Rev. Jolly Nyame, former governor of the Nigerian north eastern state of Taraba has added a new twist to his ongoing trial at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, as he told the court, presided over by Justice Adebukola Banjoko that the statements he made in June 2007 to the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, were made under duress.

The former governor who was first arraigned in 2007 by the EFCC is facing a 41 count charge for criminal breach of trust and mismanagement of N1.36 billion.

At the resumed hearing today, Nyame through his lawyer H.T Fajimite opposed the tendering of the statements he made during interrogation in 2007 on the grounds that they were made under duress, threat and promise of an advantage hence should not be admitted.

Rev Jolly Nyame, Taraba state former governor.

His opposition to the tendering of the document came during the cross examination of Galadima Ibrahim, a member of the investigating team.

In his reaction, counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacob noted that the statements were made voluntarily and without any form of duress. He stated that opposing the admissibility of the document was simply a time wasting ploy by the defence.
Justice Banjoko said it was necessary to determine the voluntariness or otherwise of the statements.

Another witness Mr. Ilyasu Kwarbai who was the head of the team that investigated the case, told the court that the accused person was neither threatened nor harassed and that he was released around 4:00 pm after his interrogation.

He denied that there were contradictions in any of the testimonies of the witnesses and the case diary. The defence had prayed the court to compel prosecution team to produce the case diary to prove otherwise.

Justice Banjoko ordered the defence team to come formally by filing the necessary applications and furnish same to the prosecution while fixing 12 June 2013 for adoption of all written addresses.

Nyame’s case like many others have suffered setbacks through frivolous applications and injunctions aimed at delaying trial.

Nyame’s application was dismissed at the Supreme Court in 2010 where he was ordered to return to the FCT High Court to face his trial.

Governor Sullivan Chime of the eastern Nigerian state of Enugu was conspicuously missing on Thursday at the burial rites for the literary icon, Chinua Achebe in the neighbouring Anambra state.

The Governor did not also attend the Church service and the burial in Achebe’s family compound in Ogidi, setting tongues wagging about his health.

On the same day, Chime, battling with cancer of the nose, also sent his commissioner for health to represent him at an event in Nsukka, where the council launched maternal and new born health week.

Gov. Sullivan Chime: missing in action

There, Chime’s representative, Dr. Fidelis Ugwu conveyed the Governor’s message, calling on mothers to take immunisation of their children more seriously.

Chime also urged traditional rulers and other stakeholders to assist the state to achieve its objectives in child immunisation and maternal health care.

“Mothers are advised to take their children of between one year and five years to the nearest health centres for free treatment and gifts from today till five days the week will last.

“As traditional rulers of your communities, always ensure that information on immunisation gets to every part of your community.

“With healthy children and mothers, we will have healthy and productive nation,’’ he said

Chime commended the Chairman of the local government, Mr Tony Ugwu, for employing more than 200 health workers as well as distributing free drugs to health centres in the area.

“It is in line with the state’s vision to ensure that adequate health care is provided for all residents. With adequate health care, infant and maternal mortality will be reduced to the minimum.

“The aim of the week is to ensure that mothers and children who are the most vulnerable groups are given adequate attention,” he said.

The UNICEF Assistant Representative in Enugu State, Mr Charles Nzuki, said the week was endorsed by the National Council on Health at Asaba three years ago, with the aim of delivering an integrated high impact maternal, new born and child interventions.

He said UNICEF was delighted with the high level of commitment shown by the state in delivering robust health services for children, mothers and pregnant women in the state.

“The overall goal is to provide access to prevention and promotion of healthcare for mothers, new born and pregnant women,” he said

Some 500 pregnant and nursing mothers from different areas attended the ceremony at the Government Field, Nsukka.

In form, Serena Williams is favoured to win a second French Open title, but her record at Roland Garros would prompt her to approach the task with apprehension and some fear of the “lady in the mirror”.

Williams is world number one, unbeaten in 24 matches and has won four consecutive tournaments, yet she remains diffident after last year’s debacle when she exited in the first round.

It was 11 years since she tamed the Parisian dust for the first and only time in 2002.

Last year’s queen of the clay, Maria Sharapova, has already lost two 2013 finals to Williams, while her hopes of laying down a marker in the last warm-up event in Rome were hit by illness.

World number three, Victoria Azarenka, got one over Williams in Doha, but was so comprehensively demolished by the American in the Rome final that she is likely to be nursing psychological scars that have little time to heal.

Last year’s semi-finalist, Sam Stosur, with a high-kick serve and heavy top-spin ground strokes, has not been past the quarter-finals in any event this year.

There is, however, one opponent who Williams fears could cause an upset – the enemy within.

Serena Williams: will she win in Paris?

“Whoever I play is my opponent and also the lady in the mirror is the ultimate opponent for me.

“So I have to be cautious and go for every point,” she said, after swatting aside Azarenka 6-1 6-3 in Italy.

“Last year, I was feeling excellent but didn’t do great and this year I am cautious and I want to work hard and stay focused.

“I don’t feel any pressure but in the past, I have and, as I have always said, I have won every grand slam.”

Since creaking under the strain at last year’s event, she has re-established her grip on the game that has delivered 15 grand-slam singles titles and more than $44 million in prize money.

She won Wimbledon for the fifth time a month after capitulating in Paris and followed that with a fourth U.S. Open title.

Manchester Evening News has lifted the fog over the identity of the British soldier brutally hacked to death by two Britons, of Nigerian origin, in Woolwich, London on Wednesday.

He was 25 year-old Lee Rigby, from Crumpsall in Manchester, who had served in Afghanistan.

Rigby: the soldier hacked to death by 2 Nigerian-Britons. Photo: Manchester Evening News

He served with the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and was killed just yards away from the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Lieutenant Colonel Jim Taylor, commanding officer of the Second Fusiliers, led tributes to the father-of-one today, whom he described as a “dedicated and professional soldier”.

“He was a real character within the Second Fusiliers,” Lt Col Taylor said.

Rigby on his wedding day. Photo Manchester Evening News

“Larger than life, he was at the heart of our Corps of Drums. An experienced and talented side drummer and machine gunner, he was a true warrior and served with distinction in Afghanistan, Germany and Cyprus.

“His ability, talent and personality made him a natural choice to work in the recruiting group. He will be sorely missed by everyone in the Second Fusiliers.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this incredibly difficult time. Once a Fusilier, Always a Fusilier.”

