Pastor, six others arrested over airport robbery attack.

SEVEN suspected members of a robbery gang that attacked the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA,Lagos, last month, killing two policemen and injuring several others, have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad , Ikeja, Lagos.

Surprisingly, one of the suspects was discovered to be the general overseer of  The way of  Joy church located in Egbe area of Lagos.

Parading the suspects before newsmen yesterday, at the Command’s headquarters, Ikeja, the command’s boss, Mr Umar Manko, disclosed that  they (suspects) were arrested following information obtained from the document of a member of the gang who was shot dead during the exchange of fire with the deceased policemen.

Operatives from SARs, led by the commander, Abba Kyari , he said, swung into action during which Pastor Ibikunle Olarewaju John was arrested in Egbe area. His confessional statement, Manko  said, led to the arrest of six other members of the gang in Ikire, Osun, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun states, with the recovery of five AK 47 rifles, four dynamites, two locally-made pistols, sixty-four AK 47 riffles magazines, all loaded with 1920 live ammunition, a Toyota Sienna bus with an in-built space where the gang concealed its arms and ammunition.

The suspects…

Also recovered, were two masks and several charms buried in an iron box in the gang’s  hideout inside a forest at Agoro village in Odogbolu local government area of Ogun state.

“ The suspects confessed to the armed robbery at the MMIA and several other deadly robberies   in Lagos, Ondo  and Kwara states. Part of the robberies they confessed to, were; the Oro First bank/Union bank robbery in Kwara state in January 2013; First bank/WEMA bank armed robbery in Osun state in December 2012 and the bullion van armed robbery attack at Odogbolu junction along Lagos/Ijebu-Ode expressway in January 2013. They also confessed to the robbery attack at the MMIA in February 2012, where about N600 million was carted away.

“The armed robbers involved in the airport robbery of February 2012, where N600 million was robbed  and the March 13, 2013 MMIA robbery include Teslim Okunola now late, Kazeem Aderibigbe (the middle man that linked the armed robbers with the informant), Ibrahim Abdullai (main informant), Emmanuel Ehianeta (who earlier met his waterloo in the hands of operatives of SARS,  during a gun battle in October 2012,during which12 AK 47 rifles , one Pump action magazine and several ammunition were recovered) ; Christian Joshua (from whom one Fiat Space bus  with registration number AKD 791 BD, modified to carry rifles was recovered); Saheed Adekunle , Fasasi Jamiu, Ifeanyi Douglas(still at large) Felix Sunday (still at large) Asiwaju (still at large) and Shina Aremu a.ka. China (still at large)”.

During interaction with Crime Alert, the suspects said the policemen were shot dead out of frustration, over their  inability to get their target. The robbers as gathered, missed their target that fateful day as they were held up in traffic. They regretted that but for the traffic they would have realised  about N1 Billion from the foiled operation.

I administered oath on them before they went for operation— Pastor
One of the suspects,  Ibikunle John, discovered to be the General Overseer of The Way of Joy church located on Alliu street, Egbe,Lagos, told Crime Alert that on the day of the operation,(March 13, 2013) he administered an oath of

CP, Manko displaying the recovered charms

secrecy on members of the gang before they left.

The oath according to him, was administered in the gang’s hideout inside a bush located around Odogbolu area of Ogun state.

Hear him, “ Yes. I am the one that administered an oath on them the day they went to work. I waited for them in the bush until they came back. In the bush located in Ijebu-Ode, there is a hut where one can even sleep if one wishes. But no one person can come there, except  he is a member of the gang.

Asked to describe how the oath was administered, he replied: “You won’t understand because it is a spiritual thing,  as  incantation  was said into a horn.”

Also asked if he owned a church of his own, he replied:  “Yes. I am the general overseer. It started as a Spiritual Healing Church where God  used me to heal people with diverse strange illnesses.”

Also asked why he ventured into heinous crime, if indeed he was a genuine man of God, he shook his head in regret and in an emotional laden voice, said, “ I was introduced into it by  Asiwaju. I did not know he was a robber  then.  But when I did, I tried to withdraw from him. But it was too late. He introduced me to  other members of his gang.”

But we were made to understand you have partaken in some of the operations with the gang, Crime Alert  said.

“No”!, he replied.   “I have never gone on operation with them. What happened was that Asiwaju once told me to go and bring their operational vehicle from where it was parked after an operation  and   I drove it straight to his fish farm.  At the end, I was given N50,000. At another time,  one of them, Alfred ,asked me to drive his car to Ijebu-Ode because he did not want to rob with the car on that day. That was when they raided  a bank in Oro, Kwara state”

I got  N45 Million—Atoba Adeniyi
Another suspect who identified himself as Atoba Adeniyi , 32, gave a vivid explanation on how the gang carried out the March 13, 2013 attack at the International  airport. Although he claimed not to have fired a shot during the attack, he revealed  however,that his role was to monitor the road right from Ijebu-Ode to the International airport  and briefed his gang on where policemen were stationed. He further disclosed how the gang  also struck last year at the same airport, where they carted away the sum of N600 Million.

