The Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has invoked the wrath of God on Abia State Government officials who lie and deceive the public about the state of roads in Aba, the commercial town.
Reacting to a live TV programme, where former Abia State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Eze Chikamnanyo, stated that most roads in Aba, including Ngwa, had been rehabilitated by the state government, MASSOB said the statement was ridiculous and untrue.
Speaking through its Director of Information, Aba region, Mr. Sunny Okereafor, MASSOB said that based on the former commissioner’s claim, his organization had assessed the roads and found out that it was false and deceitful, adding that the residents are living in squalor.
MASSOB described as baffling, the rate at which government officials allegedly dish out lies, especially on the state of roads in the city, which it said were in terrible condition.
He stated, “which of the roads in Aba do we take for good in the real sense? Are they Ohanku, Ngwa, Ikot Ekpene, Port Harcourt or Faulks, which leads to Ariaria International Market, all of which were claimed to have been rehabilitated? Who is fooling who?
“We know that some of these officials and agents either want to remain in their posts or be re-appointed. Inasmuch as there was nothing wrong in that, it should not be achieved through barefaced lies and at the expense of the suffering masses.
“People should come to Aba and see the roads somebody went on television to tell the world they had been rehabilitated. This is mere deceit. Take Ngwa Road, for instance. That road is not only impassable, but people there are living in squalor.
“If these government officials and agents think they can go ahead telling lies and deceiving people, the wrath of God, which we have invoked, is awaiting them and there is no escape route,” MASSOB said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has been telling the State’s side of the story in the raging controversy over the State’s relocation of some destitutes from the East of the country to Anambra State. Contrary to the figures being bandied in the media, the Governor told a gathering of Igbo indigenes under the auspices of Aka Ikenga that the actual number of those taken to Anambra State was fourteen. He also expressed sadness that the Governor of Anambra State did not make any formal complaints to him before writing a letter to the President on the issue.
The Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, had petitioned the President to intervene over the issue after he discovered that some destitutes were moved from Lagos State by the Sate government and dumped at the Upper Iweka area on the city of Onitsha. Some of the destitutes have come out to say they were forcefully evicted from Lagos after being arrested at various locations. Some even said they were not beggars but hawking goods on the streets of Lagos when they were arrested. But Mr. Fashola insists that the destitutes asked to go home after they had been rehabilitated by his government. He said what the State did was simply grant their wishes.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Exclusive information reaching OluFamous.Com is that agents of the dreaded Boko Haram have invaded a Catholic Church in Abuja, the popular St Mary Catholic Church in the Karu area of the FCT with a view to attacking members of the church.
A source inside the church who spoke to our correspodent on the phone around 14:00, say members of the church have remained locked down in the church premises for about three (3) hours now as policemen battle with agents of Boko Haram at the entrance gate.
The source, a lady, say the Boko Haram agents are: Wielding daggers and other dangerous weapons and that they have created bonfires on the major road and at the entrance gate to the church. As at the time she spoke with codewit.Com, she said it is a situation of “no going in, no coming out.”
OluFamous.Com contacted a top security personnel in Abuja who confirmed the unfortunate development. He however added that Army personnel who were guarding other churches in the axis have been instructed to move to St Mary Catholic church immediately.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Information available to codewit.com indicates that the Police Commissioner in Kano State has ordered the ‘secret’ arrest of the President of Ohaneze Ndigbo – Kano Chapter, Chief Tobia Idika. As gathered, the DPO [Shaibu Bello] overseeing the Nomansland division near Sabon Gari Kano has been on a secret search throughout the Sabon Gari – in hunt for Chief Tobia Idika. Shaibu Bello is reported to be searching through the residences in Sabon Gari – in a manner – suggesting that he was in search for a common criminal.
When contacted as to why he [Shaibu Bello] was hunting for Chief Idika, he responded that “it is orders from above” – that the top bosses wanted Chief Idika arrested and brought in for ‘questioning’.
When Chief Idika contacted the Police Commissioner concerning the active/aggressive hunt by Shaibu Bello, the Police Commissioner, according to Chief Idika, yelled at the top of his voice – that he [Idika] “knows what to do“. The Commissioner dropped the line and hung up. When Chief Idika called again, the Commissioner told him to file a report.
Meanwhile, the Ohaneze leader who has been outspoken over the maltreatment meted out to the Igbo population in Kano, told our correspondent that he has been receiving death threats at a higher frequency since the Police DPO began hunting for him. ”I have been receving calls from an undisclosed number telling me that my days are numbered. The caller calls himself Dagogo“, said Chief Idika. He went to share a sms message he received on August 1, 2013 at about 1:44pm from +2348180689050 which reads “Very soon your chapter will close if you don’t run. Be warned“
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Chief Idika has since contacted the Director of the State Security Services [SSS]
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
*aspirants to re-enact 2010 scenario and balkanize PDP again
*as Soludo teams up with Obi and Akunyili in APGA
*North sponsor candidates
With just about ninety (90) days to the November 16, 2013 governorship election in Anambra State to choose a successor for the outgoing Gov Peter Obi, virtually all the political parties and aspirants appeared docile and unprepared.
