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5 most luxurious Prison Cells

2013-02-22T08:15:00.003-08:00

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear of a prison? Dark and dull walls surrounded by lots of fencing, a large gate and armed watch towers, dusty playgrounds and all this at one of the isolated corners of the city. Inside, around a 6 by 8 feet room guarded by the solid or barred doors with some furniture and fixings on walls and floor. That’s a usual sight you would notice at prisons round the world that house the most inhumane masses who have been sentenced for imprisonment for their disrespectful and unlawful conduct in the society. However, surprisingly a few lucky criminals also get to taste the prison life with a flavor of luxury and believe or not, that even could be equivalent to living in a five star hotel.

There are a number of prisons in the world that offer the most luxuries and comfortable life to its inmates. Luxury here translates as living in a bright, spacious room with a comfortable bedding, a TV, may be a refrigerator, a study or a library in the building, a gym to stay fit, game courts to spend their leisure time and other such tidbits that a normal prison inmate can only dream of. Now that is definitely a place where our dearest Lindsay Lohan and her likes with lofty pockets, wouldn’t mind putting up. So let us take a look at the top five luxurious prisons and their lavish cells where prisoners wouldn’t mind their sentence extended for a longer time.

5. Santa Ana Jail, Calif

The city jail is inhibited by the not so offensive criminals who can afford to pay $75 to $127 a day to stay in clean and better surroundings, far superior to ones found in central jails. Also referred to as a five-star Hilton, the jail that offers 10 to 30 beds in most of its programs, allows the occupants(in some cases though) to bring their laptops or iPods into their rooms that are good enough and comfortable. Fine ambience with kind and civilized fellow natives , the small cells in Santa Ana Jail are worth their fee.

4. Otago Corrections Facility, South Otago

An underfloor heating, flatscreen televisions, a library, a gymnasium and plenty of other facilities for recreation, the Otago Corrections Facility offers convict a VIP treatment. The 335-bed prison that also gets a “Milton Hilton” badge is a $218 million facility that has been built to rehabilitate prisoners by presenting a very pleasing and comfortable stay for the inhabitants.

3. Halden Prison, Norway

Offering larger than life experience for the prisoners, the Halden Prison packs a bunch of amenities for its inmates that include the sound studio, jogging trails and a freestanding two-bedroom house where they can even host their families during overnight visits. TVs, minifridges in the spacious and well lighted rooms, modest library, wraparound sofas and birch-colored coffee tables in living rooms and so on, its like a small well established town within concrete walls . The prison that has a capacity of 252 inmates also focuses upon rehabilitation of the hard core criminals to turn them into well behaved humans of society.

2. Austrian Five Star Prison

Located in city of Leoben in Austria, the Leoben Justice Centre is one of the world’s best looking prison that houses complex of courts, offices of Judges, and ofcorse a prison. Also a gym, well furnished and clean cell with a personal TV and lots of other high class amenities would tempt even the common people to commit a crime.(Count me in the list.)

1. Al Capone’s cell, Philadelphia

Yes that might leave you readers a little bewildered for keeping it on the first position. But this one is my favorite as it dates back to 1929 when Al Capone , the king of Chicago’s underworld was held captive at Eastern State Penitentiary. While the paintless walls have another story to tell, the decor of the room reveals the luxurious life that the crime master lived during his eight years of imprisonment.

culled from (http://www.wackyowl.com/5-luxurious-prison-cells/) July 19, 2010

Teenager launches Apple iPhone app after raising $1m from investors

2012-11-02T03:43:00.001-07:00

A south London schoolboy has launched an Apple iPhone app this week, after raising $1m (£620,000) from investors before his 17th birthday.

Nick D’Aloisio, who lives with his family and still gets an allowance every month, developed the app, Summly, while revising for his mock GCSEs last year.

Summly condenses news articles into three key paragraphs that fit onto an iPhone screen. Users can customise the news categories, and link to the original article if they like the summary.

A prototype attracted an investment of around $300,000 in November 2011 from Horizons Ventures, the private technology investment company of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing – also a backer of Facebook, Siri and Spotify.

The investment arrived on Nick’s 16th birthday – making him one of the youngest people ever to attract venture capital funding. Other backers include the celebrities Ashton Kutcher, Stephen Fry and Yoko Ono.

The prototype was downloaded more than 150,000 times and was chosen by Apple as its App of the Week in the UK and other countries. A company was created behind the app, and Nick teamed up with experts in London, and the Stanford Research Institute, to work on the technology and design.

culled from the (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) (01/11/2012)

Oyo PDP, ACN exchange words over Ajimobi’s wife

2012-11-02T02:30:00.003-07:00

Oyo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (pdp) has welcomed Mrs Florence Ajimobi, wife of the state governor, back to the country.

The party, in a statement made available to newsmen in Ibadan by its publicity secretary, Mr Lukuman Agboluaje, however, noted that there were some issues worthy of attention.

According to Agboluaje, “As much as we are not in a position to join issues with Mrs Ajimobi on the alleged money laundering, we are constrained to ask some fundamental questions, especially from her own defence on arrival.

“We are aware of the free education policy of the present administration in the state and our concern is the inability of the state’s first couple to allow their daughter enjoy the free education being dished out to the populace, rather than for the first lady to incessantly visit her daughter every three weeks in a United Kingdom secondary school.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Oyo State chapter, in a release issued by the party’s publicity secretary, Honourable Dauda Kolawole, the party said it was the violence unleashed on then Senator Ajimobi by the state People Democratic Party in the thick of the realisation of his stolen electoral victory in 2007, stolen by the PDP, that made him to relocate his last daughter to the UK.

“This ugly day in 2007, Mrs Ajimobi had driven to her daughter’s school in Oluyole, Ibadan, to pick her daughter who was attending school in the area when PDP thugs stopped their car and stripped the school girls, she hitch-hiked from school naked.”

culled from (Tribune Newspaper) 02/11/2012

Subsidy scam: Police uncover fresh evidence against marketers

2012-11-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

MEMBERS of the Police Anti-fraud Unit, investigating cases of fuel subsidy scam, have uncovered fresh evidence against a number of marketers, sources close to the unit have confirmed. Informed sources told the Nigerian Tribune on Thursday that when some of the indicted marketers were confronted with the fresh evidence, they kept mum and were unable to offer any defence.

A source close to the investigators told the Nigerian Tribune that the police were shocked that one of the indicted marketers who had been offering defences in the media could not say anything when confronted.

“When he was confronted, he was just looking like a mumu. He kept quiet and could not say anything. We have done our job and have decided to leave the things in the hands of the court,” the source said.
According to the source, some of the latest shreds of evidence border on manipulation of shipping records, which enabled the marketers to swindle Nigeria of billions of naira.

A source said that the Police Special Anti-Fraud Unit has discovered that through falsification of shipping records and manipulation of identity of vessels, some of the marketers scooped billions from the nation’s coffers.

It was also gathered that the investigators had discovered that one of the marketers claimed N10 billion for fuel not supplied.

“That particular marketer made sure his companies made false claims to the tune of over N10 billion. He could not provide any evidence to defend himself. Investigators had found that he and his companies collected subsidy money without proof of existence of the mother vessel, bill of lading and in some instances the mother vessel were not in existence.

“That marketer could not offer any explanation when the interrogation team confronted him. It was a messy affair. I believe that the government has a strong case against those indicted,” the source stated.

culled from the( Tribune) 02/11/2012

Bakassi: Biya sends emissaries to Jonathan, offers olive branch

2012-11-02T02:25:00.000-07:00

CAMEROONIAN president, Paul Biya, on Thursday, sent a delegation to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, offering his cooperation towards the amicable resolution of all areas of disagreement between his country and Nigeria on Bakassi.

The three-man delegation included the country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmadu Ali; Cameroonian Ambassador to Nigeria, Abbas Iya Ibrahima and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Cooperation, Jean Nguta.

The delegation told Jonathan that Biya was interested in working hand-in-hand with him to resolve all issues on the common interests of the two countries.

Biya, through the delegation, expressed his willingness to further promote and strengthen relationship between the two countries and requested for an audience with Jonathan as a way of encouraging regular consultations and interactions between the two leaders.

The Cameroonian leader also sympathised with Jonathan on the recent floods in parts of the country, recalling that Cameroon had similarly suffered the same fate.