.Reported by Manchester Evening News

Government of the Nigerian central state of Kwara has announced the proscription of the Offa and Erin-Ile branches of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, over their roles in this year’s violent clashes between the two communities.

The two neighbouring communities in Offa and Oyun local government areas of the state were early this year embroiled in violent clashes leading to loss of lives and destruction of properties worth millions of naira.

Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, who breifed the press on Thursday 23 May in Ilorin, Kwara state capital, after the state’s executive council meeting, said the report of the judicial commission of enquiry set up by the state government and submitted early this month blamed the two unions as the masterminds of the perennial clashes between the two communities.

He said: “The Offa and Erin-Ile branches of NURTW and RTEAN, having been implicated in the immediate causes of the communal crises between both communities due to their intransigence, are hereby proscribed.

“The proscription will remain in effect until the unions demonstrate that they have imbibed the spirit of cooperation and peaceful coexistence.

“Furthermore, government has directed that Ajegunle and Idi-Agba motor parks in Offa and Erin-Ile, which were identified as major sources of recurring rancour between the two communities are unauthorised and should therefore, be closed down while the, ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs is to ensure that the motor parks which comply with the statutory distance of five kilometres between the two communities are restored.”

Isiaka further said that the Council resolved that the traditional rulers of the two communities should be prevailed upon to harmoniously enter into covenant of peaceful coexistence between the two communities in the interest of long-term peaceful coexistence, development and equity, while the duo should also accept the unity road created as a buffer zone by the state government in the interest of peace and harmonious coexistence. Both communities, he added, must imbibe the spirit of give and take as well as cooperation in view of the fact that land is a natural endowment from God.

The state government had similarly sacked the chairmen of the affected councils in the wake of the crisis.

Families of 40 police officers who were among those killed in the 20 January 2012 coordinated attacks by Boko Haram members in Kano, northwest Nigeria cried out to the Federal Government on Thursday, saying 16 months after they lost their loved ones who died serving the country, they were yet to receive any form of compensation from the government.

Authorities of Kano state Police Command while reviewing terrorist attacks in Kano to the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North said though a number of men and officers died, the Command in the face of mounting challenges matched the terrorists.

They appealed to members of the Committee who visited the Command to receive information on how the terrorists penetrated police facilities, to take up the case of the bereaved families who have been abandoned to their fate.

Police also disclosed that over 6000 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were intercepted by the Command’s Bomb Disposal Unit, most of which were detonated. The visitors were taken round the Police headquarters where they inspected assorted explosives seized from suspected militants of the Islamic sect.

Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Kabiru Taminu Turaki (SAN) told the bereaved families that, “you are not going to be abandoned, you are not going to be rejected, we will take your case to the Federal Government; and through our recommendations, Mr. President will surely attend to your needs and support you.”

He added that the government is not insensitive to their plights and therefore would ensure that their families, particularly, the children won’t suffer, “they will be well taken care of in terms of their education and other welfare.”

He also used the occasion to evaluate the gains so far recorded by the Committee, saying that the Federal Government decision to release the vulnerable suspects of the Boko Haram sect in various detention centres across the country was part of the Committee’s recommendation and measures towards ensuring speedy resolution of the conflict.

He noted that their mission to Kano was to have interactive session with stakeholders, “we have received more information, more advice that will enable us go about the assignment with more sense of understanding.”

Turaki also assured that the Emergency Rule in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa would not jeopardize the activities of the Committee, pointing out that, “there is no contradiction between the Emergency Rule and the Committee. Nigeria is not at war. Even in countries where there is war, dialogue is also applied.

“No responsible government will sit down and allow a group of individuals to threaten lives and properties. The issue is that those who want to take the option of dialogue will have it; and those who want to continue to fight will continue to fight.”

Abiodun Onafuye/ Abeokuta

Over 20 officials from the Ogun State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology have been arrested by the Police in connection with the N200 million WAEC fees scam in the Ministry.

Twenty two officials, which include all the 20 Zonal Education Officers, ZEO and a Director simply identified as Pastor and a Deputy Director are currently been interrogated by the Police at the Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta.

On Tuesday, the Police had arrested two officials for allegedly inflating the number of candidates in the State Public Secondary schools enrolled for the WASC examinations. Ogun state government bankrolls the payment of the fees for all its students.

The two officials initially arrested were the Zonal Education Ofiicer, ZEO of Ijebu Ode, Mrs Coker and her Ifo counterpart.

The State government through the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa had issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the scam.

A source from the Ministry confirmed the arrest of the officials to our correspondent this morning, saying that more people are still going to be arrested as the amount in question is even more than the N200 million being reported now.

According to the source, ” Yes, as I am speaking with you, all the ZEO in the State and a Director and his Deputy are currently at Eleweran assisting the police in unravel the scam. And I can confirm to you that more people are still going to be arrested because the scam has been in place in the last three academic sessions. If the Police truly work, they will get to know that the money is even m ore than N200 million”, the source revealed.

Meanwhile, the State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Olusegun Odubela has denied having knowledge about
any fraud in the Ministry, urging members of the public to furnish the Police with necessary information that will assist it to unravel the mystery behind the N200 million fraud detected in the Ministry.

The Commissioner stated this today during the Ministerial Press Briefing on his Ministry activities to mark the second
anniversary of the Amosun administration.

Odubela confirmed that all the officials of the Ministry indicted in the scam have been handed over to the Police, promising that it will not hesitate to hand over others that found culpable in the alleged fraud.

He added that the State government will not fold its arm to allow such dastardly act to continue, assuring that the outcome from the Police would form part of its mechanism to checkmate such act in future.

Odubela promised that the Ministry will not condone any form of fraud that will hinder the government’s massive investment
in education sector.

By Ben Nanaghan

Zimbabwe’s Solomon Madzore must be cooling off in a Zimbabwean detention camp right now. His crime: he called President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s President for life, “a limping donkey who should be put out to pasture”. And even a court ruling to set him free was brushed aside by President Mugabe who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980.

Our own President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is not as lucky. His is the reverse of President Mugabe’s despotic totalitarianism. Even with Jonathan’s neoliberalism, humble disposition and cautious leadership, the northern elite has devised and enthroned various stumbling blocks for the abortion and demise of the Jonathan Presidency.