And it is really hard to single out any aspirant or party that could be said to be active or virulent on the impending important political test. No thanks to the prolonged wait the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) subjected all the stakeholders on the release of the guidelines and timetable for the election.
Before then, most aspirants had busied themselves with all manner of excuses that they didn’t want to run fowl of the laws, or be seen as jumping the gun, or hasty, when the Commission had not given the go ahead on open politicking.
But at last since the commission blew the kick-off whistle about three weeks ago, many still have not found their rhythm, and evidently may never find it.
Curiously, the unfolding intrigues and scheming from the various political blocs and camps in the state now range from the unthinkable, bizarre and the unimaginable.
More so, as the PDP grapples with efforts to self-rediscovery, they must address certain troubling issues, especially as the discordant tunes from the various segments of the polity, particularly the North continues to sound louder each passing day over what Jonathan’s 2015 move would be. Anambra must be top on the agenda as it remains the arrowhead to signpost where the South-East geo-political zone goes any day. So, with the state’s governorship election now in the horizon, first in the nation to usher in the next dispensation, the party must guard her loins really firmly; for obvious political reasons.
DOZEN FORMS, ONE TICKET:
It’s amazing that even those that have not visited the state in the last 2-10 years dashed to the Wadata House Headquarters of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to pack the Expression of Interest(EOI) forms. The fee was also hiked significantly from the two hundred and fifty thousand naira in 2009 to as high as One million naira this time.
The cost has evidently not dampened the spirit of any of the litany of the about 27 aspirants, more than half were said to be women. One, a hairdressing salon operator in Awka.
Accusing fingers allegedly point to Senator Andy Uba and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu as being behind the massive purchasing of the forms for their respective camps, including the hairdresser. As tempting as the story sounds, it was actually waved off and seen as unbelievably unimaginable.
There is heightened apprehension that the observed abuse of the free access to the Nomination forms to female aspirants in PDP may force the party to review the policy. Sources close to the party headquarters revealed that fee for the Nomination form could go up as high as between N10m-20m each. The high cost would help weed off the unserious ones, proxies and stooges who have literally turned the issue into a political stock market.
ENDANGERED PARTY PRIMARIES:
As one of the pivot on which political democracy rests, primary election was always seen as important as the main election. But the allegation that the Uba and Ukachukwu camps have mass-acquired the nomination forms for about ten of their supporters each, has cast a big shadow of doubt on the process.
Unconfirmed sources revealed that it was coincidentally part of the two respective camps’ plan ‘B’ option that is not unconnected with a selfish design to intentionally jeopardize a smooth primary on August 24. That the calculation was to further put the party in a very tight corner for a repeat conduct of the primary, due to time constraints. In the end, that they would then use their contacts at the Wadata Plaza to settle for a consensus candidate option, hoping that that would favour them more, having already watered the grounds well in that direction.
Alternatively, they would bamboozle the party headquarters into inviting all the ‘aspirants’ to Abuja where the matter would be resolved through internal mechanism. This includes but not likely to be limited to asking the “aspirants” to vote among themselves to choose who they want to fly the party’s flag at the Nov 16 governorship election in the state. Of course the outcome would be foreclosed as each “aspirant” would simply vote for his/her sponsor.
NORTHERN AGENTS/STOOGES:
Also, some of the candidates, particularly in the PDP were reportedly sponsored by some northern Nigeria elements with a view to backing same to the hilt and use the candidate/s to fight and attempt to scuttle President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 agenda. It therefore has become germane for Aso Rock to now consider and back only someone without any political blemish or baggage.
It was discovered that of all those currently jostling for the plum job, only Walter Ubaka Okeke and Alex Obiogbolu have elicited the party’s big wigs well.
Okeke who they say remains top on the list appear well-fitted into the card because he is said to be well-heeled with a deep pocket, well-read, psychologically very stable, and a key player in the Nigeria’s big oil/gas services sector since 1995. His businesses were domiciled within the Niger Delta region. He was said to have been paying to the governments an annual tax that runs into billions of naira, as against other contestants who only pay paltry sums for the sake of election process requirement. He is reportedly married from either Bayelsa or Rivers.
While Obiogbolu reportedly has what it takes to govern the state well, the larger section of the state’s 177 communities are not favourably disposed to someone from his area due to complex social reasons. But he is seen as capable and qualified with immense administrative experience in government business. A reputed medical officer and successful businessman who has a lot of enduring legacies to his credit in the state’s civil service.
