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  • I’ve received death threats because of my governorship ambition —Ex-A’Ibom SSG Umana Okon Umana

    I’ve received death threats because of my governorship ambition —Ex-A’Ibom SSG Umana Okon Umana

    In his first full interview since he left government a year ago,
    Mr. Umana Okon Umana, former secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government and PDP governorship aspirant in the state, spoke with select journalists on his plans for the development of the state. He also speaks on his views on zoning, the town hall meetings and relationship with the current Secretary To the State Governement (SSG), among other issues.
    Kazeem IBRAHYM was there. Excerpts:

    DID the governor promise to hand over the governorship of the state to you in 2015?

    That is academic. What is important is that I am in the race and I am committed. It does not matter who offered to support me in the past. I think that is now academic because whether the governor offered to support me in the past or he has changed his mind is no longer important. What is important now is that I will be running for the office of governor because I believe I have something to offer in that regard, to make my contributions in order to better our state.

    I will not want to talk about whether the governor promised he would support me or whether he is no longer supporting me. That is all in the past. I will rather concentrate on the fact that I am committed. I appreciate the massive support I have continued to enjoy from the good people of the state. That is what is more important to me now.

    Did you resign your position as SSG or you were forced out?

    It was time for me to move on. The position of SSG is not a permanent one. You hold the position at the pleasure of the governor who appointed you. You may also decide to leave on your own. It is not a big deal. People were only worried about the invasion of the office by security personnel. The office was sealed up by security operatives who chased away bewildered civil servants for inexplicable reasons. I was out of the state at the time of the invasion. The incident was widely reported in the media.

    I have also read reports that the wife of the governor led security operatives to seal up the office. The story that the SSG’s office had been sealed up by the Police and SSS was on AIT, Channels and NTA, and so it couldn’t have been a mere speculation. I actually first saw it on the news bar of AIT. I believe the commissioner for information must have issued a statement or contacted those news channels and they had that story running for about three days. Of course, nobody denied it. But it is all in the past now and I have moved on.

    I am grateful to Governor Godswill Akpabio who gave me the opportunity to serve the state. I also thank him for acknowledging my humble contributions to the development of the state.

    Why are you running for governorship?

    I have the experience and competence to run the state as a governor. I yearn for an opportunity to take the state to a new level of prosperity and peace. I have been involved in the last two administrations. I was a Commissioner for Finance in the administration of Governor Victor Attah and SSG under Governor Akpabio.  I know how far we have gone and the areas we need to work on. Also, I am aware that we still have a lot to do, especially in the areas of industrialisation and job creation. We must look beyond oil and derivation revenues as we reposition the state for the future. We must create wealth.

    Of course, we will make a conscious and deliberate effort to deal with the other soft issues of development like health, education and security, in addition to the expansion of core infrastructureroad network, sea port, power, science and technology. Outside a robust industrialisation programme, we have to pay a special attention to the development of agriculture, because this will create jobs and raise the standard of living of our people. We believe that we will have a paradigm shift, but as I said, we will give you the full package of what we are going to do for the state.

    Did you authorise the petition against the governor to the National Human Rights Commission?

    We haven’t come out to deny it. It is our petition, but it was not just about me. It is not all about Umana Okon Umana. All of us who have been threatened, we felt the appropriate authority should carry out the investigations. All that we asked for was that the issues should be investigated and we stated our reasons, and that is not too much to ask for. It is not a crime to ask for investigations. If, for instance, you drive to Transcorp Hilton and you notice suspicious movements, you have the right to call the police to come and carry out further investigations.

    You are aware of the case of our director-general, Chief Soni Udom, when armed men invaded his office. But thank God, he was not around. There were still many unanswered questions, so we wrote to the appropriate authority so that the matter can be exhaustively investigated and dealt with.

    Of course, I had my own personal experience. In December, I received a threat letter, a copy of which I had submitted to the police. I was asked to withdraw from the governorship race, or they will get me in Akwa Ibom, Lagos or Abuja. I did not pay too much attention to it because I had police protection. I was in Abuja when I got the reports that my security details had been withdrawn. It came as a surprise; a curious coincidence, that just a few days after I received that threat, my security details were withdrawn and I was told that the order came from the governor. That gives us cause for concern.

    There were many other instances stated in that petition. Of course, we also said that against the backdrop of the several cases of unresolved murders and assassinations witnessed in 2010 and 2011 when elections were around the corner, it is possible there is a correlation. There may be some connection, and we felt that the appropriate authority should investigate and come up with a report. And if some persons are indicted, I believe that the law will take its cause. So, what we did was within the law.

    What is your relationship with the current SSG like?