But by far the President’s biggest cross and most successful Northern strategy to confuse and distract President Goodluck Jonathan and to even make his tenure as President an intimidating “ass ache” is the northern introduction of boko haram.

And so President Jonathan has to placate the North to even keep his job as the North is in a great hurry to take over the reins of power. And so all the high calibre positions have to go to the North. The National Security Adviser (NSA) the Inspector general of Police, the Comptroller General of Customs. In the Police, Customs and Excise and many other Federal Parastatals, the top management is grossly skewed to favour Northern Officers who in some cases have over 70% in the top management echelon.

For instance the Nigerian Police Force has about 22 Assistant Inspectors General of Police in 12 police zonal Commands. Out of these 22 AIGS, there is none from the South Eastern State. Out of 9 newly promoted commissioners of police on 3rd of May, 2013, only one is of Southwestern Origin. All the other 8 commissioners are from Northern Nigeria. How pathetic.

These are the burdens the President has to bear. On March 12, 2013, the President granted unconditional pardon to Governor Alamieyeseigha and several others but the opposition nearly set the country ablaze just because the former governor is from the same state with the President.

Boko haram, which is a well refurbished and well engineered assemblage  of the old ill equipped, bow and arrow outfit, underwent both structural and organisational metamorphosis in anticipation of a President Goodluck Jonathan victory in the 2011 Presidential Election.

The creators of boko haram are the untouchable northern elite who sit in mountain castles overseeing the ungovernableness of Nigeria. But recent observations reveal that the sponsors of the present boko haram have almost lost control over the bloodsucking organization.  Boko haram has therefore become a Frankenstein to its sponsors who have reduced sponsorship to the consternation of the boko haram leaders. The boko haram leaders themselves have now resorted to executive kidnapping to raise enormous capital for their capital-intensive venture whose ultimate aim is to rubbish, intimidate and overthrow the President Jonathan administration.

Indeed boko haram is the greatest cross President Jonathan has to bear throughout his presidency and maybe for ever as he may later have reasons to blame himself for not stamping out the menace once and for all.

These  and so many unfortunate problems are just a tiny piece of the cross President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has to bear for defying the northern declaration of making Nigeria ungovernable if a Northerner is not allowed to rule this country.

I could not pacify the frayed nerves of one Dan Asonye who phoned  in from Port Harcourt with fury asking  me  why the House of Representatives is inviting Asari Dokubo for questioning when they have not questioned former President Muhammadu Buhari who cued  the boko haram uprising by his post-2011 Presidential election speech. Even recently Buhari promised fire and brimstone if the 2015 Presidential election is rigged.

It  surprises me also that the lawmakers are not also inviting  Mr. Farouk Adamu Aliyu, a former member of the House of Representatives who is also a CPC chieftain who said on 7th May, 2013 that it is either a northern President or no Nigeria.

I then told Mr. Dan Asonye that he has failed to see the difference between Buhari and Dokubo. Muhammadu Buhari is a Fulani of the Nigerian ruling class while Asari Dokubo is an Izon from the southsouth who could never aspire to be president of this “WAZOBIA” country even though his kinsman has by an inexplicable streak of goodluck pole-vaulted into the Hausa/Yoruba Presidential Club.

Asari Dokubo will defend himself comprehensively and make them realise that this country does not belong to the Hausa/Fulani alone, who have succeeded in holding the rest of us down with very bogus and fallacious census incongruities. He will tell them that this country was founded on a fatuous WAZOBIAn tripod. Nothing was done to assure the minority of an equality status in a Nigerian Federation.

On a daily basis boko haram has continued pouring its undiluted venom on the Nigerian population, pillaging, burning, raping, killing, maiming all the way with a Federal Government political advantage over the army. I am aware that the Nigerian Army is bound by a Federal Government Code of Conduct in its fight against boko haram. This unwarranted restriction to pacify the North’s greatest advocates of boko haram is another cross weighing heavily on Jonathan’s shoulders.

Baga, a small fishing village was a boko haram base until the army attacked on Tuesday, 17 April, 2013. The Northern sponsors of boko haram mobilised even the southern press to hype the attack to celebrate and elevate boko haram. The press gave outrageous figures to embarrass the President Jonathan administration, giving the Baga casualty figures as 185 dead and 3000 houses razed down. And most Nigerians believe this cock and bull story in a small fishing camp with far less than 1000 houses, according to the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA). The press also blew up the story without verification to say Baga was littered with mass graves. Separate reports by the Chief of Defence Staff, NEMA, Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development confirm that there are only two graveyards in Baga- with 32 fresh graves and the Kukawa Local Government Area  Chairman confirmed that  Muslims do not allow two corpses in a grave.

Local and international press put the burnt houses at 3000 in a tiny fishing camp with mainly thatch roofed houses. Who built 3000 houses in Baga? A Nigerian Senator from one of the Northern States even mischievously put the number of burnt houses at 4000.

Even though all Nigerians know the real arsonists, the press found it more convenient to heap the blame on the multi-National Joint Taskforce led by General Edokpayi. Boko haram has never attacked their target without burning it down. It is their regular trade mark and the thatched roofs of Baga assisted the arson.

The internally displaced person’s (IDPs) camp as at 25th April, 2013, eight days after the attack recorded only 642 persons in a town with 4000 houses and may be 80000 people. There lies the lies of the Baga expedition.

My candid advice to the President is to deal with the boko haram issue as a crime against the state since boko haram leaders ridiculed the president’s amnesty programme. Politicizing the boko haram issue is another way of prolonging the sufferings and continued wastage of  Nigerian lives. Most Nigerians of Northern extraction are supportive of boko haram in their avowal to push out the President Jonathan administration. The northern journalists are always awash in their glorification and elevation of boko haram.

In 1980, it took frantic planning and scheming for the then governor of Kano State, the late Abubakar Rimi to get the assent of a reluctant President Shehu Aliu Shagari to involve the military in flushing out the Maitatsine menace. It took the military only one day to track down the dreaded Maitasine leader and when he was wasted, his followers fizzled out and many of them who came from Niger, Chad and Benin returned to their countries.

Who says these boko haram leaders and fighters are faceless? How can they be faceless, are they spirits? The communities in which they live know them very well. Their local government chairmen must definitely have information about them. They have neighbours and we deceive ourselves if we say the governors do not have any information about them.