Chief Sylvester Okonkwo, a close confidant of Gov Godswill Akpabio, said to be among those who have not visited the state in the last 10years. It appears that his only reason for picking the form was because one of the key players in the PDP Governors’ Forum politics urged him on. The governor was said to have promised to intercede on his behalf when a decision would be taken on the matter. Unfortunately the present political equation of the state does not favour his aspiration, as he comes from the Central zone like the outgoing Gov Obi and Senator Ngige.
For Senator Uba, it was said that his greatest natural challenge is his phobia for competition. As a result, he has all along been busy with every conceivable and subtle move to upstage all other aspirants undemocratically. He has held several meetings with his ‘aspirants’ at Abuja. It was disclosed that some serving and former members of the House of Representatives including Ben Nwankwo, Fort Dike, Eucharia Azodo and Lynda Ikpeazu attended the meetings last Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. These meetings were described as historical as it was the first to be held between the Senator and the members as a group since their inauguration in the National Assembly.
Chief Mike Okoye, a successful legal practitioner was alleged to be brandishing his friendship with the former Governor Diepreye Alameseigha as his own joker. Unfortunately his political traducers were quick to point out that he once held sway in Hope Democratic Party but let go of it when it mattered most, hence political watchers wonder what he really wants this time around.
Dr Obinna Uzor remains a close friend of former President Gen Ibrahim Babangida, and also does not hide his penchant to cling to anything Catholic. That’s why he has been going round building parishes for his beloved faith. He may at the end of the day realise why the holy book warned that in heaven there is nether Catholic, Anglican or Pagan. So, leaders in the state need to develop urbane approach to public matters.
PARTY LOYALTY:
Elders of the party have urged for a holistic review of all input each of the aspirants have made to the growth or otherwise of the party in the past ten years. Because while some were busy building the party from families, wards and council levels, others were found to have been more concerned with how to wreck the party to its very foundation.
Some were known to be very good at sowing confusion and crises in the party only to run into another party as a window. Keen watchers agreed they were presently already set for the familiar move again, knowing full well that the present PDP under Alh Bamanga Tukur is not kidding on enthroning internal democracy and discipline. It was therefore unconscionable for the party to give a vague directive on e-registration of members in the state vide a letter dated July 25, 2013. The letter without any clear reference was purportedly signed by the party’s Acting National Organising Secretary, Alh Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar. The exercise, according to the three paragraph letter was to last for ten days, beginning from Wednesday July 24, 2013 in all the 326 electoral wards in the state, as a pilot scheme. Curiously, it was to commence a day before the writing of the official authorizing letter? Who actually is behind this confusion, since the state is politically very combustible right now? Already the aspirants were expressing shock at the exercise because they all agreed at a meeting with party hierarchy to shelve any such thing in the state till after the guber election.
Again, Anambra is among the few lucky states to have about four citizens in the party’s Board of Trustees(BOT)-Dr Alex Ekwueme, Senator Onyeabor Obi, Chief Maxwell Okudoh and Iyom Josephine Anenih. No doubt they would have interest in who runs their dear state as governor, hence would like to comment or make an input as the decision is made.
It would also not be out of place to put a call through to the various council chairmen of the party to inquire who and who among the aspirants who have visited them to express his/her interest to run for the office of the governor in the November 16 election, and when. Investigations show it was just Walter Okeke, Obiogbolu and Tony Nwoye that have toured round and visited the members to inform them of their intention to run. It was so bad that apart from the three above, nearly all the rest who picked the expression of interest forms did so without confiding in their spouses, families or ward officials till date. There was the case of one whose wife simply locked him out for the “foolish” guber aspiration joke. One of the ladies whose husband is an Onitsha-based business man upbraided her severely for not discussing the move with him first. The poor trader was said to be so bitter that he queried the wife in front of a combined family meeting of both in-laws, ‘… so you now have other husbands with whom you discuss such serious matters, leaving me in the lurch thoroughly embarrassed, disgraced and neglected’, he reportedly fumed.
However, when all the indices are considered, the PDP may end up with a dark horse like Walter Okeke who is said to be surefooted and firmly etched in business and politics of the state. He was reported to be miles ahead of the Ubas, the Ukachukwus and the Soludos as he has in the course of his 326 ward tours displayed an unusual mastery of the state geography and political idiosyncrasies of the various zones. And going by the pronouncements of the party’s national chairman during the inauguration of Gov Seriake Dickson-led PDP Reconciliation Committee on Thursday, they are very prepared to reclaim Anambra state among others.
PAYBACK, KAMA OR REPEAT OF 2010?
It’s indeed doubtful whether many who are now in the race truly believe they would win in the real sense. Because even Prof Chukwuma Soludo, the immediate past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) chose to dump PDP for the very troubled APGA with an intension to re-unite the warring leaders including the incumbent outgoing Gov Obi and win, or what.
