died in the hands of IBB. He is trying to cover it all up. Do you know how Gen. Tunde Idiagbon died? Obasanjo called Idiagbon in Ilorin and hinted that he was considering him as new Chief of Army Staff in 1999 immediately he was sworn in. Babangida advised against it and his Man Friday, Aliyu Muhammad Gusau objected against it. Obasanjo was hell bent and
invited Idiagbon to Aso Rock. The poor man was served the same tea Abiola was served and Idiagbon returned to his home at Adeleye Crescent in Ilorin. About 21 days later, the man died; no sickness, no headache, no illness. Babangida was afraid of Idiagbon becoming COAS under Obasanjo. Throughout the time Idiagbon was in detention after they were toppled in 1985, in all the letters he wrote to his wife in Ilorin from detention, his pleading was that his wife should not fly aircraft or travel out because some people were planning to put hard drugs in her luggage in order to blackmail her. When I was serving in the NYSC, I lived in the next street to Idiagbon’s house and I used to visit the family regularly after leaving Gen. David Jemibewon’s house on Umar Audi Road, G.R.A. along Take Road, Ilorin.
It was because Bola Ige wanted to expose Babangida’s drug activities that they killed him. The man was coming here to take up appointment at the United Nations and he had some files with him incriminating Babangida and some of his cocaine boys but you see, they had to use Deoba Omisore as a cover. Obasanjo himself was cautious during the 8-years he was in Aso Rock, I am sure he looked the other way and that was why he castigated Bola Ige that the man didn’t know his right from his left. In other words, Bola Ige was naïve, you know, Obasanjo is a survivalist, a very wily and dubious man. He knows how to dine with the devil and come out unscathed.
They also killed Haruna Elewi, the former Minister for State for Communications. They used him to bring the boys who killed Bola Ige, because he knew Bola Ige’s house. They killed Bola Ige and removed the file. And after accomplishing their objective, they also got rid of Elewi. They killed Haruna Elewi himself.
Why didn’t Nigerian journalists hear of Justice Ubahomu Commission of Enquiry? Did you hear of it? That was the commission Buhari set up to try drug pushers. Immediately Babangida staged his coup, we heard no more of the commission. There are stories in Nigeria; there are lots of cover ups. Babangida scrapped the commission. And I don’t know if the man is still alive. A lot of people died to cover him up. He was there for eight years, and he is still covering up. Maybe when he is dead all these things that I am telling you, would be blown open. When I was publishing Razor in Nigeria, all those stories of Justice Chukwudifu Oputa panel, I had already published them and were not new. They described them as junk when we were publishing them. But all the stories have been confirmed.
How was your detention experience in Alagbon before you escaped to Benin Republic?
There were the other people I was detained with, Dr. Wale Babalakin, Dr. Femi Adekanye of defunct Commerce Bank, Ralph Osayemeh, Polycarp Nwite, Duro Emmanuel, Machan Zoaka, Chuma Nzeribe, Chief Femi Ajayi, Mr. Arigbe, Hasan Sani Kotagora, Kola Abiola. I was the one who gave Kola a mattress to sleep when they brought him to Alagbon. Kola Abioa was a very useless guy, very stupid, an ingrate. I was the secretary-general of Alagbon Detainees Association at FIIB, Alagbon, Bisket, Bisi Okeowo, then Bisi Shaba now Mrs Dan Musa and the late Kudirat Abiola.
Mrs Kudirat Abiola told me to watch out for her when she was brought to FIIB. She said “Ah Moshood, this is where they kept you?” “Why didn’t you send your wife to me?” And I said “auntie I don’t want to disturb you”. She gave me some inside stories too when I was publishing Razor. I would come to her house and I was always sending my wife to her, my former wife.
Besides what we have heard and read, what was the real reason Abacha ordered her assassination?
When Abiola was arrested and taken to Abuja in 1995, Abiola requested that he wanted one of his wives to come and cook for him for the Ramadan fast and he made the proposition to Abacha in the spirit of Islamic brotherhood and Abacha said “ok, which one would you want?” And Abiola said Kudirat Olayinka. So Abacha said fine.
So they gave Kudirat the message from Abacha to tell Abiola to drop his mandate. Kudirat herself told me that she replied to them that she would try to convince Abiola. Are you following me? She said she went there, cooked for Abiola and of course they had sex. You know what the security guys did; they captured everything on tape, ok?
After 1995 when the Ramadan fast was over, Kudirat left Abuja and returned to Lagos. The journalists were after her. What happened? Instead of her to say that she had access to Abiola and that things were being worked out between Abacha and Abiola just as agreed with Abacha, the woman was her principled self. And Abacha was expecting her to say that Abiola had renounced his mandate, the woman said no and told us that the man was committed to his mandate more than any other thing.
Abacha got mad that this was not the agreement. So he now sent words to Kudirat to apologize for all press interviews. He wanted Kudirat to apologize to him for what she said to journalists. Abacha called the late Oba Oyebade Lipede, the then Alake of Egba. Abacha instructed the Oba to personally bring Kudirat to Aso Rock to apologize for the public disgrace. Haven’t you seen the Nigerian constitution? A monarch virtually has no power. A Local Government Chairman can remove a king. So Abacha was so audacious and wanted Alake of Egba to do a police job. They had no power under Abacha. Abacha arrogated absolute power to himself. That is why he was able to steal. If you became an ordinary governor in Nigeria, you would never be poor. There were no check and balances. Very lawless.
So Alake now sent for Kudirat to come to Abeokuta and when she got to the palace, Alake now told her that this is what Abacha said “you have caused problem again oh, Abacha said I must bring you to Aso Rock”.
Kudirat said “over my dead body. I would prefer to die than going to see him to apologize”.
Oba Lipede relayed the message back to Abacha. Abacha now sent words back to Kudirat through Oba Lipede that was what she would get… that she would die. This is the story as Kudirat told me during the few minutes we were able to talk in Alagbon.
She was planning to go to Canada on exile. I met the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria; Dr. Gerald Olsen before I left Nigeria. Olsen was one big guy like this. I asked what he felt the Canadian High Commission could do for me and it was the man who gave me a note to the Canadian High Commission in Ghana, that there was nothing they could do from Lagos that I should look at the pathetic case of Kudirat. She came the same way I came, expressed her fears that she feared for Abacha’s plan to kill her. Olsen said Canada was willing to risk her relations with Nigeria to help her out because she was afraid of what happened between her and Abacha. The man has since been posted away from Nigeria. Dr. Gerald Olsen. She came to see him a week before she was killed. He was telling me that I had to first escape from Nigeria to get any assistance. He gave me a note to their office in Ghana.
Hassan Sani Kotagora was generally believed to be a hate theorist for the cabal and the oligarchy. How did he end up being detained with you?
Thank you very much. There were several Igbos too. Several bankers were clamped into jail thinking they were the ones giving us money. What Abacha was doing to the South was what Hitler did to the Jews. He thought they were funneling money to us in the trenches. I told you that Abacha and Babangida had that animosity in the last two years of the administration. I got to know in Alagbon while I was there.
Hassan Sanni Kotagora owed some money, about N76m. He was arrested for owing that much. Some Northern leaders intervened on his behalf, Abacha refused saying he had to cough out what he owed.
So the leaders were now sent to Babangida to assist in talking to Abacha. And Babangida allegedly said he had not been talking to Abacha and that he would prefer to pay the money. He sent the check and the money was paid. And that was the ransom for Hassan Sanni Kotagora’s release. He did their dirty job and that still did not save him from their anger.
That is the tragedy.
Now to current events; do you think President Obama will ever visit Nigeria?
What are you and I here for? You think we’ll be watching? Why am I in Chicago? Both in his first and second terms, Obama will never go to Nigeria. Are you even sure there will be a country called Nigeria by 2016 when Obama would have finished his second term?
Why did you say so? What will happen?
You wait and see. Events will happen at such a dizzying speed that Nigerians themselves will be so shocked and surprised that they won’t believe what is happening. Let me tell you, a nation doesn’t fall and disintegrate at once, it first begins to crack and all of a sudden, it’s no more. Leave through history and review how nations fell and eventually disintegrated. Those who are still holding Nigeria together as a nation are not more than a handful, praying for that nation; Adeboye, Ukpai, Okonkwo, Oritsejafor, Akinola, Abiara, Makinde, Oyedepo and others. That is why that country is still intact; I am talking to you spiritually now. That grace will soon be removed and you wait and see.
Do you mean the Niger Delta crisis? You think it will not be contained?
A more deadly crisis is in the offing, in fact, there will soon be series of crises that those who are milking Nigeria will be taken aback. That country will soon divide, mark my words. I want you to go and note this interview. It shan’t be long.
Are you saying there is nothing that can be done to reposition Nigeria?
Not in the current situation, not the way the few cabal destroying that country is burring its head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich pretending all is well. The nucleus and life wire of Nigeria is oil; very soon, that spigot won’t pump oil any more. Meanwhile, people in the Western world will not need oil anymore. You live here in the United States and you know what I am talking about. Nigeria is not the giant of Africa. I don’t know where we got this funny idea from, at best, Nigeria is a big for nothing country. If population is what a nation needs to become a world leader, China and India should have been world leaders. Nigeria swaggers on the world stage as the giant of Africa because oil is a powerful tool in international political power equation. Those days will soon be over and by the time the leaders have nothing to steal any more, the party will soon be over. If those curmudgeons in Nigeria have senses, they should read and read the
speech President Obama delivered in Accra, Ghana last week.
Do you think General Ibrahim Babangida will ever be brought to book?