Hear him, “ I joined the gang last year.  Before then, I was in Bayelsa. I was tricked by one of them to come and join them in a crude oil business and I came,only to realise late that it was robbery. My role in last year’s operation was to drive but I  did not shoot. We were successful and at the end, I got N45 Million as my share. I used the money to buy a tanker, three vehicles, out of which I used  as taxi. But I was duped of N10 million in the process.

After that operation, I decided to stay away from them. But they would not let me be. I even changed my  telephone numbers several times . At a point, I decided to turn a new leaf and went to a church for deliverance in Olorushogo area of  Ibadan.

I was living my normal life when they called me again. I told them I won’t come but they threatened to kill me if I did not. They told me to meet them in a bush in Ijebu-Ode and when I got there ,I was made to swear an oath of secrecy. We were instructed  not to tell Paul (a member of the gang) about the operation because they wanted to sideline him.

After taking the  oath, I was told to monitor the terrain and inform them of where policemen were. I was almost killed during the shoot out by a member of the gang because it was dark and I did not know the terrain. However, at the end, I got N500,000. I knew the end was near for me  since the last operation. The first signal was the death of my child immediately she was delivered. I regret my action and I am begging my wife and parents in particular, to forgive me”, he said.

The gang’s operational vehicle. with inbuilt space where arms and ammunition were concealed

I gave them information – airport staff
31- year-old Ibrahim Abdul, from Plateau  told Crime Alert  that he furnished the gang with information  on the first attack. Ibrahim who blamed his indulgence on poverty, said he was tempted by the  huge amount of money usually taken out of the country.

Hear him: “I have been working at the airport since 2009 and I usually see people carrying huge amount of money abroad. I then  informed one of my friend’s, Kazeem, whom I met at computer village. That was in December 2011. By January 2012, he called me and said  he would arrange a meeting between I and his school mate whom he identified as Asiwaju. We met in a hotel around Ikeja,where  he (Asiwaju) assured us  he was going to organize his gang to do the job. Few weeks later,  Kazeem called to say Asiwaju had been able to get a five -man- robbery gang to do the job and that  all they wanted  was  to meet  with me, to confirm if the money was there.

The people moving the money out of the country do that every Wednesday. So,  I invited members of the gang to come see for themselves. On the day they came, they pretended to be working with me. The following  Wednesday( in February),  I and Kazeem didn’t go close to the airport, we were in a bar drinking and waiting for the gang  to call us. By 11 pm  I got news of therobbery at the airport and I called Kazeem and informed him. We called Asiwaju and his gang members to get an update but all their lines were switched off. I became worried and  thought  Kazeem might have conspired with his friends to make away with the money.

But on Saturday of that week, I received a call from Asiwaju who said we (Kazeem and I) should come to Ijebu-Ode to get our money. We  went  and  were  handed two nylon bags  containing N1.5m each. But  I rejected mine because I knew the money  robbed was much and felt  my share ought to be more because I brought the job..  I was  even about fighting with him when Kazeem held me back and whispered to me that Asiwaju was a dangerous man. Asiwaju later explained to me that the man who brought the guns they used for the job hijacked all the money and gave them peanut to share. He also said that the money he gave us was  out of  his own share. Out of the amount,  I bought a car and opened a phone accessories shop at Computer Village.

I didn’t speak with them again until March this year when I heard of another robbery at the airport. I called Asiwaju and he said they did the job but that  it wasn’t successful. He told me that before they got to the airport that the money had been moved from the parking lot into the departure hall in the airport and  that they couldn’t get into the place.  He promised to see me when he comes to Lagos.

How I was arrested
But last week,  I was in my house resting,when the police came and  apprehended me. When I was brought to SARS and  was interrogated alongside other  members, I  realized  I and Kazeem were short changed. Atoba, one of  Asiwaju’s gang members told me that Asiwaju was given N90 million but he gave us only N3million. I’m not angry that I was arrested but I feel terribly bad  that someone could cheat me in that manner.”

We killed the policemen because we missed our target
For Christain Joshua, he has this to say: “I and Saheed Adekunle,  were the first to be at the airport. Our boss Teslim Okunola, also known as Esho, who was killed during the operation,instructed us to stay at the airport and monitor the movement of the cash before their arrival. We did but unfortunate, Esho, Asiwaju, and K-money who were supposed to storm the  airport with the arms  were held up in  traffic and before they  got to the airport, the money had been moved from the parking lot to the airport.

By then, it was about 8pm. I and SP were given a rifle  and we went after the people carrying the money. But before we knew it, some policemen  around opened fire and we retaliated and killed two of them. But by then, the money had gone beyond our reach. Frustrated, Asiwaju who is  the leader of the gang, directed us to  rob the Bereau -de-change  so as not to go empty handed. We succeeded and collected over N10 million. Asiwaju who owns the rifles got N3million while  six of us got N550,000, each.  I used part of my share to  clear off some of  my debt before I was arrested.

Wanted! A Leader We Can Be Proud Of.