Many saw it as his own double barrelled game plan to either use the plank of APGA to contest and perhaps win, or serve him as a launching pad to unleash payback punishment on PDP and her members who allegedly chose to collect money to dismember and factionalize the party when he ran as the party’s flag-bearer in 2010. The economic guru strongly believes that he won’t go down a second time without a good fight.
SOLUDO: OBI SQUARES JONATHAN
It’s no longer news that Obi wants everyone with listening ears to hear that President Jonathan loves him so much that he literally governs Anambra from Aso Rock so as to be close to the Number One citizen always. Yet he is now willing to field Prof Soludo as the APGA flag-bearer who apparently left the PDP because he failed to get the nod of Mr President. So Obi want to use him to ambush whoever Mr President’s PDP nominates. This would surely show the extent he loves President Jonathan who gladly appointed him into his Economic Management team, not minding he comes from an opposing party, APGA.
RELIGIOUS POLITICS:
Unfortunately, the religious and clannish politics brought upon the state by the outgoing Obi administration appear the most attractive as it is currently festering. Obi foisted deep seethed politics of religion on the state in the last eight years as some faith-based organizations went into the dock to support him during the long drawn election petition proceedings. They openly backed him and he reciprocated openly too. Little wonder he has treated the Anglicans and the other religious groups in the state with so much disdain, since 2006.
Today, as he counts days to his departure and after working so hard to dismember his All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Obi has again chosen to play the church politics card. He wants his Catholic faith to always dominate others with mind-boggling ratio in virtually everything in the state. To achieve his aim this time around, he has moved to reconcile with his embattled national chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, a Catholic, using Prof Chukwuma Soludo, a Catholic, as the bargaining chip. More so, it was alleged that Soludo was ready to also reconcile with his sister in-law, Prof Dora Akunyili, also Catholic, if only to upstage the impending political volcano currently being foisted by the patriotic elements in PDP. It was for this reason the former Central Bank chief recently dumped the PDP for APGA, just like Akunyili. They are Catholics, and are all very qualified, no doubt. They fit properly into the out-going governor’s ‘all-Catholic’ profile agenda.
APGA? WHY SOLUDO?
Knowing full well the resolve of the PDP to take back the state in the November 16 election, and due to lack of time, Obi as well as Umeh needed a well-known face that needs minimal introduction, campaigns and expenditure.
Present exigencies in the state have made it also very necessary, because the mounting political calculations and opinion polls have continued to give the PDP an overwhelming edge due to the numerous political indiscretions of the APGA-led administration; top on the list was the non-conduct of council election in the state which became due since 2003. It was so bad that with a two-year tenure law, Obi has sat on the democratic rights of no fewer than four sets of councillors, council chairmen, supervisors, assistants, drivers, gardeners and so on, in all the state’s 21 councils for so long. He had also single-handedly appropriated their salaries, allowances and other sundry emoluments in the last eight years. It was and continues to be seen as inexplicable. Curiously he has been suffusing the state and nation with all manner of excuses on why he would continue to do that. The ploy, as lame as it is, has only helped to throw up the reason as wide as possible, -financial. Nothing else. The pontificating notwithstanding, the Federal authorities, all church leaders, community leaders, traditional rulers and the leader of thought in the state have continued to voice out their disapproval of the ugly trend. They have maintained their stand even after collecting their own SUVs and other ancillary seal-your-mouth gifts that have been spread around by Obi, recently. His initial toga of frugality has just thawed, unveiling a desperate man eager to buy every person and organization with his poisoned chalice of all sorts of gifts veiled in trickery. Few accountants is all it would take to set the ball rolling at the appropriate time. It’s surely too early to rock the boat in Cambodia, Haiti, South Africa, Bangladesh and Dubai….?
COUNCIL POLL AND ANSIEC
It’s heart-breaking that Prof Titus Eze, an erudite university don who returned to the lecture hall at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University from tour of duty in a couple of states in the country as Federal Electoral commissioner (REC) was persuaded into accepting to chair the state’s electoral commission(ANSIEC), but is facing a nightmare there. Today Obi’s national chairman who everyone knows supposed to be speaking from the point of an insider has affirmed that Eze committed no offence. But Obi sees it differently. The man was still holding meetings on the expected council election when he was announced dismissed from duty, for misappropriation of funds as shown in a query by the accountant general of Local Government then. Eze till maintained he neither got any query nor the account in question. He quickly went to assert his innocence and redeem his image in court. But Obi, through his legal officers sat on the progress of the case till date when they sensed the matter was too open for manipulation in court.
NGIGE AND THE BOKO HARAM BURDEN:
Political watchers in the state lack of geo-balance and respect for the sensibilities of the electorate by the key players in the newly formed All Progressives Congress(APC) as the greatest headache Dr Chris Ngige would have. In addition, many of those who hitherto were close to him have vowed to oppose him very closely too, this time. Their reasons were similar and personal- he underrates loyalty.