In his response, President Jonathan stressed the need for Nigerians living in Cameroon and Cameroonians living in Nigeria to be treated well, noting that the fundamental human rights of individuals must be respected, irrespective of where they resided.

The two leaders are now expected to meet soon, following the long running dispute over the Bakassi Peninsula ceded to Cameroon through a judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

culled from the (Tribune Newspaper) 02/11/2012

MASSOB, BZM battle over Biafra

2012-11-02T02:10:00.001-07:00

There was a big battle in the East yesterday over next Monday’s plan by a group to revive Biafra Republic.

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) frustrated by the Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM) to resuscitate the republic.

MASSOB operatives are believed to have abducted BZM leader worldwide Benjamin Onwuka, national chairman Edeson Samuel and national secretary Nweke Nweke to thwart the group’s plan.

MASSOB said the abduction was an invitation to BZM leaders to explain the motive behind their plan.

BZM’s Director of Mobilisation Cornelius Anyanwu said the abductors stormed the venue of a meeting scheduled for yesterday and picked the three men while they were waiting for the meeting to start.

The MASSOB men, he said, claimed they were acting on orders of MASSOB leader Ralph Uwazuruike to bring the BZM officials to Okwe, Imo State.

Uwazuruike denied the allegation, saying he knew nothing about the matter.

MASSOB Director of Information Uchenna Madu said the BZM leaders were not abducted but merely taken away for interrogation on the planned return of Biafra.

He said MASSOB wanted to know BZM’s strategies and how to help the group, if necessary.

Madu said: “We don’t want them to ridicule Biafra with that re-declaration because they have no structure on ground. They should tell us where they are coming from and what they intend to achieve.

“We cannot tolerate this re-declaration because allowing it will amount to making a caricature of Biafra.”

He said the BZM leaders were taken to Enugu and not Okwe, adding that they would be released after “a satisfactory explanation” of their plan.

Madu insisted that Uwazuruike was not aware of the BZM leaders’ abduction.

But Anyanwu said he believed that MASSOB’s action was informed by its working understanding with the Federal Government and security agencies.

He insisted that whether BZM leaders are released or not, there was no going back on the Biafra revival plan.

Biafrans the world over, he said, were looking forward to the re-declaration.

Denying that MASSOB is against BZM, Madu said: “MASSOB as the pioneer organisation and champion of Biafra struggle is not against any genuine group clamouring for Biafra.

“We need and also, appreciate more political pressure against the Nigerian state, any Biafra pressure, agitation and protest is a compliment to MASSOB’s 13 years of consistency, uncompromised and unshakable spirit of Biafra struggle.

“MASSOB will not accommodate gambling or using it to achieve cheap popularity by any group, it is suicidal for any Igboman to trade with the future of Biafra people.

“MASSOB under Chief Raph Umazuruike represents the genuine interest of Ndigbo, Biafrans in general in non-violent method.

“Freedom can never be achieved on a platter of gold or mere wishful thinking, prices must be paid, sacrifices must be made, the struggle for Biafran freedom is not a childish venture and we believe that the so-called group wants to be relevant.

“Because of Biafra and love of Ndigbo, our leader, fearless and brave leader, Uwazurike sacrificed his comfort and houses in Lagos and Imo states, members were killed by security agents and many others imprisoned’.

“Uwazuruike and his men saw and conquered death on the burial day of Gabriel Ogu, who was shot by police on the day Biafran flag was hoisted.

“Uwazuruike vowed before the dead and living, that he will not relent or abandon the Biafran cause after 13 years of a long walk to freedom, he is still faithful and unrelenting to Biafran actualisation’’

“The role of the United Nations (UN) towards Biafra is good and cordial; UN observers have been monitoring our activities such as civil disobedience, sit at home, worldwide demonstrations, civil protests etc.

“The International community is aware of MASSOB’s self-determination struggle for Biafra; Umuazuruike has never and cannot compromise the integrity of Biafra struggle.”

Culled from (the Nation Newspaper) 02/11/2012

Govt may accept dialogue offer with condition

2012-11-02T02:02:00.000-07:00

The Federal Government is ready for dialogue with Boko Haram but on one condition that the Spiritual and Political Leader of the sect, Imam Abubakar Shekau, will be at the negotiation table.

It was also learnt that the government may come up with an Amnesty Programme for members of the sect after ceasefire and disarmament if they are sincere.

A government source, who spoke in strict confidence, said the conditions set by the group would be resolved during the dialogue.

The source said: “We were not surprised by the offer of the dialogue because there had been contacts between the sect and National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki in the last few months.

“As a matter of fact, the NSA had some talks with the leaders of the sect last week where it was indicated that Shekau’s deputy might lead Boko Haram delegation to the dialogue.

“The NSA however said the government would want Shekau to head the team from the sect’s side in order to give the proposed talks more weight.

“With Shekau, who is the spiritual and political leader of Boko Haram, there will be a meaningful direction for the discussion by the two parties.

“If it works out and if Boko Haram is sincere with the dialogue option, the government will embrace it.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “Once we can find common grounds, the government will come up with a rehabilitation initiative which is similar to the ongoing Amnesty Programme.

“Even in the case of the affected parts of the North, there might be a joint reconstruction programme between the Federal Government and the ravaged states.”

Concerning the demand of Boko Haram for the arrest of ex-Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, the source added: “That is a political side of their demands which the government will look into.

“From security reports and investigation by agencies, some members of the sect gave Sheriff support during his election based on three demands.

“The demands were a creation of a Ministry for Islamic (Religious Affairs), being part of Sheriff’s government and the implementation of Sharia in Borno State.

“They parted ways with Sheriff when he refused to implement the Sharia policy. The situation worsened following the brutal killing of the leader of the sect, Mohammed Yusuf and a former Commissioner for Islamic (Religious) Affairs in Sheriff’s cabinet.

“The dialogue will shape discussions on the fate of Sheriff.”

culled from (the Nation Newspaper)02/11/2012

PDP behind my wife’s ordeal, says Ajimobi

2012-11-02T01:50:00.003-07:00

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the “malicious allegations against his wife, Florence.

Ajimobi said the report that his wife was arrested in London for alleged money laundering was the handiwork of failed politicians in the state.

Speak with reporters in Abuja after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting. He said those behind the report lost out in previous elections.

Ajimobi said: “We know those behind it. Infact, they are political jobbers, who lost out in the last election. Three of them are from the PDP. They have never achieved anything in their lives. They are coming back with the old system of maligning people.”

The governor said those behind the report were out to taint his reputation.

He said: “We have built our reputation over the years. I did not come from nowhere. I worked with the oil industry. I did not work with Wero Enterprises; I worked with National Oil and Shell. I was the Managing Director of National Oil and the MD of Shell STSL in Togo. I have made my name.

“When you are doing well as a politician, some mischief makers, who want to pull you down, would concoct stories like this particular one.”

The governor said it was unreasonable to expect that anyone would carry the amount of money the report claimed was found on his wife.

He said: “In this modern age, will anybody be stupid enough to carry money around in boxes? If you travel with more than $10,000, you will be arrested. Even if you hide it, when you get to some of these countries, their dogs will sniff you out.

“So how will somebody travel with N500 million? It’s a lot of money. How will you carry it? The people who wrote that thing are illiterates, amateurs. We need more quality people in politics.

“We are trying to rid Oyo of wicked, malicious miscreants and political jobbers. Oyo State has been noted for jungle politics. We are working to change that, but the dark forces always try to stop us.

“That report was very malicious. My youngest child was attacked during the electioneering campaign in 2007. She panicked so much that she could not sleep and the doctors advised us to change her location. That is why she has been schooling in England since 2007. So, it is nothing new.

“It is wicked for people to be writing such things. Those behind the report are junk Internet outfits with one room sites. The moment we discovered them, they closed up and we did not see them again.

“The damage has been done. Fortunately for me, another media house published it and I sued them. No amount of pleading will make me stop. I will make sure I stop people from damaging others’ reputation.”

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State condemned the report.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole, ACN said Mrs. Ajimobi could not have been in possession of huge cash because she has no access to the state’s treasury.

The party said the governor is known for prudence, adding that he has put mechanism in place to guard against financial recklessnazess.