Nigeria is in bondage, bondage of mediocrity and ethnicity. Each factor on its own is dangerous, combined there can be no worse fate for a country.

Right now Nigerians are disgusted with the leadership cadre they are saddled with, right from the presidency through to the legislative chambers. We are cringing when most of our leaders speak publicly, inspiring none and evincing no soundness of mind. At international fora we sit and watch our leaders address the world, we hold our breath and pray silently for no gaffes or blunders, to no avail.

Quickly, the ethnic card flashes on the minds of those not from the ethnic group of such leader, falsely associating the mediocrity on display to the speaker’s ethnic group, and fuelling even more ethnic resentment, one of another.

Conversely, Nigerians feel unitedly proud with themselves when a Nigerian stands out at a public forum, especially of an international kind, and mesmerizes the audience with smooth eloquence and force of his argument. We smile, we clap, and, at that point, we bury our differences and identify our nationality with the speaker.

This much was brought home to me at the just concluded week-long 6th Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union (AU) and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, which I attended at the invitation of the ECA.

The theme of the conference was “Industrialization for an Emerging Africa”. Throughout the conference there was barely anything more than the perfunctory, often tepid, diplomatise applause after one leader-of-delegate’s or another’s speech. Then on the last day and at the last key-issue titled “Financing Africa’s Industrialization” treated by a high-table array of governors of central banks in a number of African countries and top global financial gurus, the unusual happened – repeated deafening applause from the otherwise conservative hall after one particular speaker’s delivery.

That particular speaker was none other than our very own Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, (SLS) governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank! This small-framed stormy-petrel was a sight to behold as, in the manner of a stage actor, he held everyone spellbound, starting out calmly then, with increasing tempo and alto, delivering his points, quoting one authority or another, spewing data, even as he spoke extempore!

He insisted that Africa’s non-industrialization, and by extension non-development, rests squarely with bad governance. Finance is globally awash, he postulates, but it would only follow good policies, security and stability. Though central banks universally have a role to play, he insists, until African countries “have the right policies we won’t be able to have the right finance” for industrialization.

Giving examples of countries that have moved Third World to Industrialized World, he said: “If you talk about Malaysia, you talk about Tun Abdul Razak Hussein; if you talk about Singapore, you talk about Lee; you talk about the Indonesian experience, you talk about Suharto,” insisting that it’s all attributable to leadership. “If there is a deficit in leadership at the highest level, there will be a deficit in finance,” he concluded.   

Nobody cared if he was merely grandstanding or playing to the gallery with stuff that may under intense intellectual scrutiny collapse, it was just enough that there was one speaker who appeared not only to know his onions but had the gift of the garb to mesmerize the audience. Our Sanusi spoke passionately; he spoke with conviction. And everyone seemed to nod along in appreciation, even his colleague gurus on the high table.

Sitting a seat or two away from me in the audience was a black guy who had erstwhile kept to his self, minding his business and not showing any interest in me whatsoever, dressed as I was pointedly Nigerian – what with the Yoruba goobi cap. But from his looks (and European dressing) I couldn’t tell if he was Nigerian or not. However, as Sanusi spoke and spake, and as the audience (including this guy) clapped and clapped, he looked in my direction for joyous fraternity, smiled, shifted towards me, stretched his hands (just holding back from embracing me), grinned from ear to ear, and the very first words he said to me was, “this guy is great.”

So this ‘brother’ is Nigerian after all, I thought to myself. “Look,” he said rhetorically, “why don’t we have someone like this as our leader in that country. Who would care which part of the country he comes from. See us,” he continued, “I’m Igbo, this guy is Hausa or Fulani, and I take it you are Yoruba, and here I am filled with pride at being a Nigerian because of him. ”

“Sanusi’s performance,” my new brother concluded of Nigeria, “rekindles hope that all is not lost.” He gave me his card; yes he’s Igbo and works at the UN in New York.

Truth is, from his diction there’s no way of telling which part of Nigeria Sanusi came from. But he is also clearly intelligent, even scholarly, bold, articulate, and smooth. I could not resist the urge as he left the hall to go up to him to shake his hand and say: “thank you, sir, for doing Nigeria proud.”

Sorry I got so carried away eulogising SLS, but the point I’m making, a point I also made to some foreigners at an evening relaxation joint in Abidjan, is that Nigeria is a country of over 160 million people. We’ve got some of the best brains on the planet living within Nigeria and scattered all over the Diaspora. We’ve got scores of medical doctors in Saudi Arabia, Europe, and America; we’ve got great historians; great scientists; great writers; great scholars; great artistes. Why then do we keep ending up having leaders who shame us?

And that also nicely brings me to what gladdens my heart: it doesn’t have to be like that. The fault (to paraphrase what Cassius said to Brutus in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar) is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings. Nigerians must wake up to the fact that they can bring about the change in leadership that they desire, come 2015, with their votes!

The group of Nigerians with which I have identified, going by the name “Kick-Out Siddon Look (in) 2015, (KOSIL) aimed at galvanising Nigerians to choose and elect a leader they would be proud of come 2015, have now released their website: www.kickoutsiddonlook.org to register and mobilize.