As long as he stays in Nigeria, fly to Monaco where most of his loot is hidden and Switzerland. But we are waiting for him in America. All the houses he and Abacha and their cronies bought in Arizona, Washington DC, Texas and Virginia through fronts are under watch. We are waiting for him to step into the US soil. There are tons of documents we have on him and we’re waiting for the day he will enter America. Don’t ask me who are the “they.” I won’t say more than that.
source: republicreport.com
REPUBLICREPORT…standing between civilization and anarchy…
Tenure elongation: S’Court reserves judgment indefinitely
After long hours of legal fireworks, the Supreme Court yesterday reserved its judgment indefinitely on the controversial appeal bordering on the tenure of five sitting governors of Adamawa, Bayelsa, Sokoto, Kogi and Cross Rivers respectively.The appeal itself got to the Supreme Court after one of the aggrieved litigant and Governorship candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] for Adamawa State, Gen. Buba Marwa challenged the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the decision of Justice Adamu Bello of a Federal High Court.
The said judgment had stopped the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] from conducting governorship elections in the affected states on the grounds that the tenure of the incumbent governors has not expired.
By that judgment, five governors; Alhaji Ibrahim Idris (Kogi State), Governor Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto State); Governor Timipre Sylva [ Bayelsa State] and Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State all had remained in their respective offices till when their tenures will end next year.
Marwa was joined in the appeal by the INEC and they asked the apex court to set aside the judgment of the appellate court and to hold that by the operation of section 180 [1] 180 [2] of the 1999 constitution as amended, the tenure of the affected governors had expired.
Given the fundamental nature of the case and the constitutional question raised therein, the apex court invited three legal luminaries; Chief Richard Akinjide SAN, Chief Joseph Ajayi SAN and Professor Itsey Sagay[SAN] as amicus curiae to make their input on the matter.
Making their submissions on why the appeal should be upheld, Counsel for Marwa, Chief Wole Olanikpekun [SAN] contended that within ambit of section 180 [2] the constitution without the amendment, the spirit, tenor and intention of the constitution is that except when the nation is at war, no elected governor shall spend more than eight years in office with a single term of four years each.
He said the Supreme Court in the case of Labour Party V INEC [209] made it clear that there was no difference between primary election or a re-run election as all of them were same.
He accordingly proceeded to argue that the issue of a second oath of office was subsidiary, not relevant and of no moment.
On the amended constitution, Olanikpekun said the constitution was to cure a mischief which is not prompted by the constitution but by politicians in the interpretation of the constitution.
In urging the court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, he submitted that the alteration in the constitution does not make reference to a second oath of office because it was not important.
In opposition to the appeal, counsel for Governor Murtala Nyako, Chief Godwin Agabi [SAN] submitted that a Governor whose election has been nullified is not an elected Governor, adding that in every provisions of the constitution relating to this matter, the operative word is elected.
Secondly, he said there is no second oath of office, adding that once the election has been annulled, everything goes with it as “the word second oath does not exist in law.”
Constitutional lawyer, Chief Lateef Fagbemi [SAN] who is counsel to Governor Abubakar Idris urged the court to dismissed the appeal as the issues appealed against has no place in law.
Specifically, he said the oath of office is a consequence of election while an election is not a consequence of oath of office. The oath of office is an accessory to a super structure which is the election.
“It is therefore my submissions that unless there is an election, there cannot be an oath of office or allegiance. Election contemplated in the constitution is a valid and legal election not a nullified or voided one. So once a given election is annulled, the effects are the same.
“On this effect of nullity, this court made its pronouncement in the cases of Adefulu V Okulaja [1996] 9 NWLR, Obi V INEC [2007] 11 NWLR and AG. Anambra V AG. Federation [2007] 12 NWLR where it held that an election that has been nullified is as if it never took place. Therefore, if never took place, they cannot be any oath of office to bind the winner of that election and deprive him of his constitutional right.”
In concluding his submissions, Fagbemi frowned at the position taken by Chief Oyinkansola Ajayi [SAN] and Professor Itsey Sagay in their briefs as amicus curiae, saying their positions negate the principles of amicus curiae as they wipe out sentiments in favour of the appellants.
National Legal Adviser to the PDP and its counsel Chief Olusola Oke submitted that oath is a condition precedent to becoming a governor as the oath is predicated on an election adding that the election is the foundation of the oath and when you remove the election, the oath automatically collapsed.
“By section 185 [1] of the 1999 constitution, oath of office cannot precede election. Oath of office is not an act of a Governor but an act performed on him.
The tenure of a Governor he said cannot be predicated on two elections but can only reckon with the day he took a fresh oath.
Chief Ladi Williams [SAN] for Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva in opposing the appeal argued that the period the governors were in office were illegal as there were no valid elections in the eye of the law.
In praying the court to affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal and dismiss the appeal, Williams submitted that the amendment of the constitution signed into law on January 10, 2010 cannot affect the right of parties who have subjected their disputes to a competent court of law.
In his submissions, Sunday Ameh [SAN] for Governor Wamakko of Sokoto State contended that the amendment to the constitution which the appeal has been predicated on was not useful to the appeal.
He noted that from the totality of submissions of counsel on all sides, there was a consensus that the amendment was not of a retrospective effect and therefore it turned logic and law upside down for the appellants to ask that the law affects actions that took place before it was signed into law.
In his brief to the court, Professor Sagay said: “I agree entirely with the Appellant’s counsel when he states at paragraph 5-50 of his brief, that a court will not lend its aid to an immoral or illegal act, and that a party will not be allowed to benefit from its own wrong doing. It is against public policy for governor to scheme and contrive to stay in office indefinitely. If this appeal fails, that exactly will be the state of the law”.
“It is my humble view that the appeal should succeed.”
“Section 180(2) of the Constitution does not envisage a situation in which a person can physically occupy the position of Governor for more than 4 years in a single tenure”.
“An election is only nullified effectively with effect from the date of judicial pronouncement. The decision of a Court in an annulled election is constitutive of that nullity, and therefore cannot have a retrospective effect on the tenure and actions taken by the Governor before the nullification order.
“It follows therefore that both the pre-nullification tenure and acts flowing from it are recognizable by law as the valid legal effect of the annulled election. This means that the period spent in office as Governor by the person concerned must count as part of his tenure.
“The Court will not lend its aid to an immoral or illegal act neither will it allow a person to benefit from his own wrong nor a wrong in his favour”.
“Opening the constitutional gate to an indefinite tenure in office by Governors, is not only contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and public policy, but will lead to gross abuse in the Nigerian type of society”.
On his part, Ajayi urged the Court to hold that by the combined position of Sections 180(1) and 182 (1&1b0, a person can hold the office of the governor only for four years per term and that a governor has maximum period of eight years.
He posited that the “nullification of the 4th Respondent and other beneficiaries of the decision of the lower court did not perforce result in the nullity of the oath of allegiance and oath of office taken by them as governors of other respective states.
“The relevant period of the computation of the tenure of the 4th Respondent is May 29, 2007 when he took the first oath of allegiance and oath of office and not the second oath of allegiance and oath of office in 2008.
END.
SOURCE: THE SUN NEWS PAPER
Ford Launches The Ford Focus 2012 in Nigeria: Kicks Off The Focus Relay Challenge
Two participants to win two Ford Focus 2012.
Ready, set, Focus! Ford Motor Company has kicked off the Nigerian launch of its all-new 2012 Focus by kicking off the “Focus Relay Challenge (Nigeria)” – a first-of-its kind designed to engage Nigerians with the launch of Ford’s new global car.
The Ford Focus Relay Challenge is the biggest event to hit the streets of Lagos this year. Four teams of three - driver, co-driver and a DJ celebrity (including IK, TOOLZ, MANNIE and TOSIN BUCKNOR) - will zip around the city proving their superior driving skills and conquering some unusual challenges along the way. The stakes are big. Members of the winning team each receive a new Focus.
Thousands of applicants registered at www. facebook.com/FordNigeria by submitting essays and pictures, from which 8 finalists were selected to take part in the challenge out of thirty two hopefuls were shortlisted and interviewed.
Meet your eight finalists with their team leaders.
RED TEAM – (Tosyn Bucknor – Top Radio)
Isioma loves speed, fast cars, fast power bikes, racing video games, and fast walking. She is an executive at mediaReach OMD.
Munachiso is a banker who describes himself as a spunky, adventurous risk taker who loves meeting new people.
Munachiso is a banker who describes himself as a spunky, adventurous risk taker who loves meeting new people.
GREEN TEAM (I.K – Rhythm FM)
Ayodeji (Deji) is a Business Developer who lives in Festac Town Lagos. He’s a logical guy who enjoys solving puzzles.
Adefemi (Triple A) loves interacting with all people, learning, movies and singing.
Adefemi (Triple A) loves interacting with all people, learning, movies and singing.
YELLOW TEAM (Mannie – Cool FM)
MPI Elizabeth is a geography graduate of the University of Ibadan and a school proprietress. A resident of Akoka-Yaba, she enjoys reading, traveling and networking.
Tunji enjoys traveling, social media, swimming, skateboarding, and partying. He is a true car buff and aspires to own a sexy Ford GT.
Tunji enjoys traveling, social media, swimming, skateboarding, and partying. He is a true car buff and aspires to own a sexy Ford GT.
WHITE TEAM (Toolz – Beat FM)
Anabara is a man of many skills, having worked in oil and gas, banking, administration, theatre and now logistics.
Babatola is a mechanical engineer. He is single and loves adventure.
Babatola is a mechanical engineer. He is single and loves adventure.
About the Focus
The 2012 Ford Focus engine has a powerful 2.0-liter DOHC fuel-efficient four-cylinder engine with dual independent variable valve timing cam (Ti-VCT). Direct fuel injection delivers 40 mpg on highway, certified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The five-door models of the Focus are available in the following models: S, SE, SEL and Titanium.