ACN urged rumour peddlers to desist and support the government.

It said: “Journalist are advised to be alive to their responsibilities and avoid mischievous and untrue stories.”

culled from (The Nation Newspaper) 02/11/2012

Lagos Traffic Law: Policemen brutalise, strip okada rider

2012-11-02T01:48:00.000-07:00

Some policemen reportedly took the enforcement of the Lagos Traffic Law to the extreme on Wednesday as they allegedly beat an unidentified okada rider and stripped him in Akoka, Lagos.

An eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, said the victim was caught while riding at the junction of University Road and St. Finbarr’s College Road in Akoka.

He stated that the man was plying the route oblivious that plain-clothes policemen had laid ambush in a van with registration number NPF9544B, in the area.

The eyewitness said immediately the policemen saw the okada rider, they pounced on him, beat him up and later asked him to take all his clothes off.

Recently, PUNCH Metro reported that an okada rider died after he was hit with a baton by a policeman who insisted the victim violated the traffic law at Agege area of Lagos.

A month earlier, it was also reported that a driver of the state ambulance service, died after a policemen allegedly hit him in the head at Surulere area of Lagos for plying a road that has been designated as out of bound to commercial motorcycles.

When contacted on Thursday, the police spokesperson in the state, Ngozi Braide, neither picked her call nor responded to a text message sent to her phone.

culled from the (Punch newspaper) 02/11/2012

Boko Haram wants talks …picks Buhari as mediator, Saudi Arabia venue …demands ex-gov’s arrest, compensation

2012-11-02T01:40:00.000-07:00

THE violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, on Thursday indicated its readiness to end its campaign of violence but on the conditions that ex-Borno State Governor Modu Sheriff was arrested and peace talks held in Saudi Arabia.

Also, the sect is asking for compensation for families of its members killed in the course of its terrorist acts and the rebuilding of its mosques by the Federal Government.

It also demanded the release of all its members in the custody of security agencies.

Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, the second-in-command to the sect’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, gave the conditions on Thursday during a radio conference with journalists in Maiduguri, Borno State.

Abdulaziz did not explain why the group wanted Sheriff arrested.

Just on Wednesday, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, said Sheriff and Senators Ali Ndume and Ahmed Zanna had been put under surveillance to determine their alleged links with the sect.

The three have been variously fingered as financiers of the group

Abdulaziz named a former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari; Dr. Shettima Monguno; a former Yobe State Governor, Bukar Ibrahim; Ambassador Gaji Galtimari; and Aisha Alkali Wakil, and her husband, Alkali as “trusted” Nigerians it would be ready to negotiate with in Saudi Arabia.

On the sect’s team would be Abdulaziz, Abu Abbas, Sheikh Ibrahim Yusuf, Sheikh Sani Kontogora and Mamman Nur.

Abdulaziz said, “We are not actually challenging the state, as people are saying, but the security (forces) that are killing our members, children and wives.

“We are highly offended but if this government is sincere, everything (the attacks) will come to an end. We want to dialogue but government must show sincerity in its handling of the situation.”

More than 1,000 persons have been killed in attacks on places of worship, military and police facilities as well as drinking joints since the sect launched its war against the government in 2009.

Last year, suicide bombers from the sect attacked the Police headquarters and the UN Building, in Abuja, killing 44 persons. On last Christmas Day, Boko Haram also attacked St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, killing at least 46 parishioners.

It has subsequently attacked several other worship centres, including the St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Kaduna last Sunday.

Before now, the Federal Government had made several claims that it was in dialogue with the sect but Abdulaziz said there had been no contact between Boko Haram and the government. He said the sect wants the talk outside the country because the government had proved not to be trustworthy.

The PUNCH could not verify the identity of the man , who claimed to be Abdulaziz even as there were minor inconsistencies in the communication between him and the journalists on Thursday.

Apart from the fact that Abdulaziz is not the usual official spokesman for the sect, he spoke in English Language instead of the Hausa/Arabic that the sect is known for .

But, the Presidency on Thursday said the proposed ceasefire by Boko Haram was a welcome development, if it was intended to achieve the objectives of peace and security.

Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, said the position of President Goodluck Jonathan had been that he was ready for dialogue if members of the sect could come forward.

He said, “Yes, I have seen the story in which the Boko Haram is reportedly declaring a ceasefire and the opening of dialogue. I think it is important to restate the position of government in this matter.

“The Federal Government is committed to peace and security for the benefit of all Nigerians.

“ If what the proposed ceasefire is intended to achieve are the objectives of peace and security, then it is a welcome development.

“Don’t forget that President Jonathan made it clear that if the people behind Boko Haram are ready to come forward, and table their grievances, then government will be willing to listen to those grievances.

“There have been attempts before now, by concerned persons to reach out to the Boko Haram through back channels, in response to government’s call that all efforts should be made to resolve the problem. I suspect that this latest development may be related to that.”

Meanwhile, Governor Ibrahim Shettima of Borno State on Thursday said security agencies must be alive to their responsibilities by probing the alleged involvement of politicians in the state in the activities of Boko Haram.

Shettima gave the charge while speaking with State House correspondents in Abuja.

Borno State is considered to be the hotbed of activities of the fundamental.

He said, “On the issue of the involvement of politicians, I think is within the realm and the responsibility of the security agencies to unearth the truth.

“I am more of a developmental politician and I am more interested in addressing the core issues that makes our society vulnerable to the antics of religious bigots and all sorts of misfits that are inducting our young ones to these things.

“So, I don’t want to dabble into of the work of security agencies neither do I want to respond to allegations and accusations from any quarter. But it is the responsibility of security agencies to unearth those behind Boko Haram.”

culled from the (Punch newspaper) 02/11/2012

Report exposes corruption in Nigeria’s oil industry

2012-10-24T11:09:00.002-07:00

Nigeria lost out on tens of billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues over the last decade from cut price deals struck between multinational oil companies and government officials, a confidential report seen by Reuters says.

A team headed by the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu produced the 146-page study on an oil ministry request.

It covers the year 2002 to the present.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude oil exporter, shipping more than two million barrels per day (bpd), and is also home to the world’s ninth biggest gas reserves and one of its largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals.

The report provides new details on Nigeria’s long history of corruption in the oil sector, which has enriched its elite and provided the oil majors with hefty profits while two thirds of people live in poverty.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke told Reuters on Tuesday she had received the report last month but that it was a draft and the government was still supposed to give input.

The one seen by Reuters was labelled “Final Report.”

The report concluded that oil majors Shell, Total and Eni made bumper profits from cut-price gas, while Nigerian oil ministers handed out licences at their own discretion.

This, while not illegal, did not follow best practice of using open bids. Hundreds of millions of dollars in signature bonuses on those deals were also missing, it said.

“We have not seen this report and are, therefore, unable to comment on the content, but we will study it if and when it is published,” a Shell spokesman said.

The report alleges international oil traders sometimes buy crude without any formal contracts, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had short-changed the country’s treasury billions over the last 10 years by selling crude oil and gas to itself below market rates.

There was no suggestion that the oil majors or traders had done anything illegal, but the report highlighted a lack of transparency in their dealings in a nation rife with graft.

“It is a draft,” Alison-Madueke said. “There will be some areas where the government … may have a slightly different opinion … (and) will put its point of view to the committee.”

The minister said she expects the final report to be with President Goodluck Jonathan within two weeks.

culled from the (Nation Newspaper) 24/10/2012

Respect moratorium on death penalties, EU tells Nigeria

2012-10-24T11:05:00.002-07:00

The European Union on Wednesday called on Nigeria to respect existing moratorium on executions already put in place since 2006.

In a statement issued in Abuja by the Political Officer, Human Rights and Situations of Fragility Delegation of the EU to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Chadi Sidhom, the organization also urged Edo State to stay action on imminent execution of prisoners.

The EU delegation, which issued the statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission in Nigeria, appealed to Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole to allow all legal appeals to be carried out on the two pending cases of execution in the state.

The statement reads: “The EU delegation urges the Nigerian authorities to respect the existing de facto moratorium on executions, in place since 2006.

“The EU delegation to the Federal Republic of Nigeria is deeply concerned about the information it has received concerning the reported imminent execution of two persons in Edo State.