And as my 18-year old daughter, Torera, wrote to me, “it is a breath of fresh air to see a movement like KOSIL come into play, into the tragic comedy that is Nigerian politics… The name of Nigeria, once a land on which Kings walked, has been smeared by post-colonial kleptocracy and religious preposterousness… The revolution must be live – it must be on every doorstep and in the heart of every Nigerian, those at home and those in the Diaspora… Ultimately, we must start by electing a man or woman who has not been tainted by the lure of riches – those riches which arrive at the expense of the people… And since the power is really with the people, the arms must be taken up by every caring citizen. Our hearts are weapons the size of our fists, and it is with heart that we must go forth into the fray, however daunting it may be…” Wow, and she’s 18.

We would do this (kick out siddon look) even as tribute to Chinua Achebe, the great, recently departed, African writer who asserted: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership... The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are hallmarks of true leadership.”

We would not doubt that it could happen. As Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist, once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Wanted! A leader to be proud of!

Anambra, Ekiti Falter On IGR.

Recently, the State Peer Review Mechanism (SPRM) put in place by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) scored Anambra and Ekiti States low on their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) profiles.

As if this was not damning enough, the mechanism also lamented that since 1999, both states have not conducted local government elections in their respective states.

Picture: Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti governor

This mechanism is a process through which the governors tell themselves some home truths.

However, it said that the IGR situation in Ekiti could be improved upon and wondered what the problem was with Anambra State which it rated very poor. The national coordinator of the mechanism, Dr Afeikhena Jerome in his report, expressed worry that the two states' weak IGR profiles and over dependence on federal allocation posed a major challenge.

The report said that Anambra's IGR has remained very low hovering around N500million monthly or 20 percent of the actual revenue receipts since 2007. It pointed out that the state has the potential to generate N2billion revenue monthly from internal sources with its 63 major markets currently in private control.

We are shocked that this state of millionaires and which has the highest concentration of industries in the whole of South East geopolitical zone could be so low on IGR. Nnewi alone can generate that conservative figure of N2 billion SPRM quoted. Or for that matter, Onitsha, which has the largest market in West Africa.

Picture: Peter Obi, Anambra governor

We are appalled that a businessman like Governor Peter Obi whose businesses are based in the state could not see the need to mop up the naira notes floating in the state's commercial centres.

The mechanism report commended the two states on their practices which have ensured peace, contract and debt management, transparency and accountability. But we insist that a lot more could have been achieved if the two states were hard working enough in the areas of IGR. Obi, in particular, has been consistently accused of hijacking local government allocations which run into several billions. For him, what's the point stressing oneself when that kind of easy money keeps rolling in on a regular basis? But he should have borrowed a leaf from Lagos State which claimed that it could survive on IGR alone. Could Obi have ceded those markets to the rascals in the state as settlement for the peace the state enjoys? Otherwise, the situation is inexplicable.

In our opinion, it is saddening that the state has not conducted local elections since 1999. If Obi were an astute politician many take him to be, he could have used the local government administration to consolidate his political base in the state. We also recall that this issue was one of the points of dis- agreement between him and the former party chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh who also accused him of not empowering his party followers at that level.

We are persuaded to urge the two state governors to shake off their lethargy or even laziness and get down to work so as to make their states less dependent on the federal government for resources they could conveniently generate in their territories.

Leadership Editorial

Corruption Weakens Nigeria’s Education Sector.

Obtainable in other sectors in the country, that Nigeria’s education sector has continued to suffer from unending scourge of severe corruption and incompetence over the years  is not a difficult thing to notice; funds meant for educational projects are been mismanaged without control, corrupt politicians are elected on university boards who politicize the system, learning environment remains unconducive, academics struggle to get there entitlements among other pressing issues confronting Nigeria’s educational sector even in our fourteenth year of democratic rule.

In every human society in the world over, education is concomitant to growth and research is highly rated as the bedrock of progress; for quick, effective and sustainable growth, thorough investment in education is inevitable. Mamoth investment in education by founding fathers of this nation such as the great Obafemi Awolowo gave sound education to many of the leaders, business tycoons and investors we can call ours-the vision of the founding fathers was to liberate the people from poverty using the strongest weapon which is education, but unfortunately, the federal government led by the People’s Democratic Party has turned this dream into a nightmare with severe corruption which has thoroughly weakened the education sector and its goals which would have been highly instrumental and even necessary to improve the production capacity of Nigeria and reduce poverty.

Since the dawn of democratic rule in 1999, preceeded by many years of military rule, trillions of naira have been invested into the education system by the federal government yet regression is the result that follows. Assessing recent records, during a press conference in 2012, while discussing Nigerian government’s response to national request for reform in the education sector, Minister of Education, professor Ruqayyatu  Rufa’i  made known that “the government in 2012 awarded a significant N900billion naira for tertiary institutions and 24 billion for special intervention projects to tweleve tertiary institutions.”  Of course, It’s so ridiculous that such an amount was awarded to tertiary institutions in 2012 yet no noticeable change, atleast one.