Focus offers several unique attributes in its class including:
• 8-inch MyFord Touch™ screen
• SYNC ®
• HD Radio ™ with iTunes ®
• Active park assist
• Reverse Camera
• High Quality Painting
• Atmosphere lighting inside the cabin
• Torque vectoring control
• 8-inch MyFord Touch™ screen
• SYNC ®
• HD Radio ™ with iTunes ®
• Active park assist
• Reverse Camera
• High Quality Painting
• Atmosphere lighting inside the cabin
• Torque vectoring control
Stylish and functional interior
The dynamic quality of the exterior is enhanced by the distinctive design of the interior. The Focus has a modern cabin-style interior with a stylish center console. The most significant innovation within the SYNC ® with MyFord Touch ™, replaces many of the buttons, knobs and gauges in a traditional vehicle, with clear LCD screens and colorful buttons. MyFord Touch works with a new generation of award-winning SYNC system of the company, which includes a sophisticated voice control system for vehicle functions, Bluetooth ® devices, MP3 players and a wide variety of external media
Focus Relay Challenge Timeline:
Challenge Kick off Saturday, Nov. 19
Charity Challenge Saturday, Nov.26
Give your Friends a ride Saturday, Dec.3
Lagos Road rally/ Grand Finale Saturday, Dec.10
For more information please visit www.Facebook.com/FordNigeria.
More photos...
Borno State Senator Ali Ndume Is A Boko Haram Sponsor – Spokesm
Suspect names ex-Governor Sheriff, ex-envoy as backers SECURITY agents last night arrested a Senator who a suspect named as a Boko Haram sponsor.Senator Ali Ndume (Borno), who is being held by the State Security Services (SSS), is likely to face trial today in Abuja.
The Nation learnt also that 13 suspects have been arrested by the Joint Task Force in connection with the recent bombings in Damaturu, Yobe State.
Ndume will be arraigned in court with some members of the sect already in SSS custody, sources said.
A source, who pleaded not to be named for security reasons, broke to The Nation news of the senator’s arrest at about 10.20pm.
He said: “He is presently being detained in SSS custody, pending his arraignment in court.
“Based on the confession of some Boko Haram suspects in custody, we have interrogated Ndume and he has made a statement accordingly. We are going to charge him to court on Tuesday (today) with some of the suspects in our custody.
“With this development, we hope that Nigerians will appreciate that security agencies are doing our best to tackle terrorism.”
Attempts by some Senators to see Ndume last night failed.
A suspect named Ndume, former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Sao Tome and Principe, the late Saidu Pindar, as financial backers of Boko Haram.
The suspect, Ali Sauda Umar Konduga (a.k.a Usman al-Zawahiri) spoke at the State Security Service (SSS) office in Abuja during a session with reporters in the presence of SSS officials.
It was a repetition of the confessional statement he allegedly made to the SSS.
Besides its activities in the Northeast, which have caused hundreds of deaths, the group extended its operations to Abuja when its suicide bomber attacked the police headquarters.
The group also killed more than 60 people during its co-ordinated strikes in Damaturu and Potiskum in Yobe State and Maiduguri, Borno State, early this month.
Boko Haram took its operations to the international arena by attacking the United Nations (UN) building in Abuja in August, killing 24 people.
Konduga said he was trained by the late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, who was summarily executed in police custody in 2009.
Konduga confessed to being a member of “ECOMOG”, political outfit allegedly sponsored by Sheriff.
According to him, the relationship between the sect and the ex-governor flourished when Sheriff appointed one of Boko Haram’s leaders, Fuji Foi, as commissioner. But the relationship went sour after Foi was sacked and eventually killed in circumstances the sect believed were officially instigated.
The suspect, who spoke through an interpreter, said it was at this point that the late Pindar stepped in as a major backer of the sect. According to him, Pindar promised the sect N10 million and was on his way to deliver N5 million to the sect when he was killed in a road crash about two months ago.
Konduga said: “Senator Ali Ndume filled the vacuum left by Pindar. He composed threat text messages that we forwarded to prominent individuals, including Governor Sule Lamido (Jigawa State), Babangida Aliyu (Niger State), Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dalhatu Tafida and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.”
“Before his death, Pindar encouraged us to send threat messages to the chairman of the Borno State Election Petition Tribunal, Justice Sambo Adamu, and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke.”
The Borno Election Petition Tribunal was forced to relocate from Maiduguri to Abuja by the frightening contents of the text messages.
According to the suspect, the relationship between the sect and Ndume grew tepid when the senator was named as a member of the Galtimari Committee on Security in the Northeast.
“We questioned Ndume’s membership of the committee, but he explained to us that he had no link with ex-Governor Sheriff and that he would supply us the telephone numbers of members of the Galtimari committee. He could not fulfil the promise before I was arrested.”
The Galtimari committee has submitted its report which President Goodluck Jonathan promised to implement, saying: “perpetrators would be dealt with and that the heavens would not fall”.
Giving reasons for sending threat messages to the prominent individuals, Konduga said Ndume told them that Obasanjo was a strong backer of Sheriff and the message was meant to get the ex-President to withdraw his support for him.
The message to the tribunal chairman was to threaten him to rule in favour of the PDP in the Borno State governorship election petition. The election was won by the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
The message to the Attorney General was to make him prevail on the tribunal to rule in favour of the PDP. The message to Governors Lamido and Aliyu was to check their relentless verbal attacks on the sect.
One of the threat messages was also sent to former Senator and ex-Works Minister Sanusi Daggash. According to the suspect, Ndume told the sect that Daggash was working against the interest of the PDP in Borno State.
According to Konduga, all the messages were scripted by Ndume and forwarded to him for onward transmission to the various individuals. He also provided the telephone numbers of the individuals.
The suspect expressed the sect’s dissatisfaction with the various political figures they had contact with because, according to him, they always failed to keep their promises when the sect members needed them most.
SSS spokesperson Marilyn Ogar who addressed the press conference where the suspect was paraded before reporters, said the revelation had confirmed the position of the SSS that Boko Haram members enjoy political patronage and sponsorship.
She said the suspect was arrested on November 3 by a joint security operation at Gwange, Maiduguri. According to Ogar, Konduga claimed to be one of the spokesmen of the sect.
The SSS spokesperson said the suspect confessed that following the compulsory registration of SIM cards, he was asked to steal a SIM which he used in sending the threat messages.
Ogar revealed that the suspect had been using a pseudo name, Usman Al-Zawahiri, to conceal his identity. She confirmed that analysis of the suspect’s phone confirmed constant communication between him and the legislator (preferring not to mention his name).
She said: “Meanwhile, analysis of Al-Zawahiri’s phone has confirmed constant communication between him and the legislator”.
The SSS reiterated its commitment to addressing the security threat posed by Boko Haram and other fundamentalist groups, including the dimensions of political patronage and sponsorship of extremist and violent groups.
Ndume was the Minority Leader of the sixth House of Representatives. He was elected on the platform of the ANPP. He defected to the PDP shortly before the April elections, apparently having fallen out with ex- Governor Sheriff who is in absolute control of the ANPP in Borno State.
Man kills mother to drink her blood...
Checks reveal that the Usha family once lived at Tudun Wada, also in Kaduna metropolis, where Emmanuel’s frequent visits to the abattoir helped him to perfect the art of killing animals and dismembering the parts.
However, the young man’s skills did not end at the butcher’s profession as sources said that he developed an insatiable desire for blood.
“Emmanuel was so used to blood, he started drinking the blood of slaughtered animals and it became a past time for him,” our source revealed.
His blood drinking habit was said to have continued until the family, being Christians, was forced out of the Tudun Wada area to Television Village, a Christian-dominated settlement, due to the religious crisis that engulfed Kaduna in the late 1990s.
At their new abode, Emmanuel was said to have killed a bull-dog owned by his father, shred the body into parts and poured the blood into a container in his room, apparently with the intent to drink.
Not long after this period, the young man was said to have also killed a cat that was loved by everybody in the house and in the same manner poured the blood in a cup, which was discovered in his room.
Our source further revealed that from Television Village, the family moved to Sabon Tasha, a stone-throw from Television Village, where he made the first attempt at his mother’s life.
“The boy attempted maiming his mother when he used shovel to hit her hand. When people later saw her with swollen hands, she outrightly hid the truth by saying she only fell down and sustained injuries,” the source revealed.
He was said to have made another attempt at his mother’s life at Sabon Tasha before his mother who retired as a Supervisor in the Procurement Department of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) built a four-bedroom apartment at the Mararaban Rido suburb and moved.
For most people who read our last story, the world is hastily ending. To some, the enormous incidences of inhumanity witnessed daily, is a glaring testimony of the end-times. Cannibalism, hate, cruelty, brutality, violence and indeed sadism are much within us.
Even as others seem not to comprehend the magnanimity of human cruelty, people of Kaduna State would rather prefer imagining the incidents of a son butchering his biological mother, than seeing it live!
It was not until the recovery of Mrs. Martina Usha’s dismembered body, from the well where her biological son dumped her remains, many never knew her son, Emmanuel Usha, was a cannibal. Mrs. Usha, was the first wife of Engineer Godwin Usha. She had three children for her husband. The first child, a baby girl died at the age of 15 leaving her with two boys. Emmanuel who butchered his 57 year-old mother, has been blood thirsty but little did people know about his cruelty and hunger for blood.
A very close source confirmed that Emmanuel’s hunger for blood started right from Tudun Wada, in Kaduna metropolis, where he grew up. Though, Emmanuel who simply said initially that he had a problem with his mother before her death, however, gave conflicting statements maintaining that, Fulani herdsmen came into the house, attempted at raping his mother and later killed her. The 34 year-old Emmanuel later said, he equally had problem with the parents, especially the mother for refusing to marry a wife for him.
However, checks into the remote and immediate causes of the incident revealed that, it might not be unconnected with Emmanuel’s perpetual complaint that, the mother often accuses him of stealing her mobile handsets. Tracing the antecedents of Emmanuel, the source disclosed that, as a little boy he related among friends whose parents were mostly butchers and might be at home with knives and blood.