His new APC was equally accused of lacking sense of fair distribution of anything, not even the party positions. It’s all about Mohammed, Ahmed, and co. So, the electorates in the state want to know from Ngige when the new Buhari/Tinubu broth would give bearing to the Chris’ and souls of their brothers, sisters and relations and friends that Boko Haram bombs mistakenly blew to pieces? When souls these poor souls be politically laid to rest properly?
IFEANYI UBAH’s MANY WARS:
This is a very energetic youngman with visible burning zeal to better the lot of the masses, but the Nigerian factor has clearly become his greatest undoing. Predictably he would be visited with more issues ahead the security clearance for the election. It’s indeed worrisome that despite his wars with the federal agents/agencies he has chosen to surround himself with the worst kind of political bed-mates in the state. Ranging from his so-called think-tank, directors of this and that, he has shown the world the kind of governance he would unleash on the state. What a pity. He needs to visit a political dry cleaner because money is no longer everything, particularly to credible citizens. He however needs all the goodwill wishes as the jamboree lasts.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
”The claim that the igbo helped to develop Lagos is hogwash. The major institutions of the south-west were developed by the diligence, hard-work, industry and sweat of the yoruba people. This is a historical fact” Femi Fani-Kayode I posted these words on my facebook wall as a fall out from the hot debate that was generated after the relocation from Lagos of 19 igbo destitutes to Anambra state by the Lagos State Government and Governor Fashola and suddenly all hell broke loose. Needless to say I stand by every word that I wrote in the post and those that do not share my view are free to hold their own opinion. My assertion is based on history and knowledge and not emotion. The facts are clear and the records speak for themselves. I will go no further than that because it is about time that Nigerians learnt to do their own research and studied their own history. I will not allow the mob mentality or emotion becloud my thinking or intimidate me into distorting the truth.
The Igbo had little to do with the development of Lagos between 1890 up till today and that is a fact. Other than Ajegunle, Computer Town, Alaba and buying up a few market stalls in Isale Eko where is their input? Meanwhile the yoruba and Lagos were very gracious to them and not only allowed them to return after the civil war to claim their properties and jobs but we welcomed them with open arms and allowed them to flourish in our land. This is something that they have never done for our people in the east. Now some of them have the effrontery to call our land and the land of our forefathers (I am half Lagosian and was brought up in Lagos) ”no-man’s land” and others have the nerve to assert that up to 50 per cent of the development in Lagos came as a consequence of the input of the Igbo. This is utter rubbish.
Those that do not know any better ought to go and learn rather than vent their hostilities and ignorance against me here. I am not a tribalist but a great believer in Nigeria and a historian. I will not distort the facts of history just to keep some people happy. The history of the yoruba and of Lagos particularly is very well known to me and the fact that Lagosians and the yoruba generally are so generous and accomodating in their ways and to non-indegenees that settle in their territory should not be mistaken for stupidity or weakness. We know our history, we know who we are, we know who and what developed our land and made it into what it is and we urge thosethsat yearn to be like us to go and emulate our efforts and attitude to non-indigenees and hard work in their own state of origin.
I have nothing against m fellow Nigerians from other parts of the country and I have proved over and over again that I love Nigeria and that I am a Nigerian before anything else. However if, in the twisted imagination of some speaking the truth about the history and development of Lagos makes me a tribalist, then tribalist I am. Servants of truth do not fear such labels and are often hated and misunderstood. If I was worried about what others though of me I would have stopped writing essays long ago.