    Of course, it has to be cordial. The current SSG, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, is a fine gentleman and from the first day, I wished him well and prayed for his success in office. Attending his swearing-in ceremony was to underscore the fact that I had no ill feelings about my disengagement as SSG. If you occupy that kind of office, you must know that one day, you will leave. It is not a permanent office. Even the office of the governor is not permanent. It has an expiry date. For example, on May 29 next year, the tenure of the current administration will end as provided for in the constitution. You serve and make your own contributions and move on. I did not feel bad that I had to leave as SSG. I was happy that I made my own contributions and I had to move on.

    When you were serving in the present government, were you part of assassination plots?

    Because I served in this administration, so whatever transpired I must have been the one who gave the advice? No. That was not part of the mandate of my office. If you go and look at the ministerial responsibilities of the office of the SSG, I don’t think you will find any item on how to advise on killings, assassination or murder. It wasn’t part of my mandate, so I only operated and acted within the mandate of my office.

    Let me also point out that it is the governor who is the Chief Security Officer. All the security chiefs report to the governor, and it is the governor who is vested with the powers to run the state constitutionally. So the buck stops on his table. He must accept responsibility for the successes and failures of his administration. That is why nobody will talk about Umana or Udom but about the Akpabio administration. It is Attah’s administration, Isemin’s administration. Nobody remembers who was SSG during Obong Attah’s administration or the SSG in Isemin’s administration, because they were not elected governors.

    Leadership means you must accept responsibility for whatever you do. You don’t blame your subordinates, especially when you are vested with executive powers. When people talk about the Obasanjo administration in Nigeria, will they talk about Uffot Ekaette? Nobody will talk about him. It doesn’t happen anywhere. Nobody will even talk about the vice president; nobody will talk about the deputy governor. This is because constitutionally, the powers reside in the office of the governor.

    Sometimes when I want to joke about it, I say it is only one person that holds the red pen. It is only the governor that has the powers to approve or disapprove. Stretched further, he possibly has the powers of life and death because even for a convicted murderer to be executed, it is only the governor who can sign his death warrant.

    There are other false stories that we may have to deal with here because they are interrelated, all pointing at leadership and the requirement to take leadership responsibilities. For instance, there have also been stories that Umana Okon Umana was very powerful as SSG; that many commissioners were sacked on his instructions. I have read that in some of the papers. It is absolutely ridiculous. It is ridiculous because it is only the governor who can hire and fire. If I had the power to sack a commissioner, was it also possible that I would put a gun to the governor’s head, get him to nominate people of my choice to replace those sacked and force him to sign the letters to the House of Assembly for their confirmation? It is totally ridiculous. It shows you that people just sit down and tell stories. That particular story came from one former commissioner for agriculture. I wish him well, but I think it was clearly in bad faith. He should know better as somebody who served in the State Executive Council. Only one person has the power to hire and fire. People like Prof Ekanem should not unwittingly show disrespect to the exalted office of governor by ridiculing Governor Akpabio.

    There was also a story that I nominated my successor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, who is also my cousin. Please, the man is not my cousin. I am not related to him in anyway and I did not nominate him for appointment as SSG. But that is not to say that I have anything against him.

    So, please, there is a chief security officer in the state. That is why if we have insecurity or if people are not satisfied, they will raise issues. They will raise questions and direct their complaints to the governor. He is the only person saddled with the responsibility to secure all of us; not the Attorney-General who though is the chief law officer, is not the chief security officer. So, when people raise issues on the security of lives and properties and direct it at the governor, it is because he is the chief security officer.

    Is it true that you and other aspirants want to form an alliance against the government’s interest?

    Well, I don’t know why government should have a special interest in who aspires to the office of governor.  All we are asking for is that all aspirants be given a level playing field. This was the situation in the past when Governor Attah was in charge. Even when the incumbent governor contested the primaries against 57 other aspirants, the governor then did not interfere. There was no issue of threats. We didn’t hear Governor Attah telling other aspirants or delegates that they will die or that they would not be allowed into the venues where the primaries would be held. There was nothing like that. Everybody was allowed to make consultations, reach out to the delegates and the party office was open to all aspirants.

    Chief Sonny Udom was the PDP chairman for Ikot Ekpene senatorial district and he can confirm this. The party was there for everybody and there was no discrimination. The then party chairman, Chief Otu Ita Toyo, opened his doors and received all aspirants. He was not barred from taking calls from certain aspirants. It is just normal that the aspirants will talk to themselves. There is nothing wrong with that. It is all part of politics. The aspirants can decide to form alliances.

    Assuming that the ruling party does not give you the ticket, what will be your next option?