While in Tudun Wada, he frequented the abattoir with friends where he was reported to have learnt not only how to kill animals but also dismembering them perfectly. This, he was said to have continued until he became so used to blood and even drinks it to feel how it tastes. When the parents eventually moved to Television Village in Southern part of the metropolis, Emmanuel started becoming a truant because the parents were well to do. It was while in Television village, with no opportunity of an abattoir nearby that he demonstrated his taste for blood by killing a bull-dog in the father’s compound all alone in the night, butchered it and poured the blood into a container inside his room.
Shortly after that, he was also said to have continued his cruelty by killing a cat that everybody so liked in the compound and poured the blood inside a cup. Not too long, he moved from Television village where she stayed in an apartment in Sabo Tasha, a short distance away. It was while in Sabon Tasha that, Emmanuel made his first attempt at killing his mother.
A source said, “The boy (Emmanuel) initially attempted maiming his mother, when he used shovel to hit her hand. When people later saw her with swollen hands, she outrightly hid the truth by saying, she only fell down and sustained injuries.” While in Sabon Tasha, another reliable source said that, Emmanuel made other abortive attempts at killing his mother.
Eventually, she moved to a four-bedroom apartment she built after her retirement as a supervisor in the Procurement department of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) Kaduna. This was where she stayed with her remaining two children until her son killed her.
Before then, Emmanuel’s younger brother was ill and taken for treatment. It was after her return from where her son was hospitalised that, the problem between them, which led to her death, erupted. Feelers from neighbours at Maraban Rido area of Sabon Tasha indicates that, Emmanuel never had good relationship with the mother in spite of all she has done for him.
He was said not to have any intimate friend but normally patronises a particular spot where illicit drinks and cannabis are sold. He stayed late nights. He is always in black goggles, leaves the house in the morning and returns in the morning. You will always find him in jeans always. Most people spoken to said they were not surprised to hear that he killed his mother because his lifestyle suggests he is an assassin.
Giving credence to her position, a woman who preferred anonymity said: “While I was passing by that Monday evening, I heard a shout calling for help, but because of the big fence in which their house is enveloped nobody can enter.” Continuing she said, “Not too long, the cry fiddled away and we felt probably the son might have salvaged the situation. Many people were sure that Emmanuel was inside the compound then and was telling the father that the mother was missing.
Neighbours became apprehensive. Her Priest, Rev. Fr. Mark and other church members were curious too because Mrs. Maltina never missed morning devotion services. She was such a devoted Catholic. Her absence that day compelled her closest friend, Veronica Umah and the catechist of the church, Michael Iheoma to rush to the house where they met Emmanuel and asked after his mother.
He responded very harshly, which gave them an impression that something must have gone wrong. Veronica said, “When we went to the house, I spoke with him, I asked after his mother and he responded harshly, that his mother has not come back”. Nevertheless, the church members instantly reported to the priest in affirmation that, they saw her the previous day.
Shortly after that, some youths from the church came into the house again and saw Emmanuel mopping the floor. This development further opened more room for suspicion as all of them know that, he is not somebody of such humility that could even do domestic chores. While they were still talking, he was said to have briskly left the house and reported to his father who resides in Television Village that the mother was missing. The father reported the matter to the police.
The next day, the chairman of the communication committee of the St. Simon catholic church, Brother David Adayi and a member, brother Godwin Boi, came to the house and searched desperately until they realised flies moving en masse at the backyard where the well is situated. An offensive odour hit them upon opening the well.
They ordered Emmanuel to fetch water out of the well for them which he testified that it was offensive. It was then that he took to his heels but was unfortunate to run into the hands of angry youths who were desperately waiting outside the gate of the house.
In an exclusive interview with Emmanuel’s father, Engineer Usha, two days after the butchered body were picked from the well told national accord that, “My son, Emmanuel, gave very conflicting statements at the police station which is a manifestation that, he is the one that killed his mother.” He added that, “at the moment, the dismembered parts of my wife, Mrs. Martina Usha, have been stitched together at the Barau Dikko specialist hospital and we will be taking her corpse to rest in the village of Korinya in Konshisha local government area of Benue State on the 23rd Wednesday, 2011.
Taking a cursory revisit back to his early years, national accord gathered that, he attended Lapai private school, Kaduna which was and is an elite school. One day, he came home with a pistol. The bewildered father asked where he got it from, he told the father it was the service pistol of his friend’s father, a soldier. He was forced to return it. That incident led to his withdrawal from the school. He was taken to Mount Gabriel catholic school in Makurdi. He went to stay with Most Reverend (Dr) Athanasius A. Usuh, the Bishop of Makurdi. The bishop was always complaining about his conducts. There was an incident where he reputedly jumped down from a storey building of the school. The bishop at a point noticed that the boy consistently stole the altar wine and drank from there. When confronted, he eventually confessed committing these ‘sins’.
The father was told by the Bishop, who is his relation, that he can’t put up with Emmanuel’s conduct. Emmanuel was in the habit of selling the properties of the bishop. He was a truant in school. He was returned to Kaduna where he eventually finished his secondary school. Efforts to make him attend high institutions were frustrated by his high quality of truancy.
In order to make him occupied, he was gotten a job at the Defence Industries Corporation, Kaduna. His patience failed him on the first day at work. His mother had left the dad about this time. He moved to the mother’s place. He was said to have lost control when he went to stay with the mother.
Six months ago, Emmanuel told the mother in anger that one day he would do something that the whole world will marvel at. This he said in utter anger. This was a result of the fact that the mother has a cousin who is welder. He grew up with her in Kaduna. After learning the trade, she set up the business for him in Gboko. As she was about expanding the school she has in Kaduna from primary to secondary school, she called this cousin of her to come and deliver the welding part of the school building. He was paid.
She in addition requested to know what other things he would want, the cousin demanded for a Lister generator. She and the cousin went to shop. He got a brand new one and N20, 000 to transport it to Gboko. This was the point Emmanuel felt she did not do enough for her cousin. He expected her to have given him more than that. It was in the fit of this anger he said that statement.
Source: National Accord
How to talk to your daughter about her first period
“What are these, Mommy?” asked the 7-year-old girl, reaching into her mother’s vanity drawer and pulling out a box of tampons. Caught unprepared to talk about puberty and menstruation, her mother improvised. “Um…they’re windshield wiper cleaners, honey.”Will you be more ready than that when it’s time to talk to your daughter about her first period? That time may come sooner than you think.
Although a girl’s first period usually occurs at about age 12, some girls experience their first period much earlier. And even before she gets her first period, your daughter will be noticing other changes in her body: Recent studies show that most girls start developing breast buds sometime between age 9 and 10.
When that happens, you’ll know that her first period may not be far off: The development of breast buds usually precedes a girls’ first period by about two years, while pubic and underarm hair usually begins to appear about six months before the onset of menstruation.
“A girl’s first period should actually be a milestone in a series of talks over many years about normal development — physical changes and psychological changes,” says Karen Zager, PhD, a psychologist in private practice in New York City and co-author of The Inside Story on Teen Girls: Experts Answer Parents’ Questions. “All of that should start when they’re very young, in age-appropriate ways.”
Seven tips for talking to a girl about her first period
1. Start talking about periods in general terms from an early age. “Put it in the context of natural functions, and it’s very easy for kids to absorb, says Zager. “You can tell her, ‘You know, someday your body will grow up and look like Mama’s, and you’ll have breasts and hair in certain places. Your body will change in lots of ways as you get ready to be a grown-up woman.”2. As your daughter gets older, get into specifics. You can talk with her more about what that menstruation means — such as what her first period will be like and being able to get pregnant if she has sex.
3. Answer questions with simple, factual information that is age appropriate. Don’t feel the need to elaborate or go into extensive explanations because you’re nervous. If your first-grader finds your box of tampons, you can simply say, “Mommy uses those every month when she gets her period,” without going into a two-hour discussion of the menstrual cycle, ovulation, and female anatomy.
4. Take time to understand what your daughter is really asking. Instead of assuming you know what your daughter’s asking, find out what she thinks the question is about. If she asks something about girls bleeding or has heard another girl talk about her first period, ask her, “What have you heard about it?” You might find out that she’s heard something strange or off-base that you’ll need to correct with good information. (And you’ll also buy time to figure out just how you want to answer.)
5. Use your own experience to spark discussion about hers. “It’s perfectly fine to say, ‘Do you have any questions?’ And somewhere on the planet there may be a kid who says, ‘Yes, I have several questions and here they are.’ But most won’t,” says Lynda Madaras, co-author of a series of popular books on health, childcare, and parenting. Instead, take a more casual approach: “You know, when I was your age, I was really worried about getting my first period because I thought it would hurt a lot. Are you worried about that?”
7. Don’t just hand your daughter a book or video. You can use a book or video as a jumping-off point to discuss menstruation, but don’t just hand your daughter a book and assume your job is done. Watch it or read it with her, and talk about it with her afterward. (Madaras’s What’s Happening to My Body? books are good choices, as is her My Body, My Self, which has spaces for journal notes and Q&As tailored to parents talking to their daughters about menstruation and puberty.)
What does a girl want to know about her first period?
As puberty draws near, a girl is likely to be excited at the prospect of leaving childhood behind and “becoming a woman,” but she’ll probably also have more specific thoughts, worries, and fears about menstruation and the way her body is beginning to change. Here are some of the types of questions may she be asking herself:* Will I get my first period at school? That’s a big fear for a lot of girls, says Madaras. “Strategize with your daughter about what she can do — carrying something in her purse, going to the school nurse or, even as an emergency measure, putting toilet paper in her underpants,” she says. “But she’s probably most worried that she’s just going to gush blood, so you should reassure her that that doesn’t happen.”