Meanwhile permit me to recommend to all and sundry to read and learn from the following words of an insightful aburo by the name of Mr. Sina Fagbenro-Byron. He has had the courage to analyse the matter in a very honest, clear and forthright manner and he has spoken the truth. Let us hope that those that have no knowledge of that truth are humble enough to learn from it. He wrote-
”It has become a recent habit by a number of our young Igbo brethren to refer to Lagos as a ‘no-man’s land. The great Zik, Mbadiwe, Mbonu Ojike, Ajuluchukwu, Opara etc would never have made such statements as they knew better. It is not only unfair but in extremely bad taste apart from the fact that it is historically false. How can you call a land that has had over 400 years of traditional rulership and cultural definition as a no man’s land.? It shows contempt for the indigenes, ingratitude of hospitality and a betrayal of ones host. The late Herbert Macauley( a Yoruba Lagosian) on his dying bed endorsed Zik as successor leader of the NCNC because of his nationalism, intellectual sagacity and it was endorsed by a group of Yoruba elders and not by any Igbo population who is anycase were infinitesimal as at the time, for Chinua Achebe records in his book, and we can roughly confirm that there were not more than a few thousand Igbos in Lagos before the civil war. So after having been received, accomodated by their host Yorubas since the 1940s a generation that is ignorant of history and careless of historical relationship refer to Lagos as no mans land, this attitude is the cause of the perenial Jos crisis amongst others. When the military stopped the teaching of history in schools in the 1980s, we knew that by allowing them we courted confusion, but it was deliberate. Up til1968 , Mushin, Apapa, Ikeja, were all part of the Western Region. The English treaty was with the Oba of Eko Ile,(Lagos). Lagos traditional families all are Yoruba and the founder of Eko was Ogunfunminire who migrated from Ife before the 16th century. Lagos traditional Obaship was confirmed on behalf of the Oduduwa dynasty. If we consider it unfair to call Igbo property ‘abandoned property’ after the civil war, why should they refer to another mans backyard as no man’s land. Lagos had been the commercial nerve center of West Africa befor Nigeria was created and this was attributable to the welcoming attitude of coastal Yorubas, which was first betrayed by the Portugese who introduced slave trade, the Kiriji war and the 100 year Yoruba civil war of 1769-1869 also saw a huge population from the other Yoruba Hinterland moving to Lagos to procure salt, guns,seek out their frred slave brethren etc and these led to the growth of Lagos. Since independence and after the civil war other Nigerians have made Lagos a home for themselves , but none have been so unkind as to call Lagos a no mans land. Igbos who say this and claim credit for the development of Lagos shouls remember that the first Industrial Estate in Nigeria was built by Awolowo in Ikeja as Premier of the West and the Western house on Broad street has significant historical importance. I would urge my Igbo brethren not to make true the words of Sardauna when he described the Igbos as having a tendency to come in as visitors and seek to claim ownership to the excusion of indigens, if Onitcha or Abakaliki is not no mans land why should Lagos be. Imagine how our Niger Delta brethren will feel if we refer to their space on God’s earth as no mans Land?”
Fagbemi-Byron has hit the nail on the head and I wholeheartedly commend him. Frankly I could not have put it better myself. How I wish that more of those that are in the younger generation today would indulge in the type of research and scholarship that this young man has obviously done. He, and those that value truth and knowledge like him, are the true Nigerians and thankfully there are many like him in every tribe and nationality in this great country. May God grant them the courage to speak out and cure the ignorant of their ignorance.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The policemen accused of collaborating with hoodlums to kill two youths in Badagry, Lagos State, have been arrested.
They were arrested on Friday, according to the police authorities.
However, a new video made available to our correspondent identified two of the policemen as Inspector Adefemi Ashogbon, who is the station officer of the Badagry Police Division, and one Sergeant John Sonayon.
The two policemen and four other yet-to-be-identified policemen could be seen at the scene watching hoodlums beat the victims to death.
While Ashogbon and Sonayon were in the midst of the crowd, the four yet-to-be-identified policemen could be seen standing beside a white police patrol vehicle.
Ashogbon, who wore a green pullover and holding an AK47 rifle in the video, was the policeman that interviewed the victims during their torture.
It was learnt that the two policemen and some of the hoodlums had been arrested.
PUNCH Metro had reported that two youths, Ifechukwude Nwaikpor, and one Kazeem, were lynched in Ajara, Badagry, on July 21, 2013.
Nwaikpor, a final year student of Geology and Mining, and Kazeem were beaten to death after a misunderstanding with residents of the area.
PUNCH Metro learnt that at least eight people had been arrested over the incident. The state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, had set up a special team of policemen to handle the matter.
Manko exonerated the victims of robbery last Thursday and berated the Divisional Police Officer, Badagry Division, CSP Mohammed Dankoli, for unprofessional conduct.
He had said, “The Divisional Police Officer did not present the matter to us the way it happened. When we started asking questions, we discovered that the two people, who were killed, were not armed robbers contrary to what the DPO told us. When we saw the video clips and watched the way those boys were killed, we told ourselves that we would be failing in our duties if we fail to bring everyone involved to justice.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said all the policemen in the video had been arrested.
“Investigations are ongoing. The outcome of the investigations will be made public in due course,” she added.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
DETROIT — For retiree Gerald Wilcox, Detroit's bankruptcy came as a one-two punch.
The first blow took aim at his pension, which he fears is in jeopardy; the second paralyzed his malicious-prosecution lawsuit against the city of Detroit — a case that makes his blood boil.
Wilcox, a married father of three who worked two decades for the city as a bus mechanic and maintenance worker, was arrested in January and jailed for 16 days for an armed robbery he never committed. The police had the wrong Gerald Wilcox, records show, and Wilcox was cleared.
"I want these officers to know what they did was wrong. And I want the city and everyone involved to pay financially," said Wilcox, who vividly recalls his wife calling the precinct all night long, telling officers, "You've got the wrong guy."
Wilcox, who fears justice might be out of his reach, is not alone.
According to the city of Detroit's Law Department, the city gets hit with 600 to 700 lawsuits in any given year. But those suits now are on hold, with plaintiffs getting bad news by the day about their cases being stayed because of the bankruptcy. Now, many fear they might not see their cases resolved. Others worry they'll just get measly settlements.