In the bid to remain strengthened in mismanagement of public funds at the expense of the masses, Nigerian institutions which have critical roles to play in renewing and reengineering the nation have suffered huge setback- students and academic staff welfarism is far below standard. This is however disgraceful and shameful that the federal government has extended its hand of mismanagement and incompetence to education sector, a move that could condemn the future of this nation. There is a pressing need for us to rise against this rapidly falling standard to save Nigeria’s future. The federal government and its education ministry have to be renewed to champion a positive and sustainable vision to transform this nation, our education sector is too fragile to be committed into the hands of looters, unqualified and corrupt persons; thorough restructuring of our priorities as a nation must be considered, progressive rethink of  public education also even as we battle to revive the education sector from the hands of this failing administration.
 

Jonathan is 'squeezing the life out of our country'

Goodluck Jonathan is more interested in retaining power and accumulating wealth than truly tackling terror and corruption.

There is a joke about a morgue attendant who was so used to seeing dead bodies that one day, when a supposedly dead body started twitching, his response was, "this is the morgue, not the emergency room". He promptly smothered the twitching body until it was well and truly dead. "That's more like it", he said, as he sat down to guard the cabinet full of dead bodies and to wait for new arrivals.

In many ways, the way Goodluck Jonathan has handled the affairs of Nigeria since becoming president can be likened to that of the morgue attendant. And worse still, Nigeria under his administration has grown to become a vast, sprawling mortuary where deaths and dead bodies do not seem to matter at all. In the aftermath of Jonathan's visit to Maiduguri, the trouble northern city under attack by Boko Haram, in security operatives reportedly dumped about 70 bodies at the morgue, up from the daily average of 10 or 20.

Like the morgue attendant in the story, when about two years ago, the Borno state Elders Forum met the president and asked him to order the withdrawal of troops from Maiduguri to enable them take a different approach against the jihadist group, Jonathan flatly refused. In the two years since, how many more lives have been needlessly lost in the fighting? His attitude seems to be, "I'd rather preside over dead bodies than save lives".

Accepted, Jonathan took over a country that was severely distressed. But what is the job of the president? For someone who has spent the last 14 years in power at the state and federal levels, the excuse that he is still studying the situation is one of the lamest apologies in political history. Either deliberately or inadvertently, like the morgue attendant, Jonathan's actions and inactions all seem geared towards killing Nigeria off once and for all.

Why was it that when he was eventually shamed into visiting northern Borno and Yobe states by opposition governors, his response to calls for an amnesty for Boko Haram was, "We can't grant amnesty to ghosts". Within a week of his mindless retort, another 25 Nigerians had been blown to smithereens in Kano. Since he can't grant amnesty to ghosts, perhaps, he can grant amnesty to dead bodies?

Incidentally, more and more Nigerians are beginning to suspect that the deteriorating security situation may be more than the handiwork of Boko Haram. More than ever, there are growing fears that some, if not many of the attacks attributed to Boko Haram may be the work of other "ghosts" beyond the militants, whose ultimate objective may be to divide Nigerians further along ethnic and religious lines for political advantage. The very nature and timing of some of the attacks on churches and some ethnic groups lend credence to that supposition.

Is this the same Jonathan who told us on his inauguration that, "Today, our unity is firm, and our purpose is strong, our determination unshakable. Together, we will unite our nation and improve the living standards of all our peoples whether in the north or in the south; in the east or in the west. Our decade of development has begun. The march is on. The day of transformation begins today. We will not allow anyone exploit differences in creed or tongue, to set us one against another?"

Perhaps, Nigerians should not be surprised at what Jonathan has become. From the supposedly timid state governor and vice president, we now have one of the most calculating and thick-skinned leaders, totally deaf to criticism. The only thing on his mind seems to be to retain power beyond 2015 while allegedly helping friends and cronies accumulate wealth. After all, when he was asked about politicians declaring their assets in public, he said: "The issue of public asset declaration is a matter of personal principle. That is the way I see it, and I don't give a damn about it, even if you criticise me from heaven."

Which is why the condemnations of the pardon he granted to Diepreye Alamiesegha, a former state governor who stole millions of dollars and jumped bail in the UK after disguising himself in as a woman, are likely to fall on deaf ears. It is why, even with a daily income of $224 million, Nigerians are among the poorest people on earth. It's why we have 68 million people unemployed; why Nigeria is the most corrupt nation in the world and why studies show that a child would be off being born in Somalia, Mali, Chad, South Sudan and other war-ravaged countries than in Nigeria.

Jonathan's well-paid and ill-mannered army of internet and media warriors may sing his praises to high heavens and work hard to distort any discourse about the woeful failures of their paymaster, but they cannot hide the fact that, under Jonathan, Nigeria has become a vast mortuary where death and tragedy are routine. And like the morgue attendant, the president seems intent on smothering all remaining signs of life.

Nigerian Cries For Help In Austria: His Two Children Taken Away By The Authority.