* I don’t have my period yet, but there’s this white stuff in my underpants. What is that? This is another big worry for many girls, who may imagine they have a disease or that they’ve injured themselves by masturbating. “Give them the physiological facts — that vaginal discharge is just a way of keeping the vagina clean, and it’s perfectly normal,” Madaras says.
* How do I use tampons? Sanitary pads are pretty self-explanatory, but tampons can be intimidating. You may want to suggest that your daughter wait until she’s a little more comfortable with her period before using tampons. Today’s pads are much more sports-friendly and easier to hide than the bulky ones of yesteryear. Some tips for when she starts trying tampons: Use a smaller size first to judge what is most comfortable for her body. Change tampons every four to eight hours. Be sure she washes her hands before and after insertion.
* Am I normal? Whether a girl gets her first period early or late, or right at the “average” age, she will probably worry that there’s something wrong with her. “Emotional swings are part of adolescence, and we all figure that everybody else is developing normally and we’re not,” says Zager. “Reassure your daughter that she will eventually develop — or that the other girls will catch up with her, if she’s developing early.”
That fear — that “I’m not normal!”–can also make the usual fluctuations of early menstruation seem like dire events.
“Be sure to let your daughter know that she might not get her period every month right away. Irregular periods are common during the first year or so,” says John Steever, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. “Talk about the symptoms that may go along with her period, such as cramps, retaining water and weight fluctuation, mood swings, and headaches.”
No one loves menstrual cramps and other symptoms, but when we’re older, we usually know when they’re coming, and we have our tampons and over the counter pain relievers , so you’re not adding in the whole element of surprise and anxiety, says Zager. “Young girls, when they first begin to menstruate, are usually anxious, so helping them be prepared makes these things easier to cope with.”
SOURCE: myjoyonline.com
Baby force-feeding death: Mother Gloria Dwomoh jailed for 3 years
 |
| Ghanaian Gloria Dwomoh |
The 10-month-old, named in court as Diamond, was forced to take solid foods from the age of six months. She died in March 2010.
The Old Bailey heard Diamond died from pneumonia caused by food in her lungs that had blocked her airways. Dwomoh, who was convicted last month, had denied the charge.
The trial heard the defendant, who worked at St Thomas's Hospital near Waterloo, was obsessed with Diamond's weight and as she was weaning her on to solid food, used a jug to feed her liquidised food, including meat and cereals.
During the trial, Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, said the food went down the "wrong way" for months and the spout of the jug was placed into the girl's mouth to "prevent her closing it".
"If you have a child who is distressed and choking, you do not carry on," he said.During her trial, Dwomoh told the court she and her siblings had been fed the same way by her mother in Ghana.
"I didn't do anything to her," she told the jury. "I didn't do anything at all to hurt her."
However, the Common Serjeant of London, Judge Brian Barker, said forcing her daughter was against "her natural instincts" causing her "daily distress".
"At best it was a misguided obsession - but a determined obsession - which must have caused daily prolonged distress to your daughter," he said.
"It cannot be described as an act of kindness.
"It took away her life and that is something you must live with."
Trevor Burke QC, for Dwomoh, told the court she had been "punished enough".
"She has endured the loss of her child for over a year," he said.
He presented the court with a 1,000-signature petition from family and friends pleading for mercy, and asked the judge to impose a suspended sentence.
Her supporters had demonstrated outside the the Old Bailey.
A serious case review found "weaknesses and shortcomings" in the actions of some agencies involved with the family, said Laura Eades, chair of Waltham Forest Safeguarding Children's Board.
"Had best practice had been followed, the risk to Diamond of force-feeding would have been better recognised and the family would have been offered further support and intervention," she said.
"This should have reduced the probability of Diamond being subject to behaviour that proved, in this case, to be fatal."
However, the report concluded Diamond's death "was not predictable".
Source: BBC News
12 Most Overrated Jobs
When parents look at their young children and imagine what they'll be when they grow up, many different possibilities come to mind. They dream of little Junior growing up to be a surgeon, or perhaps a commercial airline pilot, or maybe a banker, and they imagine a rewarding future of power, prestige, and high pay.The reality is actually a little different. The job search portal CareerCast.com , created a list of 12 jobs that are traditionally believed to be great occupations, but that actually look a lot better on paper than they might be in reality.
Despite the public perception of some of these jobs as impressive and rewarding, some have less-than-stellar salaries and frankly lousy hiring prospects. Others come with so much on-the-job stress that the six-figure income barely seems worth it, particularly when the work involves the safety and well-being of others.
Whatever the case, CareerCast.com characterizes all of the following jobs as overrated, but with important caveats: "A job that's overrated doesn't mean it fails to serve an important function in our society. In fact, these jobs play an integral role in our workplace," says the website . "It's just that the hype surrounding them sometimes makes these jobs sound much better than they really are."
What are CareerCast.com's 12 most overrated jobs? Click ahead and find out.
Advertising Account Executive
Reggie Casagrande/Getty Images
Income Average: $62,105 An advertising account executive "negotiates to procure accounts, and supervises advertising campaigns for products, companies, and organizations," according to CareerCast.com.
The executive earns an average annual salary of $62,105 for these services, but the position has several overrated factors, including "high stress, weak hiring demand, and an unstable economy," according to the job search site.
Flight Attendant
Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images
Income Average: $40,184 In a less enlightened era, flight attendants were known as "stewardesses." But times have changed, and a vocation once solely populated by pretty young women now is practiced by people of both genders and all age groups.
The average salary of a flight attendant is $40,184 -- a not-so-sky-high compensation that's slightly lower than the national average. Flight attendants also have to endure long and exhausting hours, cramped working conditions, and occasionally rude customers -- making the behavior of former Jet Blue employee Steven Slater , who used profanity, and an emergency slide, to escape a customer dispute, somewhat more understandable.
Photojournalist
Said Khatib, AFP, Getty Images
Income Average: $40,209 Photojournalists take pictures for news outlets, which requires them to travel and document events in real time. For the average person, who slaves away at a repetitive and unchallenging desk job, that life must seem like an exciting adventure.
The job requirements of a photojournalist, however, might convince desk dwellers to stay put. Photojournalists are required to travel to where the action is and take pictures, sometimes in extremely hazardous locations ravaged by war, earthquakes, and radiation. Then, they have to deal with the stress of meeting a deadline. For risking their lives to get some good pictures, a photojournalist earns an average salary of $40,209.
Real-Estate Agent
Joshua Lott, Bloomberg, Getty Images
Income Average: $40,357 Americans purchasing a new home will frequently do so through a real-estate agent. The agent acts as a liaison between the buyer and the seller of the property, with the ultimate goal of negotiating a price on which both the seller and the buyer can agree.
The average salary for a real-estate agent is $40,357. Anyone wishing to become an agent in the U.S. has to earn a license, and the time and cost associated with accomplishing that may give pause. CareerCast.com describes this job as overrated due to the decrease in activity that the profession has undergone since the housing crisis began.
Stockbroker
Getty
Income Average: $67,470 It's impossible to walk into a convenience store to buy a bottle of water, a lottery ticket, and 100 shares of stock in Groupon. While many self-directed investors choose to buy and sell stocks online on their own through discount websites such as ETRADE.com, many people instead choose to consult a stockbroker, who coordinates the sale of these and other securities.
The average annual salary of a stockbroker is $67,470, according to CareerCast.com. The primary stressor that makes the job overrated is the burden of being responsible for the financial well-being of multiple clients. This holds particularly true in today's volatile and unpredictable stock market.
Architect
Justin Sullivan, Getty Images
Income Average: $73,193 An architect designs and oversees building construction. Lately, there has been an effort on the part of landscapers and software designers to co-opt the term and re-christen themselves "landscape architects" and "software architects," but for most people, the term remains associated with people who design buildings.
An architect earns an average salary of $73,193. CareerCast.com cites "decreasing employment opportunities tied to the unstable construction industry" as a factor making the job overrated. The amount of education that aspiring architects must undergo to earn a license may be off-putting to potential candidates, as well.
Attorney
Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images
Income Average: $113,211 Attorneys have been painted in an unflattering light in much of popular culture, but the fact remains that at some point, many people who don't understand the law will need counsel. This is where the attorney comes in, and without his or her advice, businesses and individuals might find themselves in a legal bind.
An attorney earns an average salary of $113,211 a year, according to CareerCast.com. The search firm cites "lack of job stability in a poor economy, long hours, and deteriorating hiring prospects" as factors that make the job overrated.
Commercial Airline Pilot
EyesWideOpen/Getty Images
Income Average: $106,153 Those wishing to get paid to travel would have a hard time finding a better way to do it than by becoming a commercial airline pilot. Commercial pilots operate airplanes to transport cargo and passengers.
The average salary of a commercial airline pilot is $106,153. While the six-digit sum sounds attractive, pilots have to handle the stress of being responsible for the lives of hundreds of passengers, and must also endure very long hours.
Psychiatrist
Tetra Images/Getty Images
Income Average: $160,242 People suffering from depression, delusions, or dissatisfaction with day-to-day life need not suffer silently. Psychiatrists treat these kinds of behavioral, emotional, and mental conditions.
The average salary of a psychiatrist is $160,242. According to CareerCast.com, the factors that make the job overrated are "the responsibility of managing the mental health of others, long hours, and increased regulation."
Physician
Joe Raedle, Getty Images
Income Average: $192,065 Whether a patient has a lingering cold or suspects something more serious, the first line of defense is a consultation with a physician. This medical professional performs examinations, produces diagnoses, and recommends methods of treatment. The average salary is $192,065.
While the level of stress that a physician encounters may be slightly less than that encountered by a brain surgeon, that doesn't mean the job is easy by any means. CareerCast.com cites "increased regulations, lower compensation, and the required need to stay abreast of medical developments" as factors that make the job overrated.