The city is urging plaintiffs to sit tight and wait.
"This is to give the city breathing room, so to speak, to settle its bankruptcy issues and to restructure without the distraction of ongoing and pending lawsuits," said Bill Nowling, spokesman for Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr.
According to Nowling, one of Orr's goals is to help Detroit limit the number of frivolous and nuisance lawsuits it gets hit with each year, noting the city spends about $20 million annually settling legal claims against it. He also noted that when the city comes out of bankruptcy, the civil lawsuits will start up where they left off.
"Everyone will have due process, and their cases will be heard," Nowling said.
'A slap in the face'
Attorney Julie Hurwitz doesn't buy it.
"That is not the way it works," said Hurwitz, who said she took a crash course in bankruptcy law that has her bracing for the worst: The lawsuits either will be discharged completely, she said, or plaintiffs will get offered "pennies on the dollar."
"Our clients' due process rights to their day in court have been ripped out from under them," said Hurwitz, whose firm has four civil suits pending against the city. "The vindication of our clients' constitutional rights are going down the toilet."
She stressed: "There are definitely human lives that are being decimated by this travesty."
Deborah Ryan of Canton is suing the city over the 2009 death of her daughter Patricia (Katie) Williams, a Detroit police officer who was shot and killed in a murder-suicide by her husband, who also was a police officer in the Detroit homicide unit.
"Our lives stopped that day," said a tearful Ryan. She believes the city owes her family an apology, claiming Detroit police went out of their way to protect one of their own: the husband.
"They forgot that my daughter also was one of their own. Why didn't they protect her?" Ryan said. "She loved the city of Detroit. And she loved her job as a police officer."
Ryan, meanwhile, hopes to persuade the bankruptcy court to let her case proceed — an option that's open to all plaintiffs — arguing she has suffered long enough, and so has her daughter's now 13-year-old son.
"This is just a slap in the face to our family," Ryan said of the lawsuit getting put on hold. "I just want to go forward. We've waited a long time — a long time. We just want to move on. … And I want my grandson to know I'm doing everything for his mom, and that she did not die in vain."
In court documents, the city has denied any wrongdoing.
The city also denied showing favoritism to the husband, stating "there is no evidence" that he was treated differently "because he was a police officer. In fact, the argument is counterintuitive, given Patricia (Katie) Williams was also a Detroit police officer."
Delay 'is injustice'
Ryan, though, is crying injustice, as are plenty of others whose cases are now in limbo.
On Tuesday alone, for example, six police brutality cases against the city were put on hold, as was a woman's lawsuit that claimed the city wrongfully damaged her apartment building during a demolition project.
For constitutional scholars and plaintiff lawyers, Detroit's bankruptcy highlights an all-too-common problem in the courts: delayed justice.
"Justice delayed is injustice," said attorney Wolfgang Mueller, who represents Wilcox and a handful of other plaintiffs suing the city for police misconduct, unlawful arrests and malicious prosecution.
FULL COVERAGE: Coverage from Detroit Free Press
Mueller said he's used to the city delaying lawsuits, but that the bankruptcy is just making it worse.
"The City of Detroit's typical tactic has been to delay. … This obviously is a different animal," Mueller said.
Then there is the Mike's Hard Lemonade plaintiff, Christopher Ratte of Ann Arbor, Mich., whose 2008 ordeal at a Detroit Tigers game landed his 7-year-old son in state custody and him being ordered out of his house.
Ratte accidentally bought his son a Mike's Hard Lemonade at the baseball game, landing him in court. He didn't know it contained alcohol, and the case was eventually dismissed. But it prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge a state law that lets police remove kids from their parents without proving the children are in actual danger.
The bankruptcy has snagged that lawsuit, too, even though it's not about money.
"We don't want these important constitutional issues to be thrown out along with the city's debts," said Rana Elmir, deputy director of the Michigan ACLU, who is baffled by what's going on. "Our No. 1 priority is to vindicate the constitutional rights of our clients and for policy change, so we don't see ourselves as a creditor."
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes, who is overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy, appears to be taking some action to help the aggrieved civil suit plaintiffs. On Friday, he suggested that a committee be formed to handle what he expects will be a huge volume of requests from civil plaintiffs seeking relief. While all civil suits have been frozen, plaintiffs can still petition the court and ask for a continuance.
"I think the last thing any of us wants is a flood of motions," Rhodes said, later adding, "It seems to me we ought to think about a way to manage that potential chaos." Heather Lennox, a Jones Day attorney who is representing the city in the bankruptcy case, said the city is already working out a solution to this issue. She did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, Elmir of the ACLU remains baffled that constitutional issues have been put on hold because of Detroit's financial woes.