10.12.2012 was a day Mr Nnaemeka Agukwe from Orlu in Imo State, Nigeria and his family will never forget for the rest of their lives irrespective of whatever the future may bring to them tomorrow. It was a day he the father of Samuel (5) and Miriam Leonie (4), has cursed and wished that it had never come.

Miriam (4)

Samuel (5)

  It was a devastating day for him and his family because that day was the day the authority concerned with issues about maltreatment of children in Austria by parents or guardians took away their two children from them on the allegation that his stepdaughter (11) accused him of having sexually abused her which he denied vehemently. The wife, Mrs Michaela Agukwe supporting her husband said that she knew her husband very well because she had been married to him for over seven years, “he did not do that and can not do such a thing” she added.

 

Proving the innocence of her husband further, she said her husband had not even been alone with her daughter in the house and as such there would not have been any opportunity for her husband to abuse her daughter even if he had wanted to.

Mr Nnaemeka Agukwe who was absolutely furious during his interview with Global Reporters Vienna had asked the authority to tell him where he had slept with his step daughter. “Did I sleep with her in my house, in the hotel or on the street? They should tell me! We are not beating our children, we are taking very good care of them, we are going to playgrounds, indoors and out doors, we are going on holidays and we do everything parents can do for their kids, why did they take them away from us? Is it because I am a black man and they feel that I cannot do anything?” He further argued that sexual molestation, abuse or rape was a very serious offence especially when helpless teenagers were involved. He said that the allegation against him was not true and that that was why he was still walking freely on the streets even without police invitation or questioning.

 

“The day they told me that they were taking my children away from me with this imaginary accusation, I refused to let my children go until they invited the police. I told them that we must go for tests because I do not know what they were talking about, but they refused. Their reason is that my stepdaughter does not want to go for any test and that she cannot be forced against her will. They have planned to take my children away from me because I am vulnerable otherwise reasons of taking someone’s child away includes, when one cannot take care of one’s child and is living in a very dirty environment, when one beats one’s child, when one is under the influence of drugs or addicted to alcohol, of which, I am not in any of these categories. You cannot take somebody’s child away based on unsubstantiated allegations just like that because the person is helpless. Now they have started a new allegation abandoning their earlier accusation of child abuse. And when I wanted to know their new claim they said that the court would decide. What will the court decide?”

 

He went further to query whether the authority wants to sell his children. "Last time they told me to bring the original birth certificates of the children and their certificates of citizenship. But when I asked my lawyer he told me not to give them the original papers but photocopies but they refused to take photocopies from me and bragged that even if I do not want to give them the original papers that they can go to the municipal administration and get them. Do they want to sell my children or what?” as he questioned in tears.

 

Mr Agukwe further argued that he did not understand why the children are allowed to visit and stay with them Saturdays and Sundays. “If the state has found out that it is dangerous for the children to live with us, these weekend visits could equally be dangerous. This tells one that this accusation is false and the lives of my children are not in danger. Are they also thinking about the psychological trauma these children are going through? Our children are crying every time we visit them where they are. They cannot understand the reason why they are not at home. Each time we want to go and each time we take them back to the assisted living community (Wohngemeinschaft OASE) where they are, we always feel like dying when they ask; Papa, why are you leaving us here? Mama, where are you going? It is a hell.  Please can somebody help me?”

 

The family of Agukwe can be reached via mobile (+436766046611) through the wife Mrs Michaela Agukwe who speaks only German.

Source: http://www.globalreportersvienna.com/2013/04/nigerian-cries-for-help-in-austria-his.html?utm_source=BP_recent

Austria: Nigerian Dies In Prison - Global Reporters Vienna.

Late Victor Osele

 A Nigerian prisoner in Austria, Victor Osele (31) from Ekpoma in  local government    area of EdoState, has been reported dead in hospital in Krems, Lower Austria.  Information reaching Global Reporters Vienna has it that he died on 21.03.2013.

 Speaking to us from Ireland, Mrs Joy Ositadimma said that Mr Victor Osele had been her uncle and that she had spoken to him on phone two weeks ago and there had not been any complaint of him being sick and as such was at shock to hear about his death.

 

According to a report on 05.03.2013 in one of the Austrian newspapers called ‘Krone’, there was a swine influenza alarm behind bars in Göllersdorf prison in Lower Austria, where late Victor Osele had been imprisoned. While four prisoners were reported to be in the hospital with heavy symptoms of disease, two of them were said to be in critical conditions.

Unconfirmed and sketchy information made available to Global Reporters Vienna revealed that Osele got critically ill and was taken to a hospital in Krems were he was reported to have died. Whether he was also one of those affected by the swine influenza is what we equally cannot vouch. Two Nigerians are said to be at this Göllersdorf prison presently.

Göllersdorf prison in Lower Austria where late Victor Osele had
been imprisoned and that is still a home for two Nigerian prisoners.