The information leading to the discovery and eventual death of Osama Bin Laden was gleaned from one of his former bodyguards in far away Guantanamo Bay Prison facility in cuba

And in Bama on Tuesday 7th May 2013, these demonic savages struck again razing a police station to the ground and killing 22 officers. They also attacked a military barracks, killing 2 soldiers. They went to the Bama prison, killed 14 warders and freed 105 prisoners to swell their ranks. Four innocent civilians and 13 of the boko haram members lost their lives in the daredevil attack, thus totaling 55 dead.

For some Nigerians these are mere statistics. For some of us who have battered our humanity and conscience for a mess of pottage, these are mere figures.

But I am concerned by the mindless carnage perpetrated by boko haram on a daily basis, I am involved as part of my humanity is daily diminished. I am deeply concerned with such an eerie and Mephistophelean situation that has no end in sight. I am deeply worried. I am deeply traumatized.

These same boko haram infidels contrived to shoot down the President’s jet on his last visit to Borno State. This is because in terms of ground artillery, they have the same types of arsenal as the Nigerian Army. And they move in a convoy, yet we delude ourselves by saying that they are faceless, they are spirits. For instance in the Bama attack of 7th May, they came in a convoy of buses. They conquered and they escaped in the open glare of the whole world and yet some one is telling me boko haram is a faceless organization. I am convinced that someone, somewhere is being economical with the truth.

The amnesty issue for boko haram is a non-starter but because some of these same sponsors of the evil sect will make enormous profit, they have decided to egg the president on. The amnesty package we are told is about N20 million for each leader and M5mn for every boko haram fighter. If this tentative mouthwatering largesse is confirmed, how will the money be doled out? Who will dole out the billions of dollars to these faceless boko haram cultists? Will they now wear human faces? In actual fact, the amnesty advocates are more interested in what they will get from the amnesty largesse.

Most of these amnesty funds will go to these foreign almajiris from Chad, Niger and Benin who have truly been doing the killing because I shudder to think that my own fellow Nigerians will slit a human throat or plunge a long knife into a pregnant woman’s stomach and dislodge the unborn child. Nigeria, how deep have thou sunk into the quagmire of satanic iniquity?

All Nigerians must join hands to fight this great evil before it consumes us all, before it puts a wedge on this nation and splits us asunder.

•Nanaghan writes from Lagos. E-mail: bennanaghan@yahoo.com

The august gathering of eminent Nigerians under the aegis of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, SNPA, recently, in Lagos is welcome. The meeting is laudable as it frankly deliberated on the touchy issues threatening the country’s existence, as well as proffering some solutions, which are in sync with popular agitations by other change-seeking Nigerians.

Chief of their demand is the imperative for convocation of a national dialogue among ethnic nationalities.

The attendance of many of the dignitaries, who are known to favour the preservation of the nation as one, indivisible entity, suggested they have suddenly realised, like others who have always championed the cause of a national conference, the imminent danger facing the country if certain burning issues are not addressed now. More than the SNPA’s conference, it is trite to say that our parochial federalism, rather than be of benefit to the country’s ethnic nationalities, has entrenched divisive competitive interests, as well as prebendalism that are atavistic to modern trends. The country, since independence, has been on the path of retrogression and catastrophe, not by default, but because of a deliberate pretence to nationhood by an inept, self-seeking and visionless military/civilian traditional clique.

The wilful refusal of Nigeria’s cyclical power wielders to admit that the country is a living lie, and no more than a fatally paternalistic Leviathan strung to protect elite minority tyranny, betrays their devil-may-care adventurist inclinations to keep the people powerless, divided and poor. As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels noted in the Communist Manifesto, the executive branch of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the ruling class, and not the majority of the people! The country is ailed on all fronts –there is cry over marginalisation by ethnic groupings, religious riots, Islamic fundamentalists insurgency, self-determination tensions, mutual distrust and problem of political succession, skewed federalism, stinking corruption, among others. Nigeria, like Canada, is multi-cultural, yet the latter, through a referendum by the people, was able to resolve the tension between break-away seeking, French-speaking Quebec and English dominated Ontario, in favour of an indivisible sovereign state. Unity in diversity negates over-centralisation, as we practice it here. Federalism is better appreciated in a system, which guarantees the existence of a centripetal force, while preserving the autonomy of the centrifugal units. A situation, where the Federal Government, which is a mere abstraction to which the people surrender part of their rights, reduce the states to a beggarly status, is a violation of our social contract. It is important to stress the culpability of the National Assembly in assailing the people’s political sovereignty, as the ultimate decider of how they want to be governed. The piecemeal tinkering of the constitution and their selfish attempts to frustrate the convocation of a national dialogue give them away as conspirators against our collective will. The National Assembly must realise that authority and legitimacy flow from the people, who determine what should be retained, modified or repealed in the constitution through a plebiscite.  We join the SNPA and other change-seekers to demand convocation of a national dialogue. More importantly, the conveners of the conference should stretch a hand of brotherhood across the country to bring on board like minds from the north into its subsequent deliberation.

We urge President Goodluck Jonathan to earnestly put in motion machinery for the actualisation of the communique issued by the SNPA at the end of its deliberation.  This is the genuine Transformation Agenda the people seek.

He also blamed the country’s constitution for the poor implementation of laws enacted by the state Houses of Assembly.

Kolawole stated this while speaking with journalists Wednesday at a public hearing on a bill to establish an agency to fight for the rights of consumers in the state.

Residents of the state have often accused policemen of extorting money from them while taking advantage of some of the laws of the state.

One of such laws through which the police are accused of milking the residents is the Road Traffic Law which has only experienced partial implementation following more concentration on arrest of motorcycle riders (okada riders) even as several aspects of the law are not being implemented.

“We know we have a problem in Nigeria. This is the only country where we have a constitution that gives power to people to make laws at the state level but refuses to give the same power of enforcement to the state. It is a problem.

“You will therefore not want to blame us wholesale since there is something wrong with the constitution and the National Assembly is not doing enough to correct that.

“Concerning the Road Traffic Law of the state, the law is not limited to okada and that is why we are worried.

“Some members of this House have complained about the way the Nigeria police target that section that restricts okada more than other aspects of it,” he lamented, noting that the states of the federation were challenged because they do not have control over the police which is a federal agency headed by an Inspecor-General.