Surgeon
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Income Average: $365,258 No matter how many miles you jog every day, or how closely you stick to your low-fat, high-fiber diet, there is still the chance that at some point in your life, you may need the services of a surgeon. Surgeons are compensated for their considerable expertise, earning an average salary of $365,258.
In addition to performing procedures that can last for as long as 20 hours in some cases, surgeons often experience intense on-the-job stress. Surgeons may be well-paid, but the salaries that they earn come at a high personal price.
Senior Corporate Executive
Quavondo/Getty Images
Income Average: $161,141 A senior corporate executive would seem to have it all. He or she is responsible for the operations, people, and policies of private and publicly traded companies. It's hard to imagine more complex or prestigious responsibilities than those, and the average salary of $161,141.
Despite the positive attributes of the job, it earns the top spot on CareerCast.com's list of Most Overrated Jobs. The firm cites "high stress, shaky stability, and long hours that affect family time" as factors that come with the territory, and make the position much less rewarding than it may seem.
source : power and future
Nigerian comedian's drug arrest becomes joke
Nigerian comedian Baba Suwe, center in white, whose real name is Babatunde Omidina, leaves after a court hearing at a Federal High Court in Lagos, Nigeria, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. (AP Photo)
(AP) LAGOS, Nigeria - Investigators detained the famous Nigerian comedian at the airport, accusing him of swallowing narcotics before trying to board a flight to Paris. But after more than two weeks of observation, Baba Suwe has given up no drugs.
Instead he's made drug enforcement agents the punch line in a country that's a gateway for heroin and cocaine entering Europe and the United States. On Tuesday, his court appearance amounted to one important question from a stern-faced judge: "You've been to the toilet how many times?"
Baba Suwe's life has been reduced almost to a potty-humor joke after drug enforcement agents arrested the 53-year-old actor on suspicion of hiding drugs inside his body.
Television news programs have brought on analysts to discuss the actor's bowel movements. And writers have compared the incident to when police arrested late Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti on suspicion of ingesting marijuana, which the musician later memorialized in an unprintable song and album title.
However, Suwe's defense lawyer says the case also has more ominous implications for Nigeria's criminal system.
That "somebody of Babe Suwe's popularity, somebody of his standing in the Nigerian society, somebody's who's so famous can be hauled into detention without any attempt of filing a charge against him, that tells you we may have several thousand people languishing in (drug agency) detention centers with no access to justice," Bamidele Aturu said.
Baba Suwe, whose real name is Babatunde Omidina, is a popular figure in Nigeria's robust national film industry known as Nollywood. He plays as comic relief in films as a butler or a security guard in some films, or as the lead actor in movies spoken in his native Yoruba language.
On Oct. 12, he arrived at Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport to board an overnight Air France flight to Paris, where he was to host a naming ceremony for a newborn. Agents of Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency pulled him out of line for a further screening, officials said.
Such searches remain common in Nigeria, as drug enforcement agents conduct selective searches, usually focusing on travelers who fit the profile of a possible drug courier. It remains unclear why agents specifically pulled Baba Suwe out of line, as his lawyer said Tuesday that their selection came after authorities received "information" about his client.
Agents put Baba Suwe through a full-body scanner at the airport that detected a suspicious object inside his body, the agency has said. They detained the actor and newspaper headlines the next morning blared that the actor had been caught with cocaine inside his body.
Except no drugs have come out.
On Tuesday, Baba Suwe appeared in a federal high court in Lagos to challenge his continued detention without charges. His case brought out fans who lined the court compound's fence, peering through the slates to catch a glimpse of the diminutive star.
"As a public person, it's an embarrassment to him and his fans," said Sunday Iyip, 43, who works as a security guard.
The case also has proven to be a high-profile embarrassment for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, which parades a series of suspects before journalists to show its efforts to stop drug trafficking.
Despite its campaign, Nigeria remains a major transit point for illegal drugs. Between January and October 2010, Nigeria's drug agency seized more than 400 pounds (some 180 kilograms) of cocaine and more than 90 pounds (more than 40 kilograms) of heroin in Lagos, home to the nation's busiest airport, according to a recent U.S. State Department report.
Experts believe much more slipped out of the country via drug mules to airports in Europe and the U.S.
"Nigerian-organized criminal networks remain a major factor in moving cocaine and heroin worldwide," the State Department report reads. "While many of these organizations are not based in Nigeria, large quantities of both cocaine and heroin transit Nigeria on their way to markets in the West."
Femi Oloruntoba, the drug agency's lead prosecutor, said Tuesday that he didn't think the Baba Suwe case hurt his agency's image.
"With all the scans and the expert opinion, it's reasonable for us to hold onto" him, the prosecutor said.
Yet inside the court Tuesday, Justice Yetunde Idowu offered harsh criticism for holding the comedian without charges. She ordered Baba Suwe to be released Friday on $3,300 bail so long as he doesn't excrete any drugs.
"Mr. Omidina is due for release," Idowu said.
And so Baba Suwe left the court, surrounded by Uzi-carrying anti-drug agents. Outside, his fans mobbed around him, applauding him as he passed.
However, even in the moment of judicial glory, the comedian couldn't escape the joke: Those gathered offered an excrement-themed cheer in his local language.
Instead he's made drug enforcement agents the punch line in a country that's a gateway for heroin and cocaine entering Europe and the United States. On Tuesday, his court appearance amounted to one important question from a stern-faced judge: "You've been to the toilet how many times?"
Baba Suwe's life has been reduced almost to a potty-humor joke after drug enforcement agents arrested the 53-year-old actor on suspicion of hiding drugs inside his body.
Television news programs have brought on analysts to discuss the actor's bowel movements. And writers have compared the incident to when police arrested late Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti on suspicion of ingesting marijuana, which the musician later memorialized in an unprintable song and album title.
However, Suwe's defense lawyer says the case also has more ominous implications for Nigeria's criminal system.
That "somebody of Babe Suwe's popularity, somebody of his standing in the Nigerian society, somebody's who's so famous can be hauled into detention without any attempt of filing a charge against him, that tells you we may have several thousand people languishing in (drug agency) detention centers with no access to justice," Bamidele Aturu said.
Baba Suwe, whose real name is Babatunde Omidina, is a popular figure in Nigeria's robust national film industry known as Nollywood. He plays as comic relief in films as a butler or a security guard in some films, or as the lead actor in movies spoken in his native Yoruba language.
On Oct. 12, he arrived at Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport to board an overnight Air France flight to Paris, where he was to host a naming ceremony for a newborn. Agents of Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency pulled him out of line for a further screening, officials said.
Such searches remain common in Nigeria, as drug enforcement agents conduct selective searches, usually focusing on travelers who fit the profile of a possible drug courier. It remains unclear why agents specifically pulled Baba Suwe out of line, as his lawyer said Tuesday that their selection came after authorities received "information" about his client.
Agents put Baba Suwe through a full-body scanner at the airport that detected a suspicious object inside his body, the agency has said. They detained the actor and newspaper headlines the next morning blared that the actor had been caught with cocaine inside his body.
Except no drugs have come out.
On Tuesday, Baba Suwe appeared in a federal high court in Lagos to challenge his continued detention without charges. His case brought out fans who lined the court compound's fence, peering through the slates to catch a glimpse of the diminutive star.
"As a public person, it's an embarrassment to him and his fans," said Sunday Iyip, 43, who works as a security guard.
The case also has proven to be a high-profile embarrassment for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, which parades a series of suspects before journalists to show its efforts to stop drug trafficking.
Despite its campaign, Nigeria remains a major transit point for illegal drugs. Between January and October 2010, Nigeria's drug agency seized more than 400 pounds (some 180 kilograms) of cocaine and more than 90 pounds (more than 40 kilograms) of heroin in Lagos, home to the nation's busiest airport, according to a recent U.S. State Department report.
Experts believe much more slipped out of the country via drug mules to airports in Europe and the U.S.
"Nigerian-organized criminal networks remain a major factor in moving cocaine and heroin worldwide," the State Department report reads. "While many of these organizations are not based in Nigeria, large quantities of both cocaine and heroin transit Nigeria on their way to markets in the West."
Femi Oloruntoba, the drug agency's lead prosecutor, said Tuesday that he didn't think the Baba Suwe case hurt his agency's image.
"With all the scans and the expert opinion, it's reasonable for us to hold onto" him, the prosecutor said.
Yet inside the court Tuesday, Justice Yetunde Idowu offered harsh criticism for holding the comedian without charges. She ordered Baba Suwe to be released Friday on $3,300 bail so long as he doesn't excrete any drugs.
"Mr. Omidina is due for release," Idowu said.
And so Baba Suwe left the court, surrounded by Uzi-carrying anti-drug agents. Outside, his fans mobbed around him, applauding him as he passed.
However, even in the moment of judicial glory, the comedian couldn't escape the joke: Those gathered offered an excrement-themed cheer in his local language.
Source, cbsnews
Dr Conrad Murray: Trial timeline
Dr Murray was raised on the Caribbean island of Grenada by his maternal grandparents (photo: Houston Chronicle)
Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray, is standing trial over the singer's death.
He is charged with involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors say he caused the pop star's death by administering a powerful anaesthetic, propofol.Dr Murray has denied the charges.
It has taken more than two years for the trial to come to court. BBC News looks back over the events that led to the court case.
1983 Conrad Murray graduates from Texas Southern University in Houston with a degree in pre-medicine and biological sciences. He continues his medical studies in Nashville, Tennessee, before completing his training in California and the University of Arizona where he studies cardiology.
2000 Dr Murray opens a practice in Las Vegas, expanding with a second clinic in Houston in 2006. Serving both ends of the community, he also provides medical care to deprived areas.
2006 Dr Murray meets Michael Jackson after treating one of his children in Las Vegas, and the pair strike up a friendship.