Our investigation revealed that Osele would have been buried in Austria yesterday (27.03.2013) but through the intervention of the lawyer that has been handling his case his burial was shifted to the 4.04.2013 with the reason that his relative in Ireland would like to be present at the funeral. Mrs Joy Ositadimma, who is the one expected from Ireland may still not be available for the burial as the time may be short for her to obtain an Austrian visa from Ireland before the burial date

 We contacted Osele’s brother in Nigeria, Mr Friday Osele who said, “Victor Osele is my younger brother but for years now I have not heard from him only to get this sad news that he is gone. The entire family is devastated and we are in sorrow and confused. […] we are financially handicapped to fight to know the cause of our Victor’s death”. He made an appeal to the Nigerian Embassy and Nigerians in Austria to help the family bring his body home or at least give him a befitting burial in Austria.

 

When our reporter took the pains and called the commercial telephone “call and pay” line of the Nigerian Embassy Vienna for inquiries and to also share some vital information, all what he got were insults from one Sunny Akpan at the embassy. After the reporter explained his mission to the receptionist, he was connected to an office. But immediately after the formal introduction was done, on mentioning the death of a Nigerian in prison, the embassy worker, Akpan halted him and said “Mr Uzoma, we are on top of it” with a hard and very unfriendly tone. And when the reporter told him that he was aware that the embassy had since been informed but that he wanted just to make inquiries and …, Akpan did not allow him to land as he said “I am not in position to give you any information”. The reporter tried to explain to him that he was there to serve Nigerians and ought to be polite and listen to whatever they have to say especially with this “call and pay” telephone line that is too expensive. And disappointingly Akpan said, “I have a lot of work to do and don’t have any time” as he banged the phone on the reporter.

 

The team of Global Reporters Vienna appeal to Nigerians in Austria to forget about their differences and come out in mass and give Victor Osele a befitting burial.

 

May the soul of the departed rest in peace!

 

Global Reporters Vienna

Taribo West 'was 40 when he said he was 28', claims former Partizan Belgrade chief.

Former Derby County, Plymouth and Inter Milan defender Taribo West has been accused of lying about his age.

The former Nigeria centre half, now retired, joined Serbian team Partizan Belgrade in 2002 after leaving Derby County and told club bosses he was 28.

But now the ex-president of Partizan, Zarko Zecevic, has accused him of lying, saying the defender was actually 40.

 

 

Accusation: Taribo West was 40 - not 28 as he claimed - when he played for Partizan Belgrade, according to the club's former president Zarko Zecevic

 

Ram raider: West (right) challenges Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink while playing in the Premier League for Derby County

'He joined us saying he was 28. We only later found out he was 40, but he was still playing well so I don’t regret having him on the team,' Zecevic said.

But according to the Croatian media, the former defender known for his colourful hairstyles also lied when trying to join Croatia’s Rijeka club.

At the age of 44, they said West told club doctors he was only 32.

It was only after an examination that the doctors raised suspicions with the club because West’s knees suggested he was older.

He wasn’t signed to the team but later joined Plymouth and then Iranian side Paykan FC, where he ended his career at the age of 46 in 2008.

Today his Wikipedia entry says he is 39.

 

Milan spells: West made his name with Inter Milan but also played a few games for rivals AC (below)

 

 

Blue boy: West with Teddy Shedingham during Sir Alex Ferguson's testimonial match

 

Super Eagle: The Nigeria defender coloured his hair green to go with his national side's kit at France 98

 

 

 

 

Train Trip Through Nigeria Tells The Nation's History.

The whistle sounds across the arid plains of scrub brush and exposed rocky cliffs. It blares through the narrow, crowded corridors of city market stalls, piles of clothes and hot red peppers lying a mere arm's length away from the vibrating metal track.

Its rattling coaches draw stares as children run toward it, waving, as it leaves Lagos, Nigeria's massive southwestern city, on the long trip north to Kano. But in the north, boys wearing tattered soccer jerseys herding cattle watch impassively, with machetes and long-barreled guns over their shoulders.

The train is back in Nigeria, and the 35-hour trip along its 520-mile (835-kilometer) route offers a glimpse of the nation's history and landscapes, while also allowing travelers to see its ethnic and religious diversity firsthand.

As a resident of a Nigeria for more than three years, I can say the trip also offers a bit of the daily, careening madness of life in Africa's most populous nation, a place where few have access to electricity, armed police demand money at checkpoints and nothing ever seems to go according to plan.

Nigeria reopened its train line to the north Dec. 21, marking the end of a $166 million project to rebuild portions of the abandoned line washed out years earlier. Before the restoration, it had been a decade since the last Lagos-to-Kano run, and train service elsewhere had deteriorated to a crawl. The state-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corp. rebuilt the southern portion of the line, while a Nigerian company handled the rest.

The rebirth of the lines constitutes a major economic relief to the poor who want to travel in a country where most earn less than $1 a day. Airline tickets remain out of reach for many, and journeys over the nation's crumbling road network can be dangerous. The cheapest train ticket available costs only $13.

But while the route is newly restored, much of the infrastructure is old.

"I want them to improve more, because most of the things you see, they are outdated," shouted Bello Adebayo, 50, seated in a clacking, worn passenger car made decades ago. "But due to the pressure of the masses, we have to manage it. ... No one will complain. It's OK, for now."