“The delegation calls on the Nigerian authorities and, in this case, the Governor of Edo State, to allow all legal appeals to be heard and to halt the execution of these two inmates.

“It considers that such execution, if carried out, would represent a serious setback in Nigeria’s reputation and records in the field of human rights.

“The delegation reiterates its calls on the Nigerian authorities to accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aiming at the complete abolition of the death penalty.”

culled from the (Nation Newspaper) 24/10/2012

Pope appoints Onaiyekan, five others as cardinals

2012-10-24T10:58:00.001-07:00

Pope Benedict on Wednesday appointed Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan and five others from around the world to join the elite group of prelates who will one day choose his successor.

Onaiyekan is the current Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja.

He was also a former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

The ceremony, known as a consistory, will be held on November 24, the pope said in a surprise announcement at his weekly general audience.

Also named to join the group known as the “princes” of the Catholic Church are Archbishop James Michael Harvey, an American who runs the pontifical household, Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church in Lebanon, and Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, the major archbishop of the Syro-Malankara rite in India.

Others are – Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, Colombia, and Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines.

Reuters says all of the six new cardinals are under 80 years old and thus eligible under Church law to enter a conclave to elect a new pope.

The elite group is known as “cardinal electors.”

After the consistory, the number of cardinal electors will rise again to 120, the maximum allowed under Church law.

The total number of men in the College of Cardinals will be 211.

It was the fifth time since his election in 2005 that Benedict, 85, has named new cardinals.

The pope’s health is generally believed to be good but he has been looking frail recently.

culled from the (Nation newspaper) 24/10/2012

Forbes nominates Dangote, Elumelu, others for award

2012-10-24T10:55:00.001-07:00

The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu, have been nominated for the Forbes Africa Person of the Year Award.

They are the two Nigerians who made the five-man list.

Others on the list are Malawian President Joyce Banda, Managing Director of Kenya’s Equity Bank Limited, Dr. James Mwangi and co-founder of Aspen Pharmacare, Mr. Stephen Saad.

A statement by the organisers said: “Aliko Dangote: founder and president of Dangote Group. Motivation: Last year’s runner-up to Forbes Africa Person of The Year, is still Africa’s richest man, worth more than $11.2 billion. Dangote continues to be one of the continent’s biggest employers. He promises to donate most of his fortune to charitable causes upon his retirement.

“Dr James Mwangi won the Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award 2012 as well as Africa’s Innovation Leader of the Year Awards in 2012. Equity Bank is planning to extend its financial services to Ethiopia when the country opens its banking industry for foreign investors.

“Banda, Malawi’s first female leader, has restored strained diplomatic ties with neighbours and the international community. Her administration has embraced investor-friendly economic policies: she cut her salary by 30%; sold the presidential jet and a fleet of luxury cars in an austerity drive.

“Elumelu: founder and chairman of Heirs Holdings. Motivation: The multimillionaire grooms African business leaders and entrepreneurs through the Tony Elumelu Foundation. He is the leading advocate of Africapitalism, an economic philosophy that embodies the private sector’s commitment to Africa’s economic transformation through long-term investments.

“Saad is the biggest shareholder of the largest publicly-traded drug manufacturer, Aspen. The company has a market capitalisation of $6 billion. Saad became a multimillionaire at 29. Now aged 47, he employs more than 6,000 people.”

The winner of this award would have had an influence on the events of the year gone by on the African continent.

culled from the (Nation Newspaper)24/10/2012

Boko Haram planning massive attacks during Sallah – JTF

2012-10-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

The Joint Military Task Force claimed on Tuesday it had uncovered plans by Boko Haram to strike in the North during Eid-el-kabir (Thursday and Friday).

The JTF also alleged that the Islamic fundamentalists had been receiving assistance from foreign militants to carry out their deadly attacks.

In a statement, the JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, said the group was planning to attack worship centres and other public places.

The statement said, “Information available to the Joint Task Force indicates that the Boko Haram terrorists are planning to launch massive attacks on military and civilian targets in Borno State before, during and after the forthcoming Sallah celebrations.

“The terrorists have invited foreign militant groups to assist them in the anticipated attacks.

“We know where they are coming from but we don’t want to disclose that because we don’t want to pre-empt our security arrangement to tackle them.”

Boko Haram members are believed to have sought training in northern Mali from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its allies. There has been intense speculation over whether other links have been formed with foreign groups.

The JTF has claimed that insurgents from neighbouring Chad have previously fought alongside Boko Haram.

culled from the (Punch Newspaper) 24/10/2012

Terror scare: Arik passengers wrestle man mid-air

2012-10-24T10:48:00.004-07:00

Passengers and crew of an Abuja-bound aircraft belonging to Arik Air were thrown into panic on Tuesday when a passenger behaving in a strange manner stood up and screamed Allahu Akbar(God is great) midair.

The scared passengers, who took off from Maiduguri, Borno State, rushed to the strange passenger identified as Aminu Galadima, grabbed him and searched him to ascertain if he had a bomb strapped to his body.

Our correspondent learnt that the situation made the pilot of the aircraft with registration number 5N MJE to immediately radio the Air Traffic Control and airport security operatives.

The Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation on Media, Mr. Joe Obi, confirmed the development in a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja.

Obi said the passenger in question went through the necessary security checks at the airport and did not raise any suspicion until he started shouting midair.

He said, “A passenger, Aminu Galadima, a native of Minna, Niger State, boarded a Maiduguri-Abuja- bound Arik Air aircraft with registration number 5N MJE after going through mandatory security screening.

“Nothing incriminating; no explosives or weapons whatsoever were found on him. However, midair, the passenger began to act strangely, loudly screaming, ‘God is great.’ Fellow passengers, alarmed by his behaviour rushed to apprehend him.

“A thorough search by fellow passengers and crew members revealed nothing dangerous on him. The pilot immediately radioed Air Traffic Control and airport security operatives.

“The plane landed safely at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at exactly 12.53hrs and the suspect was handed over to the SSS at about 14.45hrs. He is currently being interrogated.”

Obi reassured the flying public of the continued focus of the Ministry of Aviation on the safety and security of the nation’s airspace and cautioned Nigerians against spreading dangerous rumours.

Before the official statement by the authorities , rumours had spread that the plane had been bombed.

Arik also confirmed the arrest of the man, but denied that a bomb was found on its plane.

In a statement by its Public Relations and Communications Manager, Mr. Adebanji Ola, the airline said, “There is no iota of truth in the rumour making the rounds that a passenger attempted to bomb an Arik Air aircraft operating a flight from Maiduguri to Abuja today, Tuesday, October 23, 2012.

“To set the records straight, a passenger on board flight W3 812 from Maiduguri to Abuja caused a scare when he started shouting ‘Allah Akbar’ shortly before the aircraft landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The frightened passengers on board the flight became suspicious, thinking the man was about to do something sinister.

“All the passengers on board the flight, including the man in question, had all gone through the normal security checks at the Maiduguri International Airport, and nothing incriminating was found on anyone.

“However, when the aircraft landed in Abuja, another security check was conducted on the passenger and nothing incriminating was found on him. A further security search was conducted on the operating aircraft, a Boeing 737-700 NG, and no trace of bomb or explosives was found. The aircraft went back to service immediately.”

The incident was reminiscent of the December 25, 2009 bomb attempt on a Detroit-bound plane by a Nigerian passenger, Mr. Farouk AbdulMuttalab. The plane took off from Nigeria en route Detroit through Amsterdam.

Barely two weeks after the United States granted Nigeria Category One certification in August 2010, the Nigerian aviation industry and security agencies were thrown into confusion, following an attack on a foreign airline, KLM, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.

An aggrieved, passenger whose identity had been masked by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, had beaten all security measures to launch an attack on a flight scheduled to depart for Amsterdam.

The rising incidence of terror attacks in the Northern part of the country, especially Borno State, from which the Arik Air aircraft originated its journey, had been a source of worry to Nigerians.

Borno State, regarded as terror capital of Nigera, is believed to be home to the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

The group, which was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2001, became known internationally following sectarian violence in Nigeria in July 2009 which left over 1,000 people dead.

culled from the (Punch Newspaper) 24/10/2012

Oil licensing round to hold year end –Alison-Madueke

2012-10-24T10:44:00.004-07:00

An oil exploration bidding round will be held before the end of the year, while licence renewal talks with Shell and Chevron over existing onshore fields are in their final stages, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has said.