May 2009 Dr Murray is hired by promoters AEG Live, at Jackson's request, as the star's personal physician ahead of his This Is It 50-date concert comeback in London. He is put on a salary of more than $150,000 (£96,000) a month.
Jackson was rehearsing for his 50-date London residency when he died
25 June 2009 Dr Murray finds Jackson unconscious in the bedroom of his Los Angeles mansion. Paramedics are called to the house while Dr Murray is performing CPR, according to a recording of the 911 emergency call. He travels with the singer in an ambulance to UCLA medical centre where Jackson later dies.
28 June 2009 Los Angeles police interview Dr Murray for three hours. His spokeswoman insists he is "not a suspect".
22 July 2009 The doctor's clinic in Houston is raided by officers from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) looking for evidence of manslaughter.
28 July 2009 Dr Murray's home is also raided. The search warrant allows "authorised investigators to look for medical records relating to Michael Jackson and all of his reported aliases". A computer hard drive and mobile phones are seized, and a pharmacy in Las Vegas is later raided in connection with the case.
29 July 2009 Court documents filed in Nevada show that Dr Murray is heavily in debt, owing more than $780,000 (£501,000) in judgements against him and his medical practice, outstanding mortgage payments on his house, child support and credit cards.
29 August 2009 Jackson's death is ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles coroner, who says the cause of death was "acute propofol intoxication". A cocktail of drugs - also including sedatives Midazolam and Diazepam, the painkiller Lidocaine and the stimulant Ephedrine - were detected in his body.
21 November 2009 Court documents reveal that Dr Murray bought five bottles of propofol in May 2009, at around the same time he was hired as Jackson's physician. The papers show that the doctor spent $853 (£515) to purchase the drug in Las Vegas, and then transported it to Los Angeles. The DEA says he has not broken any laws in doing so.
8 February 2010 Dr Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter. He pleads not guilty and is released on $75,000 (£48,000) bail. The judge says he can continue to practice medicine, but bans him from administering anaesthetic agents, "specifically propofol".
14 June 2010 Judge Michael Pastor refuses a request to bar Dr Murray from practising medicine in California.
25 June 2010 Michael Jackson's father, Joseph, files a wrongful death lawsuit against the physician.
8 December 2010 California medical board allows Dr Murray to keep his medical licence.
4 January 2011 Preliminary hearings begin. Prosecutors allege that Dr Murray "hid drugs" before calling paramedics on the day Jackson died. They also state that he did not perform CPR properly and omitted to tell paramedics that he had given Jackson propofol.
11 January 2011 Dr Murray is ordered to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter. He faces up to four years in prison if found guilty
.
25 January 2011 The doctor officially enters a plea of not guilty. "I am an innocent man," Dr Murray says in court.
3 March 2011 The trial is delayed to allow both sides more time to prepare.
April 2011 Jury selection begins. Because of the high-profile nature of the case, 500 people are called to the preliminary selection process. Potential jurors face a 30-page form, which asks questions such as "have you ever considered yourself a fan of Michael Jackson?"
2 May 2011 The trial is delayed again, as Dr Murray's lawyers ask for extra time to prepare for new prosecution witnesses.
25 July 2011 Rehearsal footage from Michael Jackson's This Is It tour cannot be used as evidence, the judge rules.
30 August 2011 Michael Jackson's dermatologist is barred from giving evidence at the trial. Dr Murray's lawyers had planned to argue that Arnold Klein had administered the singer with painkillers for "no valid reason" but prosecutors said they were attempting to transfer responsibility for his death away from Dr Murray. Testimony from five other doctors who treated Jackson is also disallowed.
24 September 2011 The jury is finalised. Half of the chosen panelists are Caucasian, five are Hispanic and one is African-American. The jurors have a wide range of professions, including a bus driver, paralegal and a bookseller.
27 September 2011 Opening arguments take place in the televised trial. Prosecutors say Dr Murray acted with "gross negligence" and gave Jackson a lethal dose of propofol. The defence claim Jackson administered too much of the sleeping aid himself.
The doctor has maintained his innocence throughout the last two years
29 September 2011 Jackson's bodyguard, Alberto Alvarez, testifies that on the night Jackson died, Dr Murray ordered him to pick up vials of medicine before phoning for an ambulance. "In my personal experience, I believed Dr Murray had the best intentions for Mr Jackson," Mr Alvarez said.
30 September 2011 Paramedics tell the court that, as they tried to revive Jackson, Dr Murray failed to inform them that he had given the star propofol.
4 October 2011 Dr Thao Nguyen, an emergency room cardiologist says she and a colleague tried to resuscitate Jackson for more than an hour at Dr Murray's insistence but believed the efforts were futile.
6 October 2011 A recording of Jackson bemoaning his unhappy childhood is played to jurors. In the audio, recorded six weeks before the star's death, the star appears to slur his speech as he tells Dr Murray about his plans for the This Is It tour.
8 October 2011 Dr Murray reveals in a recorded interview with police that, on the night of 25 June, he injected Jackson with several sedatives but the pop star remained wide awake. He is heard telling detectives: "He's not able to sleep naturally".
12 October 2011 Dr Murray's defence backs out of claims Jackson swallowed a fatal dose of propofol when he was alone. Prosecution witness Dr Christopher Rogers, the medic who carried out the singer's post mortem, said it was more likely that Dr Murray mistakenly gave him too much.
13 October 2011 Jackson fans continue to line up against the courtroom wall from 7:30am in the hope of winning a draw for one of the few seats in the public gallery.
Dr Christopher Rogers: "It's reasonable to believe that the doctor had an imperfect control over the dose"
24 October 2011 After a short break in the trial, Dr Murray's lawyers call their first witnesses. Dr Allan Metzger, a friend of Jackson's for over two decades, testifies the singer had requested anaesthetics from him as a sleep aid.
26 October 2011 Nutritionist and holistic nurse Cherilyn Lee tells the court she warned Jackson about using the sedative propofol to help him sleep. She told him: "No one who cared or had your best interest at heart would give you this". After refusing to supply Jackson with the drug in April, she never saw him again.
27 October 2011 Dr Murray weeps in court as former patients praise his medical skills and describe him as kind and generous. "The reason I came here to help Dr Murray is I know his love, his compassion, his feeling for his patients, every one of them and I just don't think he did what he's accused of doing," Gerry Causey, from Utah, tells the court.
28 October 2011 It is likely Jackson was addicted to the painkiller Demerol, defence witness Dr Robert Waldman tells the trial. Dr Waldman says records from Jackson's dermatologist show he had large doses of the drug in the months before his death and that insomnia is a symptom of Demerol withdrawal.
31 October 2011 Witness for the defence Dr Paul White concedes during cross-examination that Dr Murray deviated from accepted medical standards in his care for Jackson. He admits the drug is not usually used to treat insomnia, describing it as "complete off-label use of the drug".
1 November 2011 Dr Murray tells Judge Michael Pastor he will not testify in his own defence. He says he made his decision "freely and explicitly".
3 November 2011 The case against Dr Murray goes to the jury following closing statements. The prosecution concludes by saying the doctor's care of Jackson had been "bizarre". The defence maintains Dr Murray was not responsible and that the singer caused his own death while his doctor was out of the room. "If it was anybody else, would this doctor be here today?" defence lawyer Ed Chernoff says.
SOURCE: BBC NEWS
Nigeria /UK BASA discrepancy: Arik Air pays £1.4m to private company
…Petitions NASS over Abuja-London operations
Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest commercial carrier, has petitioned the National Assembly over the discrepancies in the Bilateral Air Services Agreement, which led it to discontinue its operations on the Abuja-London route last week.
The UK airport authorities had disallowed Arik Air landing for its flights from Abuja into Heathrow, saying a private company was responsible for selling such slots. The airline alleged that it paid £1.4m to a private company, due to discrepancies in the agreement.
The UK airport authorities had disallowed Arik Air landing for its flights from Abuja into Heathrow, saying a private company was responsible for selling such slots. The airline alleged that it paid £1.4m to a private company, due to discrepancies in the agreement.
But the BASA agreement between the two countries does not indicate that slots would be sold to airlines from both sides. To this end, Arik Air has petitioned the National Assembly, to quickly intervene in the matter, in order to resolve the problem which is already affecting Nigerian travelers. In 1958, both countries signed the BASA agreement to allow their carriers operate into each others airports unhindered. The agreement was well used by both parties, as defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) reciprocated most of the flight frequencies being flown by British Airways.
However, the sudden liquidation of NAL prevented Nigeria from further reciprocating, as BA continues operations into Lagos and Abuja airports. In 2008, Arik Air began its Nigeria-UK operations with Lagos coming first and then Abuja.
Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, the airline’s chairman told a press conference in Lagos, that the BASA, signed between the two countries, was a one sided agreement, adding that it was only beneficial to British carriers.
He explained that it was the Federal Government that invited Arik Air to participate, adding that during the signing of the agreement years ago, by both governments, it was to assist carriers the to fly into each other’s airspace.
Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, the airline’s chairman told a press conference in Lagos, that the BASA, signed between the two countries, was a one sided agreement, adding that it was only beneficial to British carriers.
He explained that it was the Federal Government that invited Arik Air to participate, adding that during the signing of the agreement years ago, by both governments, it was to assist carriers the to fly into each other’s airspace.
The chairman further explained that the airline was given seven slots from Lagos to London and another seven slots for Abuja to London, adding that the airline even went further to ask for seven weekly slots but that Arik Air was told that other carriers were interested in that . In all, he explained that Nigeria was to operate 21 slots into Britain, while Britain would do same in Nigeria.
He lamented that when it was time for them to fly from Abuja to London; the British government said that there were no slots and that at that point, the airline had no choice other than to rent landing slots from a private company, British Midland International (BMI) where it paid over £1.4 million between 2009 and 2010 during winter.