“Therefore, we have a whole lot of implementation problems and this is because of the defect in the constitution. I know one day we will get it right,” Kolawole added.

Concerning the harrowing experiences faced by the partial ban on okada, Kolawole disclosed that the state government has better plans to ease the transportation challenges faced by residents.

The new bill he briefed journalists about is titled A Bill For A Law To Establish The Consumer Protection Agency, Provide For The Protection Of The Interest Of Consumers, Settlement Of Consumer Disputes And For Connected Purposes.

It is aimed at addressing the issue of sale and purchase of unwholesome products in the state.

When the bill becomes law, it would assist consumers fight against exploitation and cheating.

During the media chat, Kolawole also said the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) is being rebranded through training of its personnel and expressed optimism that the officers would put into good use what they would learn.

—Eromosele Ebhomele

The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola and  the Lagos State Commisioner of Police, Mr Umar Manko are to teach 250 kids about crime prevention as part of activities to mark this year’s Children’s Day.

The event being organised by a security organisation, Crime Fighters Security Awareness,  is to educate Nigerian children on how  to avoid getting involved in crime in the society.

The director of the organization, Chief (Mrs) Aisha Tosan Agberebi, said the programme is to sensitise children because they are easily exposed and used to commit various crimes unconsciously.

She said the children were selected from various schools in Lagos State and Governor Fashola will deliver the keynote address, while Mr Umar Manko is the guest speaker.

She said Special Agent (DEA – United States of America Embassy) Kerry L. Brooks, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences – University of Lagos, Professor Omololu Soyombo amongst others will also address the children.

Agberebi said the programme slated for 27 May, 2013 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, is aimed at educating secondary school students on issues of security and crime prevention.

She explained that children in that catogory are usually used by adults to commit various crimes in the society and sometimes they find themselves committing those crimes without knowing the consequences.

She said the enlightment programme was meant to sensitise them and for them to be aware so that whenever they are asked to indulge in those crimes, they will say no, because they are aware of the consequences.

She said the programme which will be organised yearly, will take place in all schools in Nigeria, though it is starting from Lagos State and that it is significant and strategic to start on Children’s Day.

—Cyriacus Izuekwe

JETHRO IBILEKE/Ogidi

Prof. Chinua Achebe, the late Nigerian literary icon was buried this afternoon at his country home in Ogidi, headquarters of Idemili North local government area of Anambra state in a blaze of glory.

Leading hundreds of dignitaries from all over the world to bid Achebe final goodbye was President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan whose chopper touched down at about 10.50 am.

All governors of the eastern states were at the burial ceremony, with the exception of Sullivan Chime of Enugu state who was represented by his deputy. Delta state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan was also on hand to say bye for now to Achebe.

Also at the burial service which was held at the St. Phillips Anglican Church, Ogidi were eminent dignitaries from all works of life, including members of the international community of writers.

Achebe: Achebe’s first son Ikechukwu, with Governor Peter Obi and Secretary to the FG, Pius Anyim

Chief host at the event, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state walked beside the ambulance carrying the remains of Achebe from Achebe’s compound to the church premises.

In his homily, the Bishop of the Niger, Rev. Father Owen Nwokolo, urged Nigerian leaders to learn from Achebe who he said devoted his entire life to service to humanity.

Rev. Father Nwokolo called on the members of Achebe’s family to rejoice at the exit of their illustrious son because, in his word, “Chinua Achebe could not have lived a better life.”

•The late Chinua Achebe

Achebe’s final burial place. Photo: Jethro Ibileke/P.M.NEWS

Prof. Achebe was later interred at the tomb erected in his compound by priests from across the easter states.

Earlier on Thursday evening, the well-polished mahogany casket bearing the remains of Achebe arrived at the community town hall at about 5 p.m where he laid in state. His body arrived at his country home at exactly 6.30 pm where a service of songs was held in his honour by the Anglican Communium.

Wife of the late writer, Prof. Christie Achebe, took no consolation as she literarily fell on the Mercedes Benz ambulance bearing the casket and wept uncontrollably, just as women of the Achebe family also thronged the compound, wailing and calling out in Igbo language, Ugo na abo (two eagle on a tree), meaning that Achebe, a rare person has gone.

The officiating priest, Reverend Father Osita Amacheze, based his sermon on the subject, A Time for Everything. Reading from the Bible book of Eccliastes chapter 3, he said there was time for affair by man on the surface of the earth, adding that it was the time for Achebe to exit the earth.

He urged the congregation, friends and relatives of the departed not to mourn his exit since he lived a fulfilled life that touched millions of lives.

“We came to make a joyful shouting to the Lord. We are not here to mourn because we are here for a celebration of life, a life that has been so well spent, that has touched so many of us,” Rev. Father Amacheze said.

Performance by various traditional groups spiced up the night.

Dame Ngozi Ezejum, née Achebe, first niece of the Achebe family, described the late writer as a traditional man whom she had fond memories of during his days at the University of Ibadan.

“Prof. Achebe was a humble and a traditional man to the core. He was fond of me, being the first niece of the Achebe family. Whenever he return from Ibadan in those days, he did his own cooking. I ran errands for him in getting condiments for his cooking, and in return, he would entertain me with music from his gramophone,” Dame Ezejum told PM NWES.

In the delegation of international community of writers that accompanied the remains of Prof. Achebe from the US to his country home were scholars from the Department of African Studies of the University of Massachusetts, including Prof. Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, Prof. Bill Lawler and a host of others.

Japan’s number two carmaker Nissan said Thursday it would recall some 841,000 compact cars worldwide due to a steering wheel problem.

The recall will cover the Micra, known as the March in some markets, and Cube models produced in Japan and Britain between 2002 and 2006, a company spokeswoman said.

Nissan sold the cars — 763,000 units of Micra and 78,000 of Cube — in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, but has not received any accident reports related to the glitch, the spokeswoman said.

“A bolt in the steering wheel system may not be fastened appropriately, and in the worst-case scenario, the cars can’t be driven properly,” she said.

“We will fix the problem free of charge in accordance with regulations in each country.”

Nissan Micra recalled

The latest recall is another blow to the rock-steady reputation for safety and reliability that Japan’s huge automakers once had.

Last month four auto giants including Nissan said they were recalling nearly 3.4 million vehicles worldwide, in a blow for the country’s carmakers which once traded on a reputation for quality and reliability.

Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda, all cited the same malfunction of the Japanese-made passenger-side airbags.

In January Toyota said it would recall nearly 1.3 million vehicles globally over airbag and windscreen wiper problems.

At the end of last year Toyota said it had agreed to pay about $1.1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit launched by US vehicle owners affected by a series of mass recalls.

Despite its travails, Toyota recaptured the title of world’s biggest automaker from General Motors in 2012, selling 9.75 million vehicles around the planet.

Nissan’s recall report came after the Tokyo stock market closed Thursday with the benchmark Nikkei index down 7.32 percent. Nissan shares fell 3.86 percent to 1,168 yen

Two Britons of Nigerian origin have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder yesterday of a serving soldier in Woolwich, London. Media reports said today that the suspects however may not have links to Nigerian militant groups such as Islamist movement Boko Haram.

One of the two Nigerians, the one wielding bloodied knives before the camera, has been identified as Michael Adebolajo, son of devout Christian parents, who converted to Islam about 10 years ago. He is 28 years old.

“He converted around 2003 to Islam, before I met him and I knew him as his convert name Mujaheed when he used to attend our demonstrations and lectures,” claimed London cleric Anjem Choudary, according to Metro UK.

Choudary, himself a controversial imam in Britain and outspoken critic of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, called Adebolajo a “quiet” and “pleasant lad,” a report by Daily News said.

The self-proclaimed jihadi may have been a student at London’s University of Greenwich and lived in the area around 2004 and 2005. A spokeswoman for the school wouldn’t confirm Thursday whether he attended classes, said
Adebolajo is allegedly seen in a cellphone video clutching a bloodied knife and ranting just moments after the soldier was viciously slaughtered and beheaded Wednesday afternoon “like a piece of meat,” witnesses said.

Britain’s national security chiefs met on Thursday as counter-terrorism police investigated the murder of the soldier who was hacked to death in a London street by the suspects, believed to be Islamist extremists.

one of the nigerian killers

The second Nigerian killer, left, being confronted on the street

The suspects were shot by police after the gruesome attack and spent the night in separate hospitals under armed guard.

Wielding knives including a meat cleaver, the two men carried out the attack in broad daylight near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, then delivered an Islamist tirade to passers-by.

The victim has yet to be formally identified, but police confirmed he was a soldier.

Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the “appalling crime”, adding: “There are strong indications that it is a terrorist incident.”

He cut short a visit to Paris Wednesday to fly back for a meeting of the government’s emergency response committee, COBRA, which had already met in the hours following the attack.

The head of MI5, the domestic intelligence agency, attended Thursday’s meeting along with the defence and interior ministers, the head of Scotland Yard and London mayor Boris Johnson.

“There was an operational update from the police and agencies into the ongoing investigation and an update from the MOD (Ministry of Defence) on protective security,” Downing Street said after the meeting, shortly ahead of a statement by Cameron to the media.

The British flag was lowered over the Woolwich barracks — which was the venue for shooting events at the London 2012 Olympics — and flowers have been laid outside.

Lines of police were conducting searches near the murder scene early Thursday.

Chilling amateur footage of one of the suspects shows him with bloody hands and still holding a blood-stained knife and meat-cleaver, telling a member of the public: “You people will never be safe.”

“We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you,” adds the man, who is black and speaks in a London accent.

He went on to make various political statements in the video, including a demand for Cameron to “bring our troops back”.

Shocked eyewitnesses described how after the killing, at around 2:20 p.m (1320 GMT) on Wednesday, the men stayed at the scene asking passers-by to photograph and film them.

“I apologise that women have had to witness this today, but in our lands our women have to see the same,” said the suspect, who was wearing a hooded jacket and a black woolly hat.

“We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

Media reports citing witnesses said the men first ran over their victim in a car before finishing him off with the knives.

Several eyewitnesses said he had been decapitated.

Rapper Boya Dee, who witnessed the incident, wrote on his Twitter account: “Ohhhhh myyyy God!!!! I just see a man with his head chopped off right in front of my eyes!”

Reports said the victim was wearing a t-shirt bearing the logo of the British military charity Help for Heroes.

A female scout leader has shot to fame after she confronted the assailants shortly after the attack, telling them: “It is only you versus many people. You are going to lose.”

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, 48, told the Daily Telegraph that when she asked one of the suspects why they had carried out the attack, he said: “We want to start a war in London tonight.”

She told the newspaper: “He was not high, he was not on drugs, he was not an alcoholic or drunk.

“He was in full control of his decisions.”

Late Wednesday around 250 members of the anti-Islamist English Defence League were involved in minor scuffles with police at Woolwich Arsenal train station, near the scene of the attack.

Two men were arrested overnight after separate attacks on mosques in southeast England.

Security has been strengthened at all army barracks in London.

The Muslim Council of Britain described the attack as “a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam”.

London’s mayor Boris Johnson said it would be “completely wrong to blame this killing on the religion of Islam”.

And he said he would be “equally wrong” to link the murder to British military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The fault lies wholly and exclusively in the warped and deluded mindset of the people who did it,” he said.

The United States condemned the attack. “We stand with our UK allies in the face of such senseless violence,” said State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell.

.Updated with the information on the identity of one of the assailants

TOKYO (AFP) – Panicky investors dumped shares on the Tokyo market Thursday, sending the main index plunging more than seven percent on weak Chinese data after months of sharp climbs.

The Nikkei 225 index closed at the day’s low of 14,483.98, down 1,143.28 points, or 7.32 percent. It was the biggest daily fall since March 15, 2011, in the wake of a huge earthquake-tsunami and the ensuing nuclear crisis.

In terms of points, it was the heaviest one-day plunge since April 2000 when the benchmark index lost 1,426 points following the collapse of an “IT bubble,” which sent high-tech shares down sharply.

Tokyo share crash: a man looks at a share prices board. AFP

The Topix index of all first-section issues at the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 6.87 percent, or 87.69 points, at 1,188.34.

Trading was volatile with volume at a record 7.66 billion shares among first-section issues against 6.38 billion yesterday.

“Towards the end of the trading, panic selling was seen in massively heavy trading,” said Hirokazu Fujiki, strategist with Osakan Securities.

“We can’t tell whether or not this was a temporary storm of selling before watching reactions from US markets later today,” Fujiki told AFP.