The licensing round is coming five years after the last one held in 2007 by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Obasanjo also held oil licensing rounds in 2000 and 2003.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, exports over two million barrels per day and also holds the world’s ninth largest gas reserves of 182.75 trillion cubic feet, which are largely untapped.

The Federal Government also hopes to increase oil reserves to 40 billion barrels by 2020, from the current 36.2 billion barrels.

The country’s light, low sulphur crude oil is popular with United States and Asian buyers, but oil majors said uncertainty over changes in regulation in the Petroleum Industry Bill and insecurity in the onshore Niger Delta were holding back new investments.

“We expect within the next couple of months a marginal bid round will be announced. We hope a major bid round will follow before the end of the year,” Alison-Madueke told Reuters in an interview.

“Shell and Chevron (onshore licence renewals) are … in the final stages now, those will definitely be out before the end of the year,” she added.

Exxon Mobil signed 20-year oil licence renewals on Nigerian onshore assets, producing around 550,000 barrels per day in February, but other oil majors are still negotiating terms with the government.

Some industry experts have questioned why licences are being renewed before the National Assembly has passed the Petroleum Industry Bill, which will adjust terms on these types of contracts.

“It would have become slightly cumbersome to keep waiting on the PIB before the renewals,” Alison-Madueke said in reply.

The National Assembly is currently debating the PIB, a wide-ranging law that has been delayed for more than five years on disputes between oil firms and different arms of government.

If it becomes law, the bill should end years of regulatory uncertainty that has blocked billions of dollars of investment.

Foreign oil majors, including Shell and Exxon, have said the tax terms in the current version of the PIB would make exploration in the deep offshore, which is the key to growing Nigeria’s oil and gas output and reserves, non-viable.

“I think it is very difficult in general if you have been receiving a certain level of profit over quite a long period of time, to adjust to a slightly lower level of profitability,” Alison-Madueke said of the oil majors’ complaints.

“We went over these terms several times … we kept ourselves competitive,” she added.

The minister said after the changes were made in the PIB, the “government’s take” on offshore projects would increase by 10 per cent to 73 per cent, lower than in rival producers Angola, Norway and Indonesia.

The PIB is meant to overhaul everything from fiscal terms to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

(culled from the Punch Newspaper) 24/10/2012

Try this math. very interesting

2012-10-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

Multiply your age by 7 and then multiply the result by 1443. Try it and let us know. LOL

Jagaban returns to Lagos empty-handed

2012-10-23T09:48:00.002-07:00

Several mediators appealed to him to leave Governor Olusegun Mimiko alone, that he was too popular in Ondo State to be dislodged, that Ondo politics was kind of unique, and that a Mimiko victory might dent his political stature and expose his vulnerabilities. But the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, insisted that he would teach Mimiko a lesson by capturing Ondo from him, if he did not join the Action Congress of Nigeria, which Mimiko insisted he would not do.

But after all the hype, after all the negative propaganda, and after leading many campaign rallies to various parts of Ondo State, Tinubu and his ACN were roundly and unapologetically rejected by the people along with his anointed candidate for the October 20, 2012, governorship election, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN.

The rejection was emphasised by two symbolic acts. First, of the three major contenders, the ACN came last with 143,152 votes; the People Democratic Party came second with 155,961 votes, while the Labour Party won convincingly with 260,199 votes. Second, and more importantly, Akeredolu lost his own ward and polling unit to Mimiko, even as the ACN candidate sat tight in the ward during the polls. A politician’s standing is in serious doubt when his neighbours look him or her in the eye and vote for an opponent.

There was hardly anything ACN party leaders did not do to win. Several ACN governors were brought to the campaign rallies. Thugs were allegedly imported. Crowds were allegedly rented. Voters were allegedly bribed. Even voter cards were reportedly obtained or purchased from some Ondo citizens. Moreover, plenty of negative propaganda was employed.

Lagosians were fed with false information about Mimiko and Ondo State, based partly on manufactured lies and partly on data obtained from a few turncoats in the LP, who were ready to tell the ACN leadership whatever it wanted to hear.

There are interesting lessons to learn from ACN’s failed attempt to “capture” Ondo. To start with, the whole project was like the proverbial house built with saliva, which quickly unravelled under the morning dew. Not only was the project’s advertised foundation false, its execution was faulty. The tactics employed during the campaigns changed as the reasons for the Capture Ondo State project.

Regional integration was the original advertised agenda. It was argued that political unification of the Yoruba states under the ACN was critical to the integration project. But the integration project began to fizzle out as unification under one party became its focus. Although the integration project later came up in the governorship debates, many Ondo citizens had come to view it as an empire-building venture for the ACN leadership. Thus, ACN’s use of regional integration as a political tool came to undermine its possible merit to which Mimiko himself subscribes, namely, the need to develop a template for shared development projects that would leverage on the geographical contiguity of Yoruba states and their resources.

The focus shifted to a campaign of calumny. A typical negative propaganda was provided in a lecture purportedly given to Ondo citizens in Los Angeles by one Banji Alabi, a Lagos-based lawyer. He falsely stated that Ondo “has fallen on spells of under-development, under-performance and mismanagement due to mediocre and unimaginative leadership” (The Guardian, October 5, 2012). Alabi spoke on behalf of Ondo citizens “resident in Lagos” and not on behalf of the World Bank, the Governors’ Forum, the Minister of State for Education, and a cross-section of citizens resident in Ondo State, who have applauded Mimiko for his remarkable achievements in various sectors.

Unfortunately, falsehoods such as Alabi’s formed the theme of Akeredolu’s campaign. This was particularly evident in the governorship debates during which Akeredolu was either raising false allegations or spinning spurious figures. The calculation was that some Ondo voters might be convinced if enough falsehoods and distortions were spread around.

This was taken a step further in the final days of the campaign when Tinubu himself denigrated Mimiko at a campaign rally in Akure by calling him a “beggar” and a “traitor”, who “came to me and begged me to support him, rolling on the ground … I spent millions of pounds sterling but he betrayed me … (he is) a serial traitor”. We have now come full circle from “integration” through “underachievement” to personal vendetta.

But Tinubu did not say that some of his nominees were hired when Mimiko formed his government. He also did not talk about the pressure he put on Mimiko within the last one year to join the ACN. Why, you would wonder, would he want a traitor to join his party?

It is clear that Tinubu might have assisted Mimiko in his mandate fight in 2007 on the expectation that Mimiko would become one of his subject governors by crossing over to the ACN. The matter was moot for some time. However, as ACN’s fortunes spread across the South-West after the 2011 elections, Tinubu renewed his overtures to Mimiko to join the ACN, apparently in his bid to control the entire geopolitical zone.

Be that as it may, Tinubu’s Akure traitor pitch did not go down well with Ondo voters, who quickly viewed it as a replay of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s traitor stump about Mimiko in Akure in 2007. Both attempts to put down Mimiko before his people fired up his supporters.

There are two hidden transcripts in all of this. First, Tinubu truly desires to include Ondo on the ACN map. It would be simplistic, however, to conclude that the desire was limited to political control. There is also an economic dimension–Ondo’s oil revenue is an object of desire. That’s why informed Ondo voters objected to the external control of their state and its resources.

Second, Tinubu truly believed that his party would win the Ondo governorship. However, so many mistakes were made along the way, from candidate imposition to excessive negative campaign, which gave little room for policy discussion. Above all, the traditional strategy of rigging elections was thwarted by extra-ordinary security, efficient INEC personnel, vigilant polling agents, and an electorate determined to make their votes count.

It is ironical that a self-styled “party of democrats” is the only one among 12 political parties that still refused to fully accept the results of an election universally acknowledged as free, fair, and peaceful. This says something about the ACN leadership. Either the party leaders are not getting proper advice or they think they know it all. Above all, they seem to lack self-criticism. The reckless pursuit of the “Take over Ondo” project was a clear demonstration of these deficiencies.

culled from the (Punch newspaper) 23/10/2012

Dana Airline wins FAAN award.

2012-10-22T03:55:00.005-07:00

IN what families of the June 3 Dana Airline plane crash victims may find offensive, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) at the weekend named the airline as the best domestic carrier for 2011.