He said the airline paid an initial deposit of £600,000 while it paid £52,250,000 monthly to BMI and after the expiration of that, BMI increased it from £52,250,000 monthly to £90 million per month and that when the airline tried to negotiate the amount, the company refused to shift ground. “By the time I discussed with the secretary of the Transport Ministry about our ordeals, that w e are not supposed to get slots from a private organization, since it’s BASA, he said it was his duty to protect the British carrier and that Nigeria should protect us, I walked out of the place dejected. I came to Nigeria and reported to the Ministry.
“The British government did not tell Nigeria that another body will be responsible for the slot allocation, we have stopped our Abuja-London flights over this issue because we are losing, do we lay off the pilots, crew and workers? Nigeria has to be resolute and protect the integrity of this country.
“The UK is starting something dangerous that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) may also enforce, I think FAAN should reciprocate, since the UK government thinks it’s a private company that can sell slots, we’ve petitioned the National Assembly because it is affecting many Nigerians, we are supposed to have a BASA that is supposed to be workable”, Arumemi said.
The Arik Air boss added that the airline feels bad that the British Government can just wake up and change an agreement that was signed between two countries years back and at the same time begin to introduce clauses that were not in the original agreement.
He hinted that when he confronted the British Department of Transport (DOT), he was simply told that in as much as there is BASA between the two countries, the primary duty of the department is to protect the interest British carriers taking advantage of the agreement.
He said, “What they are simply telling us is that we should ask our government to protect the carriers from Nigeria. We in Arik feel bad because they do not have respect for our country”
He said that already, the airline has written to the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, who summoned the British High Commissioner to Nigeria to Abuja, to explain why BMI would decide to cancel an agreement without recourse to the other party in the agreement.
He said that already, the airline has written to the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, who summoned the British High Commissioner to Nigeria to Abuja, to explain why BMI would decide to cancel an agreement without recourse to the other party in the agreement.
The Federal Ministry of Aviation during the week, took a swipe at UK’s government’s refusal to grant Arik Air landing slots at Heathrow from Abuja airport, describing the act as ‘inequitable treatment’. Oduah in a statement said; “We have observed with utter dismay the inequitable treatment meted out to Arik Air, in denying its fleet access into Heathrow Airport from Abuja. As a result, the airline has been compelled to discontinue its flight operations from Abuja to Heathrow which has impacted negatively on the passengers on this route.
“Finally, the minister wants to assure Nigerians that appropriate action is being taken in this regard to redress the situation’, she said.
SOURCE: BUSINESSDAY
The Rise Of Female Robbers In Nigeria
Female robbery have been on the increase in Nigeria lately. This is a clear demonstration of the now too popular phase: “whatever a man can do, a woman can do even better.”
It is disheartening, however, that rather than the ladies being led during operations, the reverse is the case. I just wonder why this is so when they are not the bread winners in their various homes. Could it be they usually do not remember the other adage that says: “Everyday is for the thief and one day for the owner.” I am glad that, as with their male counterparts, nemesis is equally catching up with them.
Ilesanmi Adegbite,
Ede.
It is a pity that some Nigerian women have suddenly graduated from prostitution to committing all manner of crimes, especially armed robbery, just to make ends meet. Any woman who finds in armed robbery a fast lane to riches is just being greedy and if caught in the act and proven guilty should be treated the same way male culprits are treated—sent to jail to serve as a deterrent to others.
Monica Omoruyi,
Benin City.
Your cover story titled, “The Rise Of Female Robbers”, aptly describes the adage that “What a man can do, a woman can do better”. But what surprises me most in the story is the involvement of the so-called Alhaja in armed robbery. She is a disgrace to womanhood and the Muslim community.
Bidemi Adediwura,
Lagos.
It is sad to know that Nigerian women are getting more involved in armed robbery than before. Yes, the economic situation in the country is becoming more unbearable, and living in the country is getting harder than before. But this is not enough reason for them to become as desperate as they are now. Come to think of it, a female robber will definitely not respect her husband, even if both are armed robbers. This must be one of the reasons the marriage institution is failing these days.
Odiri Samede,
Lokoja.
Your cover story that highlighted the activities of female armed robbers in Nigeria was an interesting read for me. Once again, you guys showed your investigative abilities. Keep it up. I look forward to reading more comprehensive reports about crimes that have taken over our society.
Opeyemi Odubela,
Ijebu-Ode.
Why would women not go into armed robbery to make ends meet when the men who are supposed to be the bread winners are unemployed? It is a matter of deciding between the devil and the deep sea—deciding between becoming a prostitute or becoming an armed robber. Women who must feed their children and send them to school as well, will continue to take to armed robbery unless governments provide jobs for the unemployed husbands and graduates that abound in the society.
Solarin Adeyemi,
Ilesha.
I commend TheNEWS magazine for bringing to the fore the rise of female robbers in Nigeria. As always, you’ve done it again—telling Nigerians what they must know. Keep the flag flying.
One thing is certain, and this is, there is no stopping whoever wants to become an armed robber from becoming one. It is a thing of the mind and not necessarily due to economic hardship. However, what the country cannot shy away from is the fact that it must attack the menace with determination. Government must equip the police to be able to meet force with force.
Sule Abdul,
Lokoja.
The trend has always been for men to lead armed robbery gangs. Therefore, it is really mind-boggling to know that women have been spearheading some of these nefarious activities in the country lately.
Of course, female armed robbery cases are not new, but the alarming rate at which they are getting involved, as confirmed by your story, is worrisome. I just hope the various tiers of government –– local, state and federal –– will deem it fit to address the level of unemployment in the country. If Nigerian youths, male and female, remain unemployed there is no doubt that crime rate will continue to rise in the country.
Gbenga Oso,
Akure.
The trend has always been to see women take to prostitution, but to see a great number of them becoming armed robbers is really shocking. I feel, however, that the majority of them are taking to robbery because they cannot find any better job, since they do not want to take to prostitution, because of the fear of AIDS.
This is a challenge to government. It must provide more jobs for the teeming graduates that are churned out of the various institutions of higher learning every year.
Kunle Falajiki,
Akure.
Joblessness, as claimed by the female robbers you guys interviewed in the cover story of 24 October, is not a good excuse for engaging in armed robbery. They should have taken a cue from other women who embraced petty trading and other dignifying businesses to earn their living.
Chuks Adindu,
Ibadan.
The most ridiculous thing about the exploits of female robbers is the rather slim amount of money they get as reward, after exposing themselves to great danger. It is unbelievable that sums as little as N15,000 and N20,000 are enough to lure some women into becoming armed robbers. This is really unfortunate.
Titus Okorowanta,
Enugu.
Confessional statements by arrested armed robbers have revealed that most of the women who join criminal gangs are usually recruited by their boyfriends/lovers who, because they have a hold on them, are able to convince them to join the gang. However, the fact that the women are equally desperate to get rich quickly cannot be ruled out.
Sule Aleju,
Lokoja.
As long as Nigerians continue to wallow in poverty, criminal activities will continue to rise. And since suffering is not limited to men alone, I wonder why people are surprised that Nigerian women are getting more involved in armed robbery. Why won’t they? They, like everyone else, must survive.
Besides, in today’s Nigeria, women are no longer interested in remaining at the background and receiving crumbs. They want to be at the forefront and determine the way forward. They know that if they partake in armed robbery, they are sure to get a fair share of the loot.
Femi Balogun,
Ilorin.
The rise in the number of female robbers in Nigeria can be traced to moral decadence in the society. You will find that most of the people, male and female, who are involved in this pastime are people who patronise brothels, people who visit dingy places. Birds of the same plumage flock together.
Binta Ibrahim,
Kano.
I must admit that the commonly expressed adage, “what a man can do, a woman can do better” holds true for your cover story. Ladies, as it were, are now outwitting their male counterparts in practically every sphere of life.
Common as it seems, the story is a sad commentary on the moral decadence enveloping Nigeria. Whatever is driving the country’s otherwise fragile citizenry into armed banditry must be rooted in the society itself.
Arthur Nwaneri,
Aba.
When those who are supposed to be the moulders of the society are taking to armed robbery, the future of that society becomes shaky. Surely, the story portends evil for tomorrow’s leaders.
Nigeria, whither you! What does tomorrow hold for your unborn children now that their mothers carry arms to grab other people’s belongings by force?
Rev. Jeremiah Udoh,
Makurdi.
Whether they are male or female, the fact that cases of armed robbery are on the increase is disheartening. And there is only one reason for this—government at all levels has failed to live up to expectation. I fear the country is yet to experience the toughest strain in criminality. Especially, with Mr. President seeming not to know how to handle the entity called Nigeria.
Ahmadu Bako,
Keffi.
Rumours of violence and armed robbery everywhere. Are these signs of the end of time, as the Holy Bible predicts, or manifestations of a failed country? I would rather choose the latter, because it is not so in other countries that have pragmatic governments in place. Just when will Nigeria be blessed with a pragmatic government?
The way things are going, crime rate in the country will continue to rise unless its people, especially those in government, have a change of heart and start doing the right things.
Marilyn Abiodun,
Sapele.
It is disheartening reading the adventures of female robbers in the 24 October edition of TheNEWS. It goes to show they are human beings and they feel the economic pains just like their male counterparts. They have to find a way to survive. The truth is, this is not a new development, it has always been there. But it cannot but be so since the wealth of the country is not evenly distributed among the citizenry.
Uzo Ndabai,
Asaba.
I am not surprised that Nigeria, under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan, who seems not to know what to do with the mandate given to him by his compatriots, is witnessing an upsurge in female involvement in armed robbery. In simple terms, it means the future of the country is bleak.
Lanre Babatunde,
Ibadan.
Source: NE
Sanusi May Raise Nigeria Rate Amid Pressure to Devalue Naira