The losses in Tokyo set off a chain of drops in Europe when the markets opened.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index retreated 1.74 percent to 6,720.88 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 slumped 2.33 percent to 8,332.05 points and in Paris the CAC 40 shed 2.20 percent to 3,961.97.

The huge drop in Tokyo came after HSBC said manufacturing activity in China contracted in May for the first time in seven months in another sign of the weakness of the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.

“The negative Chinese indicator triggered today’s selling,” said Fujiki. “It was no wonder sizable selling could emerge as Japanese shares rose quite fast recently.”

Japan’s economy minister Akira Amari said the government was not worried about the sharp decline, saying the move represented large-scale profit-taking orders triggered by weak Chinese data.

“I thought the pace of the Nikkei’s rise recently was faster than expected,” Amari said, according to Dow Jones Newswires. “The weak Chinese data prompted investors to take profits all at the same time.”

The Nikkei index, which closed at its best level in more than five years on Wednesday, had risen in early trade, bucking the decline in New York the previous day.

Selling accelerated when the yen jumped against the dollar in Asia afternoon trade as investors adjusted positions after the recent fast-paced fall in the value of the Japanese currency.

The dollar plunged to 101.63 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 103.31 yen in New York late Wednesday.

In London early trade, the dollar fell temporarily below 101 yen.

“The market may be entering an adjustment period after a sharp decline in the yen and a surge in Japanese stocks,” said Daisuke Karakama, a market economist at the forex division of Mizuho Corporate Bank.

“No one believed the yen would keep on falling and stocks would keep on rising. It is not surprising if yen-buying momentum revives at any time.”

Expectations for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pro-spending, pro-growth policies have weakened the yen more than 20 percent against the dollar over the past six months and boosted share prices to their highest level in more than five years.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the stock plunge was unlikely to affect Japan’s economic and financial policies, telling reporters: “We will continue monitoring future developments in financial markets.”

A strong yen is bad for Japanese exporters as it makes their products less competitive abroad and reduces income when repatriated.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.52 percent to 15,307.17 while the dollar picked up Wednesday on Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke’s suggestions that the bank could taper off its massive stimulus in the coming months.

Although Bernanke stressed that current economic conditions did not warrant an end to the Fed’s aggressive measures at the moment, he said the Fed could pull back in the next few meetings if they improved.

In Tokyo trade, shares of big-name companies dropped across the board, with Toyota finishing down 5.12 percent at 6,290 yen while Sharp dropped 13.14 percent to 522 yen.

Sony plunged 5.72 percent to 2,159 yen after rising sharply in the past days ahead of its announcement of a midterm business plan Wednesday.

Softbank dropped 7.15 percent to 5,320 yen after the Wall Street Journal reported that it would propose Washington approve a person sitting on Sprint Nextel’s board to oversee issues concerning national security if its planned takeover of the US firm goes through.

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics said Thursday its latest flagship Galaxy S4 had become its fastest selling smartphone to date, topping 10 million units globally less than a month after its debut.

A company statement said the S4 had already passed the 10-million sales mark following its April 26 launch. It’s predecessor, the S3, took 50 days to reach the same threshold.

The world’s top handset maker hopes the S4 will expand its presence in high-end markets in the United States and elsewhere, crowding out archrival Apple and its iconic iPhone.

Samsung Galaxy: the S4 sells 10m units in less than 30 days

Apple has asked a US federal judge to add the S4 to the list of Samsung devices targeted in a patent lawsuit involving Siri personal assistant software.

“Apple’s infringement theories regarding the S4 are identical to Apple’s infringement theories against the already accused products,” attorney Mark Lyon said in a motion filed Tuesday on behalf of Apple.

The five patents at issue in the case include two associated with Siri voice-commanded personal assistant in iPhones.

The case is one of many legal battles between California-based Apple and Samsung, and the trial is not expected to begin until early next year.

A Samsung official told AFP on Thursday that the company planned to establish a new US subsidiary specialising in patent acquisition.

The subsidiary — to be owned by Samsung’s display panel-making unit — will deal with a range of patents in the display, mobile and computer sectors, said the official who declined to be named.

Samsung is believed to have sold about 60 million units of the popular Galaxy S3 model since it debuted in May 2012.

The S4, featuring a high-definition, five-inch (12.7-centimetre) screen and enhanced picture-taking capabilities, comes with a faster chip and is thinner and lighter than its predecessor.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude for delivery in July, dropped 63 cents to $93.65 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for July delivery shed 60 cents to $102.00.

“Oil is on the downside with the Chinese PMI (purchasing managers’ index) data… people were expecting that it would be soft but not to the extent of a contraction,” Kelly Teoh, market strategist at IG Markets in Singapore, told AFP.

Banking giant HSBC said preliminary data showed manufacturing activity in China slowed in May for the first time in seven months, in another sign of the weakness of recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.

Its initial PMI for the month came in at 49.6, from a final 50.4 in April. A reading above 50 indicates growth and anything below points to contraction. The final result will be announced on June 3.

Separately, a strong dollar is also weighing on crude prices, analysts said.

“Oil prices are being kept down after the US dollar strengthened,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, told AFP.

A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies. In turn, that tends to weigh on oil demand and prices.

The dollar held firm against other major currencies Thursday after Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke suggested a day earlier that the Fed could taper its massive stimulus in the coming months.

But he said any tapering off could only happen once it had confidence that economic gains could be sustained, warning that a “premature tightening of monetary policy” could derail the economic recovery.

The Fed, the US central bank, has been on an aggressive $85 billion a month bond-purchase programme, known as quantitative easing, as part of measures to boost the economy.

.Archbishop of canterbury, President Jonathan and many dignitaries expected

by Joel Olatunde Agoi

Revered Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, author of the widely praised novel “Things Fall Apart,” will be buried in his small hometown on Thursday in a ceremony expected to draw crowds of mourners.

Achebe, who died in the United States in March aged 82, is viewed as an iconic figure in Nigeria and abroad and his death lead to tributes worldwide.

Achebe: Achebe’s first son Ikechukwu, with Governor Peter Obi and Secretary to the FG, Pius Anyim

•The late Chinua Achebe

Achebe was a harsh critic of corruption in Nigeria and twice refused national awards. President Goodluck Jonathan was nevertheless expected to attend the service, according to a source in the presidency.

Ogidi, located in Nigeria’s Anambra state, was decorated with posters of Achebe, while police were stationed throughout the town. A wake was held inside the family compound on Wednesday evening as crowds gathered in the streets.