According to FAAN’s Regional General Manager, Mr. Chris Bature, while the airline was chosen for its good customer relations and prompt payment of dues, Lufthansa Airlines was also selected as the best international carrier for the same period.

The Dana plane crash killed the entire 153 passengers and crew members on board, in addition to other victims in the residential area where the doomed plane slammed into. Various buildings were also destroyed. The Federal Government promptly seized its license, but restored it 93 days after the crash, provoking outrage across the country.

Speaking at the occasion, Bature stated that the airline was selected because of its outstanding performance. His words: “Mode of selection includes passenger capacity, frequency of the landing and take-off, their response to payment of bills. Among the domestic carriers, they were the best. They had the best volume, they were punctual in their operations.”

Reacting to a question on the timing of the award, Bature explained that the award would have taken place earlier in the year. He also observed that the reward came after the operator’s license had been restored. “In all fairness, they did their best and we need to recognise that and encourage them to get back to their feet,” he added.

Dana’s Station Manager at the Abuja airport, Mr. Kayode Adeniran, stated that the airline’s commitment to best customer service and timely departure earned it the award. He said: “We have this policy in our company that we must not delay passengers and we introduced another type of system. If your flight is delayed by 40 minutes, we give refreshments to all passengers that already had their boarding passes. So people were so impressed by our service.”

However, he lamented over the loss of lives occasioned by the crash, stressing that the operator visited and commiserated with the families of the deceased.

To prevent a recurrence, the station manager revealed that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has embarked on an investigation to ascertain when the airline would be allowed to commence operations.

He said the airline has commenced demonstration flights as stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). He also said that the operation would run until NCAA certifies the carrier fit to resume full operations.

Culled from the (Guardian Nigeria newspaper) 22/10/2012

PDP, others congratulate Mimiko, ACN cries foul

2012-10-22T01:26:00.000-07:00

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday congratulated Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State for earning a second term in office through his victory in the governorship election on Saturday.

Mimiko is a member of the Labour Party. He defeated the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olusola Oke; the Action Congress of Nigeria candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN); and others.

President of the Senate, David Mark; his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, also congratulated Mimiko.

While the PDP commended the people of Ondo State for voting Mimiko for a second term in office, the ACN said it would make its position known after its post-mortem of the election.

Akeredolu, however, faulted the result of the election, saying it was not “a reflection of the people’s wish.” Spokesperson for his campaign organisation, Idowu Ajanaku, on Sunday, said through a text message to our correspondent, “The election was rigged in conjunction with security agents. There was no election in Idanre. The election in strongholds of ACN were cancelled.”

Ajanaku said that despite the cancelled areas, ACN’s outing on Saturday was impressive.

“The good showing of ACN in the election shows we are back in this state for good,” he said.

Congrats galore
The Independent National Electoral Commission’s Returning Officer for the state, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola, officially declared the election result at the INEC Office, Alagbaka, Akure at exactly 1.21pm on Sunday.

According to the final result by INEC, the ruling Labour Party candidate won the election, having polled 260,199 votes. The PDP and ACN candidates scored 155,961 and 143,512 votes respectively.

The ACPN candidate had 1806 votes; All Nigeria Peoples Party, 1,461; APS, 751; PNPP, 2949 and the CAP candidate polled 735.

The Congress for Progressive Change candidate scored 1931; NCP, 823; NSDP, 1103; PDC, 21,361; and PPA, 1652.

Jonathan, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, also commended Ondo electorate, INEC personnel and security agencies for ensuring that the election was peaceful and successful.

The statement reads, “President Jonathan assures Mimiko that the Federal Government will continue to engage constructively and positively with the Ondo State Government in collaborative efforts to achieve faster socio-economic development and better living conditions for people in the state and all other parts of Nigeria.”

In separate congratulatory messages on Sunday, Mark and Tambuwal described the election as free and fair, saying it was democracy at play.

Mark, in his statement, said Mimiko “should be magnanimous in victory and should carry all along. The mandate is a challenge for greater service delivery to the people.”

He expressed satisfaction that Nigerians had come to appreciate democracy through free and fair elections.

Tambuwal, who pledged the cooperation of the House of Representatives to the governor, said Mimiko’s victory was a manifestation of the people’s trust in his leadership abilities.

Urging those who have grievances to pursue their cases according to the law, he stressed the need for them to accept the result in good fate and cooperate with the winner in the interest of the people.

Ekweremadu described the re-election of Mimiko as “people’s verdict and democracy in action.” He noted that the Ondo election, in many ways, indicated that the electoral reforms carried out by the 6th National Assembly through constitutional amendment was yielding greater results by the day.

He said, “In the end, it is not just about who won, but about a democratic, violence-free and mature electoral process where the people freely express themselves and realise their will that count above everything else.”

A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, on Sunday said, “How better do Nigerians say no to the drumbeats of tribalism and political narrowness than what the people of Ondo State have just done with their votes?

“It is a quantum forward leap for those who understand the dangers of undue manipulation of national diversity for narrow political whims and a huge set back, utter rejection for the champions of ethnic politics.”

Metuh said though the PDP was not declared the winner of the election, the party was still happy with the performance of its candidate who, he said, joined the race late.

He also commended INEC and the security agencies for the peaceful conduct of the poll and urged them to learn from any observed loophole so as to continue improving in future elections.

ACN reacts
But the ACN, in a statement by its National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, said it was scrutinising the result of the election.

The statement reads, “As a party of democrats, we in the ACN have always known that the choice of who governs has always been that of the people in situations where the electoral process is transparent and credible.

“Therefore, all politicians worthy of their salt must always expect victory or defeat.

“We recognise that it is the sovereign right of the people to decide what kind of government they want. This is the challenge of democracy.

“Our party believes that there was and still is need for change in Ondo State. Thus, our party will study carefully the general details of the result with a view to taking a final position.

“Our party will continue this post mortem analysis of the lapses in all the institutions involved in the conduct of the Ondo election.”

National Chairman of the Labour Party, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, said Mimiko’s victory had established the fact that the LP had done well for the people of Ondo State in the last three-and-half years.

Governors speak
Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan(Delta); Seriake Dickson(Bayelsa); Peter Obi(Anambra); and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) also congratulated Mimiko for retaining his position.

Uduaghan said Mimiko’s victory was a testimony that free and fair elections were possible in our democracy.

He said, “He (Mimiko) should strive to continue to build on the path of development he started in his first term.”

In a statement, Governor Dickson described Mimiko’s victory’s as a clear reflection of the tremendous support, confidence and goodwill he enjoys from his people”.

Obi, who is the Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum as well as the Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, said, “The victory of Mimiko is yet another testimony that democracy is taking root in our country. The people have spoken; the best candidate has won.”

Ahmed in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abdulwahab Oba, described Mimiko’s re-election as a demostration of steady but sustainable growth of Nigeria’s democracy.

He urged INEC to apply the lessons it learnt from the Ondo State election to deepen ‘its impressive records’ in the conduct of subsequent elections in the country.

Mimiko, who dedicated his victory to all lovers of democracy, described the election as free, fair and highly credible. He said the poll conduct had raised the hope of a better future for the country and urged his fellow contestants to join hands with him in the task of building the state.

Rigging claims
When contacted on the ACN’s allegation of rigging using security forces, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Ndabawa, said the party should challenge INEC in court on the matter.

Ndabawa, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the telephone, said, “I am a commissioner of police; that is not my problem. They should direct their question to INEC and challenge the result in the court.”

The returning officer in Saturday’s governorship poll, Daramola, said that while 1,638,950 people registered as voters, 624,659 votes were cast.

Giving the analysis of the votes, the returning officer said that 594,244 votes were the total valid votes while 30,415 votes were invalid.

He said, “I, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola certify that I was the returning officer for the Ondo State governorship election. That the election was contested and that the candidates received these result (stated above).

“That Dr. Rahman Olusegun Mimiko, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby certified as the winner and he is hereby returned as the governor.”

The LP candidate won in a total number of 13 local government areas. The PDP, which came second, won in Ilaje and Okitipupa LGAs and the ACN candidate won in Owo, Odigbo and Akoko South West LGAs.

Earlier, the Collation Officer for Ilaje LGA , Dr. Olayinka Oladele of the Federal University of Technology, said the results from 32 pooling units in the council were cancelled for various reasons, including mutilation and alterations on result sheets.