"It's surprising to be lumped into the same category of creditors and banks," Elmir said. "That's a first for us."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan has launched the world's first talking humanoid robot "astronaut" toward the International Space Station.
Kirobo — derived from the Japanese words for "hope" and "robot" — was among five tons of supplies and machinery on a rocket launched Sunday from Tanegashima in southwestern Japan, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said.
The childlike robot was designed to be a companion for astronaut Koichi Wakata and will communicate with another robot on Earth, according to developers. Wakata is expected to arrive at the space station in November.
Robot designer Tomotaka Takahashi, of the University of Tokyo, advertiser Dentsu and automaker Toyota Motor Corp. worked on the robot.
The challenge was making sure it could move and talk where there was no gravity.
Ahead of the launch, the 13-inch tall Kirobo told reporters, "one small step for me, a giant leap for robots."
Japan boasts the most sophisticated robotics in the world, but because of its "manga" culture, it tends to favor cute robots with human-like characteristics with emotional appeal, a use of technology that has at times drawn criticism for being not productive.
But Takahashi said sending a robot into space could help write a new chapter in the history of communication.
"I wish for this robot to function as a mediator between person and machine, or person and Internet and sometimes even between people," he said.
JAXA said the rocket launch was successful, and the separation of a cargo vehicle, carrying the robot to the space station, was confirmed about 15 minutes after liftoff.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
WASHINGTON — The latest in a summer-long string of sexual assault crises for the military — news that 60 sexual assault counselors, recruiters and drill instructors have been relieved of their jobs — has forced the Pentagon to explain its effort to combat the problem.
The services' reviews of their backgrounds had found violations related to alcohol, child abuse and sexual assault, according to records obtained by USA TODAY.
"We're looking at every possible option as we tackle this problem head on," Air Force Col. Edward Thomas, spokesman for Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday.
"This issue is particularly troubling because crimes of this nature, committed within our ranks and against our own, violate the very trust which is the foundation of our military," Thomas said. "We are moving in the right direction through a great deal of command attention as well as some changes in how we address sexual assaults. This will be a long-term effort and much work remains."
The removal of 60 troops from sensitive positions is wise, said Taryn Meeks, executive director for Protect Our Defenders, a group that advocates for survivors of sexual assault in the military. But Meeks questioned how the military allowed them to get the jobs in the first place.
"It's clear that the military wasn't properly screening the people it assigned to these specialized billets or responsibilities which demonstrates yet another example of failure by self-regulation," Meeks said.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered that the records of recruiters and sexual assault counselors be examined on May 17. That action came in light of the Pentagon's report in May that estimated 26,000 troops had been sexually assaulted in 2012, a 35% increase since 2010, with offenses ranging from groping to rape. Dempsey has called sexual assault in the military a crisis.
The records of at least 35,000 troops have been screened or are under review, according to the services.
Each of the services appears to have interpreted Hagel's directive differently. The Marines screened recruiters, for example, against a public database, while the Army considered criminal records for sexual assault, child abuse and alcohol-related offenses.
The Army has suspended 55 soldiers, according to figures compiled through mid-July, said George Wright, an Army spokesman. In all, it is looking at 20,000 recruiters, sexual-assault counselors and drill instructors and expects to have completed its screening by Oct. 1. More suspensions could occur as the review continues.
It is unclear whether the suspended soldiers have been discharged, Wright said, or if they can be reassigned to other units.
"We only want the very best to be in these positions of special trust," Wright said. "The steps we are taking are in keeping with our commitment to maintaining the special bonds of trust and confidence between the leader and his or her soldiers."
The Navy disqualified three of 5,125 recruiters it reviewed, and two of 4,739 counselors. It reviewed records of 869 recruit instructors; none of them was disqualified.
"We are committed to this process and routinely screen personnel for any conduct that could warrant decertification," said Tammy O'Rourke, the Navy's sexual assault prevention and response program manager.
The Air Force reported no airmen were disqualified but did not report an overall number. The Marines screened its recruiters against the National Sex Offenders Public website, according to a memo, and found no matches. About 6,000 Marine recruiters were screened.
Several high-profile sexual-assault scandals have rocked the military this year. The Air Force relieved the lieutenant colonel in charge of its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office following his arrest in May after police said he drunkenly groped a woman outside a bar not far from the Pentagon.
Also in May: The Army announced that it was investigating a sergeant in charge of a battalion's sexual assault prevention program at Fort Hood for suspicion of sexual assault. He is suspected of running a small-scale prostitution ring there, according to sources briefed on the case.
Congress summoned the service chiefs to Capitol Hill to explain their response to sexual assault, and a number of measures to address the issue could become law. Among them is a proposal to enhance oversight of commanders who make decisions about prosecution and discipline in sex crimes.
On Friday, Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee, joined several other lawmakers calling for more hearings on how the military prosecutes sexual assault cases.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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