On the Friday morning of my own trip, the cavernous lobby of the train line's Lagos terminus filled with travelers. Young Muslim girls in hijab sat and waited amid colorful plastic bags filled with belongings. Men carried their belongings on their heads, including one precariously balancing suitcases and a motorcycle.

Many of those traveling north on the train, called the Ooni of Ife, appeared to be Muslims returning home. While Nigeria is predominantly divided into a Christian south and a Muslim north, the two faiths live together largely peacefully and intermarry in sprawling Lagos. All of Nigeria's more than 250 ethnic groups can be found on the city's busy streets, hustling out a living otherwise not possible in their home regions.

However, radical Islamic extremists have been carrying out a bloody guerrilla fight with Nigeria's weak central government in the north for more than two years now. Foreigners also have become a new target of extremists, often killed while in captivity. That's why a team of Nigeria federal police officers carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles boarded the train with the passengers. They would accompany it all the way to Kano.

On this trip, people crammed into the second-class cabin, spilling out into the aisles in stifling heat. But passengers weren't the main reason British colonialists built the narrow-track lines at the start of the 1900s. Instead, they wanted it to carry tin mined from the central city of Jos, peanuts harvested across the north, and other commodities to Lagos, then the colonial capital. The restored line follows that route, bypassing Abuja, the Nigerian capital since 1991, in a wide swing west.

After Nigeria's independence in 1960, the trains became notorious for carrying the slaughtered dead of Nigeria's Igbo people to their southeast homes after riots in the north. The nation's 1960s civil war followed, killing some 1 million people. As corruption fueled by oil money gripped the country, the railroad began its slow, decades-long collapse. The nation paid millions of dollars to Romanians, Indians and later the Chinese to manage promised improvements that never came, but their fingerprints remain.

The mauve-colored sleeper car I slept in with my two Associated Press colleagues had been built in China, the light switch panels bearing Chinese characters. As the train stopped at one point in the dense bush of Nigeria's southwest, stamps on the rail underneath said it was forged in England in 1958. A worker at a stop in Minna pointed to an old steam engine alongside the track and said Indians taught him how to drive it.

Facilities and infrastructure leave much to be desired. The old cars and sometimes aging rails offer some bumpy travel and even a few moments of panic when a particularly hard strike comes. Muslim passengers lack space to pray, rushing down off the train at stops to lay their prayer mats on the gravel. The bathrooms for the first-class and second-class cabins are rudimentary at best: steel floor with a hole that drops waste onto the rushing track below. In our sleeper car, our private steel toilet came with a 25-liter (6.6-gallon) plastic jug of water for flushing.

Simply trying to walk into the second-class coach proved difficult, as luggage and people lay sprawled everywhere. The first-class cabin had the equivalent of a live disc jockey playing Nigerian pop songs at times, while locally made Nollywood movies screeched from a flat-screen television.

Inside the bar car, 75-year-old Sanya Olu sat on a plastic lawn chair, her head resting wearily on her fist. She had bought a ticket for first-class, but it had been oversold, she said. So instead, she spent her trip in the chair she'd brought, en route to Kaduna to verify her status as a pensioner.

"They have just started and see how it is congested; it is full," Olu said.

As night began to fall, the inside lighting went out. My colleagues and I returned to our sleeper car to also find the air conditioner broken. We sweated in our beds in the dark, waking up at first light to see the lush green forests and cassava farm fields of the south fade overnight into field after field of yam farms, each planting rising like a burial in the dusty soil. Straw storerooms stood nearby, with mud-walled villages in the distance.

The train rushed past abandoned stations and stopped briefly at those in service, where villagers rose at all hours to greet passengers with shouts of "Pure water!" They sold the water in plastic bags.

We rumbled on, past the rock formations and hills of Nigeria's central belt. Alongside the track, I saw more than a dozen abandoned, derailed train cars, axles littering the hills like the bones of metal beasts as the sun beat down. In passing cities and towns, billboards featuring smiling evangelists at Christian churches slowly gave way to the austere green road signs of the Muslim north, Arabic and English reading: "There is but one God: Allah."

Reaching Kaduna, police officers took positions looking out of the train, Kalashnikovs at their side. The train raced through the military bases of nearby Jaji, the West Point of Nigeria, where a suicide car bombing by Islamic extremists in November killed at least 30 people and wounded another 45. Soldiers in heavy green flak jackets and helmets manned a roadblock on the highway running alongside the train track.

Night fell again. The dusty plains of northern Nigeria raced by, with police officers shining flashlights out into the darkness. Occasionally, a light would wink on in the distance. By the time the train finally stopped in Kano, exactly 34 hours, 57 minutes and six seconds had passed since we lurched out of Lagos. A direct airline flight between the two cities typically takes an hour and a half.

Traveling the route through the all-encompassing darkness of Nigeria's countryside let the stars shine brighter than I've seen them in years in the city. Under that canopy of a thousand pinpoints of brightness, the trains rumble on.