Mimiko, was first declared the governor of Ondo State on February 24, 2009 by the Appeal Court in Benin City, Edo State, which was presided over by former President of Court of Appeal, Justice Abdulahi Umar.

Mimiko had contested the April 14 governorship election of 2007 with former Governor Olusegun Agagu of the PDP, but Agagu was declared the winner by the INEC.

But Mimiko headed for the election petition tribunal. He was declared the lawful winner of the poll which the appeal tribunal also upheld.

culled from the (Punch newspaper) 22/10/2012

Tukur’s Son’s Ambition Tears PDP Apart

2012-10-19T10:32:00.005-07:00

Anwal Tukur, one of the sons of Bamanga Tukur, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, wants to be the next governor of Adamawa State – and his ambition is tearing the PDP apart, according to sources who spoke to SaharaReporters.

Last Wednesday, Bamanga Tukur arm-twisted the party’s National Working Committee to sack the party’s executive committee in his home state of Adamawa. A source in the Adamawa chapter of the PDP told SaharaReporters that the dissolution of the executive body was designed to clear the way for Anwal to coast to the party’s governorship ticket.

Olisa Metuh, the PDP’s national publicity secretary, announced the firing of the state executive at the conclusion of a meeting of the National Working Committee at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.

The disbanded executive was headed by Minjiyawa Kugama, a close ally of Governor Murtala Nyako.

Mr. Metuh’s statement stated that the NWC “hereby dissolves the Adamawa State Executive Committee of the PDP.” He added that the action was “in exercise of Article 31, section 2(e) and 29, 2 (b) of the 2012 amended constitution of our party and consequent on repeated breaches of the constitution by the Adamawa State chapter.”

Article 31(2) (e) specifically empowers the NWC to, “where necessary, dissolve a state executive committee and appoint a caretaker committee to run the party until another executive committee is elected, provided that the period from the dissolution to the election of the new executive shall not to exceed 3 months.”

Mr. Metuh stated that the dissolved state committee had “flagrantly disregarded and shown serial disobedience to the decisions of the NWC.” He added that the NWC had advised the disbanded executive “to halt further steps towards the conduct of local government elections as agreed at a meeting of 9th October, 2012 between the NWC and the Adamawa State Working Committee. However, the EXCO did not only go ahead with the process, it submitted a list of candidates to the State Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) without the approval of the NWC.”

The PDP’s spokesman the state executive committee’s action violated the party’s constitution which empowers the National Executive Committee as “the final authority for the formulation of guidelines and regulations for the nomination of candidates for election into public offices at all levels and conveying same to INEC or any other authority to whom it may concern.”

The NWC also claimed that it had received “complaints and petitions from principal stakeholders of the party in Adamawa State on various unconstitutional acts of the dissolved State EXCO, especially the principle of zoning as enshrined in Article 7(3) (e) of the party constitution as well as several letters from INEC complaining of non-compliance with relevant laws in the conduct of the Adamawa State Congresses.”

Said Mr. Metuh: “The NWC finally noted that all entreaties to get the Adamawa State Working Committee to rescind and/ or reverse these constitutional breaches proved abortive.” He implored members of the party in Adamawa State “to remain calm and await further directives.”

Mr. Metuh then announced the constitution of a caretaker committee to manage the party’s affairs in the interim. The members are Umar Damagun (chairman), Eli Gamaliel, Dahiru Shehu, Sabo Mohammed, Grace Mamba, Altine Inuwa, Samuel Zadok, Adamu Wazirin Paka, and Emmanuel Tsamdu (secretary). The committee was immediately sworn in by the party.

But a member of the disbanded executive told SaharaReporters that the party’s moves were questionable and illegal. “How was the party able to arrange these men and women from Adamawa State, if the decision had not been taken before the NWC meeting?”

Other disaffected members of the party accused Mr. Bamanga Tukur of seeking to smuggle his son into the state’s Government House. “Dr. Bamanga Tukur wants his son to succeed Governor Nyako, but he knows he and his son are unpopular,” said one of our sources, a party leader close to the current governor.

Governor Nyako had worked against Mr. Tukur’s chairmanship ambition, but President Goodluck Jonathan went ahead to impose Mr. Tukur as the chair. One of the politicians in the state stated that Mr. Nyako, a retired naval admiral, was ready to take on Mr. Tukur and his son. The source accused the PDP’s national chairman of planning to plant his stooges as chairmen of the various local governments in the state.

culled from the (sahara reporters) 18/10/2012

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/tukur%E2%80%99s-son%E2%80%99s-ambition-tears-pdp-apart

Governor Oshiomhole Signs Death Warrant Of Unmanageable Death Row Inmates

2012-10-19T10:31:00.001-07:00

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has signed the death warrants of two prisoners on death row, international rights groups said today.

The state’s Attorney General, Osagie Obayuwana, told Amnesty International today that Mr. Oshiomhole signed the execution warrants two weeks ago following a request from prison authorities. Edo State prison authorities reportedly complained to the governor that death row inmates involved in a recent jailbreak incident had become “unmanageable.”

Mr. Obayuwana explained that the two prisoners to be killed were convicted of murder, for which Nigeria’s laws prescribe the death penalty. Mr. Obayuwana did not provide the complete identities of the two prisoners, but said the date of the execution was at the discretion of prison authorities. He added that Mr. Oshiomhole also reviewed the cases of four other death row prisoners, and decided that two should have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment while two are to be released.

Celine Lemmel, a representative in Nigeria for the human rights group Avocats Sans Frontieres (ASF France), today released a statement in which he identified one of the soon-to-be-executed prisoners as Callistus Ike. Mr. Ike, an inmate on death row in Enugu Prisons, was recently brought to Benin Prison to be executed. A source at the Benin Prison disclosed that the gallows were recently inspected in preparedness for an eventual execution.

Lucy Freeman, Amnesty International’s deputy program director for Africa, called Oshiomhole’s signing of the death warrants under the pretext of controlling unmanageable inmates as “a deep disrespect for the judicial process.”

Ms. Freeman disclosed that both prisoners slated for execution were among 840 inmates who filed an appeal through the Legal Defence and Advocacy Project (LEDAP) in March 2010. An injunction granted by the court upholding the appeal was however lifted in April 2012. LEDAP immediately filed another appeal that same month following the court's decision. A decision on that appeal is pending, she said.

“The inmates are part of an ongoing appeal. The execution of a prisoner when the execution of the sentence is still under challenge in the courts is a flagrant violation of human rights,” Ms. Freeman said.

Since the last official execution in Nigeria in 2002, there has been a de facto moratorium on executions, Avocats Sans Frontières France said. The organization recalled that the 2004 National Study Group on Death Penalty advised to put a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty in Nigeria.

Mr. Oshiomhole’s action comes at a time many countries around the world, including in Africa, have ruled mandatory death sentencing as unconstitutional, Amnesty International said.

“The signature of warrant of executions in Edo State proves that the situation remains very fragile and that actions need to be continued,” Avocats Sans Frontieres said.

culled from the (sahara reporters) 18/10/2012

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/governor-oshiomhole-signs-death-warrant-unmanageable-death-row-inmates

Hunted: A first-hand account of Gaddafi’s desperate last days

2012-10-19T10:05:00.002-07:00

On Aug. 28, 2011, Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi and two of his sons fled the capital city of Tripoli, which after months of bitter fighting was finally succumbing to rebel advances. One of his sons, Khamis, was killed within a day, possibly by a NATO airstrike. Another, Saif al-Islam, made it to the town of Bani Walid, but in November fell into rebel hands. Moammar Gaddafi, who had ruled Libya for more than four decades, set out east for Sirte, his home town. He had less than two months to live.

Gaddafi’s final days are detailed in a new report from Human Rights Watch, which painstakingly reconstructs his movements — and those of the citizen militia that captured and executed him — over his final weeks. At many points, the story rests on the account of loyalist fighters who were with him and sometimes on the recollection of a single associate whose information is difficult or impossible to verify, but it is so far the most complete account we have of the final days of the “mad dog of the Middle East.”