On Thursday, his private burial on the family compound will follow a service at a local Anglican church.

“The death of my uncle is indeed a great loss not only to the family but to Nigeria and Africa as a whole,” 64-year-old Obi Achebe said at the compound on Wednesday evening.

“He has left big shoes that will be difficult to be worn by anybody.”

Achebe had lived and worked as a professor in the United States in recent years, most recently at Brown University in Rhode Island. A 1990 car accident left him in a wheelchair and limited his travel.

Tributes continued to pour in on Wednesday ahead of the burial. Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper dedicated an entire page to a poem written for Achebe by Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian writer and Nobel literature laureate.

Some 2,000 people packed a stadium in the Anambra state capital Awka on Wednesday where Achebe’s coffin was put on display.

While he was known worldwide mostly for “Things Fall Apart,” a novel about the collision of British colonialism and his native Igbo culture in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe also wrote non-fiction that tackled his country’s problems.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, but remains severely underdeveloped, held back by corruption and mismanagement.

His work earned him praise from some of the world’s most respected leaders, including Nelson Mandela, who described him as a writer “in whose company the prison walls fell down”.

South African writer and Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer called Achebe the “father of modern African literature” in 2007, when she was among the judges to award him the Man Booker International prize for fiction.

As well as criticising misrule in Nigeria, Achebe also strongly backed his native Biafra, which declared independence from Nigeria in 1967, sparking a civil war that killed around one million people and only ended in 1970.

The conflict was the subject of a long-awaited memoir he published last year, titled “There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra.”

“Things Fall Apart” — his first novel — was published in 1958. The novel, which traced an Igbo tribesman’s fatal brush with British colonialists, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 50 languages.

The London Guardian wrote in 2007 that the novel “turned the west’s perception of Africa on its head — a perception that until then had been based solely on the views of white colonialists …”

It has become required reading at many universities in various countries, and Achebe is credited with profoundly influencing a generation of Nigerian writers who followed him.

Twitter said Wednesday it was stepping up security measures for the popular messaging service following a series of high-profile breaches by hackers hitting media organizations and others.

Twitter said it would implement a new login verification system, “a form of two-factor authentication” which is “a second check to make sure it’s really you” when a user signs in.

twitter: tightens login security

“Of course, even with this new security option turned on, it’s still important for you to use a strong password and follow the rest of our advice for keeping your account secure,” said Jim O’Leary of Twitter Product Security.

Some recent attacks took over Twitter feeds and delivered fake tweets using the accounts of Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, Financial Times and other news organizations.

Last month, hackers spooked markets after breaking into the AP Twitter account and falsely reporting President Barack Obama had been injured after two blasts at the White House.

Twitter said the new system would be an option for users, and would allow them to require a verification code for each sign-in.

“You’ll need a confirmed email address and a verified phone number. After a quick test to confirm that your phone can receive messages from Twitter, you’re ready to go,” O’Leary said.

The security system will send a text message to the user’s mobile phone with a verification code that would be entered for the login.

While Twitter has seen phenomenal growth as a social media outlet, its security has been questioned. Twitter said in February it was hit by a “sophisticated” cyber attack and that the passwords of about 250,000 users were stolen.

James Gabberty, professor of information systems at Pace University, said the new verification system appeared positive but “it depends on how they deploy it.”

He said the decision to use a separate communications channel such as a mobile phone is “generally very safe” but that it is preferable if the phone and Internet services are different carriers with “a different architecture.”

“If it is a different company, then this is extremely safe and gives a very high level of assurance that the integrity of the message is not compromised.”

But Gabberty said Twitter still has other security problems which need to be addressed, such as requiring strong passwords and frequent changes in passwords.

“I stay away from Twitter because it’s such an insecure system. It’s begging to be hacked,” he said.

The Syrian Electronic Army, which appears to be aligned with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, has claimed credit for hacking AFP, AP and other news organizations.

Earlier this month, the Twitter feed of satirical US news website The Onion was also taken over by the Syrian group aiming to inject its own sardonic spin on the deadly conflict.

The Onion posted details of how its feed was hijacked, describing how emails were sent to some employees in a phishing spoof to gain access to passwords.

MADUABUCHI NMERIBEH/Kano

The Emir of Kano, northwest Nigeria, Alhaji Ado Bayero on Wednesday offered prayers for peace and stability to return to the North, while urging the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North to remain committed in their assignment to engage members of the Islamic Boko Haram sect in reasonable dialogue.

He also urged members of the Committee who were on a courtesy call at his Palace to offer wise and sincere advice to the Federal Government as regards to the Boko Haram insurgency.

The Kano monarch who was early this year a victim of terrorist attack noted that the sponsors and collaborators of terrorism could be prominent individuals living within and outside Nigeria, pointing out that without peace in the country, there will be no meaningful development.

Emir Ado bayero

He said only prayers and concerted efforts by government and good citizens can bring an end to the spate of insecurity in the country.

He also hoped that the Federal Government will ensure full implementation of the final recommendations and reports of the Committee, adding that the inability of the government to implement reports of similar Committees over the years, has not in any way helped matters.

Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN) commended the Emir for his love and concern for the country, pointing out that his team has been in, “a deliberate act of consultation with all stakeholders with a view to tapping from their wisdom and wealth of experiences.

“We are in your Palace to interact with you; and to take ideas from you. We want to understand it from your own perspective. We need your prayers and words of wisdom because the society holds you in high esteem.”

Turaki who doubles as the Minister for Special Duties noted that, “any good Muslim likes peace and will always do everything to ensure peace. Kano is one of the places that were attacked during this insurgency and we commend the state government and traditional institution for restoring peace and stability in the state.”

The Committee later held Town Hall meeting with Kano elders, political leaders and the Ulamas at the Africa House, Government House.

The chairman of Kano Elders’ Forum, Alhaji Magaji Dambatta described the Committee’s assignment as Herculean, stating that, “we recognize the importance of your (Committee) duty because through it lies the chance of gaining peace, economic growth and respect for human life.

“Within the past years, the nation has witnessed wanton killings and destruction of property and we hope that this effort of yours will bring lasting solution to all these problems.”

The Committee also took time to visit some of the scenes of Boko Haram attacks in Kano, including the New Road Luxury Park, Sabon Gari.