Gaddafi arrived in Sirte, a town of about 75,000 on the Mediterranean coast, accompanied by a personal driver, a small contingent of bodyguards and a state security official named Mansour Dhao. He moved into the apartment blocks in the small downtown area. There, he received two of his regime’s most notorious officials to discuss the ongoing civil war, which he was losing badly. The first, intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, initially traveled with Gaddafi but later left to inform his wife that their son had been killed in fighting, which may have saved his life. The second, infamously cruel Gaddafi son Mutassim, was nominally commanding Sirte’s defenses and visited his father regularly.

As the rebels’ shelling of Sirte increased and as fighting moved into the city center, Gaddafi decided to move to a more sparsely populated neighborhood at the western edge of town. Bunkered down and wary of exposing themselves, Gaddafi and his bodyguards moved between abandoned homes, struggling to find a reliable source of food. The long-time dictator, who had siphoned off billions of dollars of oil wealth for his personal use, and his guards scrounged through the cupboards of empty houses for pasta and rice. Many of the water tanks had been damaged in fighting, making drinking water difficult to find.

For weeks, Gaddafi “spent most of his time reading the Koran and praying,” Dhao, the security official, later told Human Rights Watch. “There was no communication, no television, nothing.” They had a satellite phone they would use to call people who had access to a television and would narrate the news to them. “We had no duties, we were just between sleeping and being awake,” Dhao recalled. “Nothing to do.” They moved every four or five days, fearing their location would be discovered. Either to avoid raising suspicion or because it was all they had, they used only one or two cars when moving, ferrying Gaddafi and his contingent over multiple trips.

As their hiding wore on, Dhao said, Gaddafi “changed,” “becoming more and more angry. Mostly he was angry about the lack of electricity, communications and television, his inability to communicate to the outside world. We would go see him and sit with him for an hour or so to speak with him, and he would ask, “Why is there no electricity? Why is there no water?”

The neighborhood turned into a sort of loyalist enclave, guarded by militias who also took over a local hospital and turned it into a sort of field clinic for wounded fighters from the area. The concentrating loyalist fighters drew more fire from the rebels, who sent artillery shells and Grad missiles into the neighborhood.

On Oct. 19, an increasingly worried Mutassim Gaddafi brought a plan to his father: they would flee Sirte, breaking through the line of rebels laying siege to the city. The old man agreed. Late that night, Gaddafi’s small bodyguard corps began loading the neighborhood’s few remaining residents and the clinic’s wounded into a convoy of about 50 vehicles, mostly four-by-four pickups. The trucks were loaded up with weapons, some with machine guns or anti-aircraft guns mounted on the back.

Mutassim Gaddafi planned to push out at 3:30 or 4 a.m. But organizing the convoy took longer than he’d anticipated. There weren’t ready until 8 a.m., by which time many rebel militias had returned to their positions and the flat desert plain was brightly lit. It’s not clear why Mutassim Gaddafi and his father went ahead with their plan, as the conditions could not have been worse. Maybe they believed they could not wait until the following evening, maybe they didn’t want to lose their momentum, or maybe they were just desperate. They pushed out to the west, through abandoned neighborhoods along the coast.

Rebels came onto the lumbering convoy almost immediately, bogging it down in the small neighborhood streets. The trucks came to an open road and turned south; it’s not clear if this was always the plan, or if they diverted to avoid the rebels. Almost immediately, a missile landed next to Gaddafi’s car. The blast was so powerful that the car’s airbags inflated, according to Dhao, who also took shrapnel from the explosion.

Apparently panicked, the convey turned west again, back into the neighborhoods streets. Before long, they ran directly into an ad hoc base of rebel militias. The rebels were from Misurata, a city that Gaddafi’s forces had besieged for weeks, lobbing cluster bombs into densely populated neighborhoods, turning it into what more than one resident called “a hell.” The convoy attacked the rebels head on, another tactical mistake as they quickly became pinned down. NATO fighter jets dropped two “PAVEWAY” laser-guided bombs, each 500 pounds, raining the convoy with shrapnel and setting off a series of explosions as the munitions-loaded trucks caught fire.

Gaddafi, his son Mutassim, his defense minister, and a personal bodyguard contingent climbed off the road into an abandoned home, where rebels followed them. “We found Moammar there, wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof vest. He had a handgun in his pocket and was carrying an automatic weapon,” recalled the defense minister’s son, who scrambled to protect the leader. Mutassim Gaddafi led a contingent of about 10 fighters to try to reopen the road, telling his father, “I will try to find a way out of here.” He was quickly captured and, within hours, executed.

“Then the villa started being shelled so we ran out of there,” the defense minister’s son remembered. “There were a lot of cement construction blocks outside and we hid among those, with the families and the guards.” Gaddafi and about 10 others sprinted across an open field to a drainage pipe that ran under the road. They hunched down and crawled through it, but rebels spotted them “almost immediately” when they emerged, witnesses told Human Rights Watch.

In the battle that followed, one of Gaddafi’s bodyguards attempted to throw several grenades at the rebels, one of which bounced off a concrete wall and landed near Gaddafi. The bodyguard leaned over to retrieve the grenade when it exploded, taking off his arm and wounding both Gaddafi and the defense minister. “I ran towards my father, but he didn’t answer when I asked him if he was okay,” the minister’s son said. “I saw Moammar bleeding,” apparently from a head wound. The bodyguard contingent collapsed.

The rebels quickly descended from the road, where many later said they were shocked to find the dazed Gaddafi. The rebel contingent quickly turned into a mob, surrounding and beating their former dictator, pulling his hair. One stabbed Gaddafi in the anus with a bayonet. “It was a violent scene, he was put on the front of a pickup truck that tried to drive him away, and he fell off,” a rebel commander told Human Rights Watch. “We understood that there needed to be a trial, but we couldn’t control everyone, some acted beyond our control.”

What happened next is not clear. A phone video of the scene appeared to show, according to Human Rights Watch, “Gaddafi’s nearly naked and apparently lifeless body being loaded into an ambulance, suggesting that he may have been dead by the time he left his area of capture.” Two hours later, the ambulance arrived in Misurata, and photos of Gaddafi’s corpse began circulating around the globe.

The world may never know who killed Moammar Gaddafi. It’s possible that any one of his injuries, including the grenade explosion, may have killed him, or that the 69-year-old succumbed during the mob beating. It’s possible he was executed before being loaded into the ambulance or sometime after, before reaching Misurata. “Some militia fighters from Benghazi claim to have shot Gaddafi dead during a dispute with Misurata fighters about where to take him, but their claims remain unconfirmed,” the Human Rights Watch report says.

The transitional government, wanting as little attention as possible for Gaddafi’s resting place, buried him in secret somewhere in the Libyan desert. The grave, which he shares with his defense minister and his son Mutassim, is unmarked.

culled from the (washignton post) 17/10/2012

Police shoot two while enforcing okada restriction

2012-10-19T08:38:00.003-07:00

A policeman attached to Ago Police Division, Okota, Lagos, allegedly shot two men on Wednesday.

It was learnt that the policemen were arresting commercial motorcycle riders plying restricted routes when the two men attempted to intervene.

Our correspondent learnt that the victims, Adebisi Adewole and Gbenga Abiodun, are employees of Ekayus Limited, dealers in iron rod and building materials.

According to eyewitness accounts, the victims were shot at GKS Bus Stop, Ago Palace Road, Okota.

The victims were said to have been shot for persuading the policemen at a checkpoint in front of their shop, not to arrest a commercial motorcyclist.

An eyewitness, who craved anonymity, said, “The policemen were chasing a motorcycle operator in a bid to arrest him but while attempting to escape, he (okada rider) rode into a ditch.

“Upon noticing that the policemen were bent on arresting him, the victims who had closed for the day appealed to the policemen to let him go since he (the motorcyclist) had already sustained injuries from his fall.

“The appeal infuriated one of the policemen who immediately opened fire and the bullets hit the victims.”

The manager of the company, who was identified simply as Gbenga, confirmed the incident. He said they had made peace with the police over the matter.

He said, “The police have apologised to us. They said the shooting was an error as they did not intend to shoot my colleagues. They said it was an accidental discharge that wasn’t directly aimed at the victims.

“ So, we have listened to their plea and opted to forgive them. We have let go of the issue.”

Efforts to confirm the incident from the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, proved abortive, as she neither picked phone calls nor replied a text message sent to her phone.culled from the (Punch newspaper)