    I will do my best to win, believing that the delegates will support me to be the flag bearer of our party, the PDP. So I will be contesting to win and I believe that with the consultations going on, I already have massive support from all over the state. I am looking forward to my victory at the primaries. So, the issue of plan B does not arise.

    What is your opinion on zoning?

    I want to agree with the gentleman who said that the governor himself in the past had dismissed zoning. He did that on national television when the Minister of Information held the town hall meeting in Uyo during the Good Governance Tour. When the question was put to him about zoning, Governor Akpabio said he was not a product of zoning; that in 2006, there were 58 contestants from all the senatorial districts. Then, the party did not bar anybody. So, there were aspirants from all the three senatorial districts. That was in 2006.

    Again in 2011, we had Frank Okon from Eket Senatorial District; we had Imo Udoh from Uyo Senatorial District. I think Frank Okon is still in court, still contesting the outcome of the 2011 governorship election and some of his supporters are still very optimistic that he would be declared governor by the court. So, if he is declared governor, for example, are you still going to talk about zoning? So it shows the level of insincerity and absurdity, underscored by the fact that until I left office the issue of zoning did not arise.

    Again you ask, what a curious coincidence that the whole zoning idea came up only after I left office? Why? It is for you to find out. Beyond that, we have been told that there is no equity and justice because Eket has not produced a governor; Uyo had had it through Obong Victor Attah; that Ikot Ekpene is there now having produced this governor and so for equity and justice it should be the turn of Eket Senatorial District. That is one side of the argument. But there are others who have also argued that Eket Senatorial District had governors in the past in the old Cross River State.  Esuene was there for nine years and Isong, who was elected, served for four years. Nobody from Uyo zone was governor at that time. So if you want a holistic equity and justice, are you going to turn back the hand of the clock to compensate the people of Uyo senatorial district who had no governors at that time?

    It is also instructive that the current managing director of NDDC is from Eket Federal Constituency. So, where is justice and equity and what kind of justice and equity are you talking about?

    What is your opinion on the town hall meetings and the outcome?

    It seems to me that the pre-determined outcome of the town hall meetings was to pick somebody from Eket Federal Constituency as the favoured candidate for the 2015 governorship race. The meetings were stage-managed to ensure that the position of governor was zoned to one particular person and yet we went through the pains and the expenditure of the town hall meetings, whereas the outcome was already pre-determined. When the notice for the town hall meetings was issued, the reason given by the Commissioner for Information was that the governor would have the opportunity to present his score card and also listen to the people on the performance of his administration.

    There was nowhere in the advertorial published by the Ministry of Information preceding the town hall meeting where it was stated that there was going to be a referendum on zoning or on the selection of a governor for the state before the primaries and general elections. There was no such thing. But in the end, it was clear that the town hall meetings were held to promote the interest of a particular aspirant from a particular federal constituency, and also to promote the senatorial ambition of the governor. The outcome of the town hall meetings was an attempt to subvert the Constitution and the will of the good people of Akwa Ibom State.

    The country was shocked to hear sycophants chanting the mantra that the governor should unilaterally produce his successor because he had done well. They forget that Govenor Akpabio was elected to govern the state and not to produce a successor. There will be no need for the primaries and elections if Governor Akpabio has already appointed his successor. These sycophants have embarrassed us greatly and they have brought the office of governor into disrepute because Governor Akpabio swore to uphold the Constitution.

    Even some of the salient issues that should have been addressed at the town hall meetings were not addressed. For example, nobody provided answers to some questions like how much revenue has accrued to the state. Even when some people alleged that Akwa Ibom has received over two trillion naira and that the performance of government was not commensurate with the level of resources, the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Information has still not provided a detailed revenue and expenditure report whereas transparency is a core requirement of good governance. We expected them the following day to publish everything to say this is what we have received so far; from statutory allocations, derivation, special releases from the excess crude accounts, from the Paris Club reconciliations, from all the recoveries from under-payments, reimbursements and recoveries after the return of oil wells, then they would tell us in total, this was what we received.

    This is not asking too much of any government, because transparency is part of good governance. During the town hall meetings there was no such report, and up till now, there is none. All we were told was that all the people who asked such questions were unpatriotic or sponsored. Or that they used fictitious addresses and fictitious names. For performance to be properly assessed, it must be benchmarked against the quantum of resources. The Hon Minister of Finance made the same point recently. I was the commissioner for finance during the administration of Obong Victor Attah and we had quarterly publications on the revenue and expenditure profile of the state. And it was for public consumption; you could walk into the ministry and pick it up.

    Until the town hall meetings ended they were not able to provide the information. Even as we speak, they have not provided the information. There was also a question on the debt profile of the state but have we had any answer? These are the issues that ought to have been addressed during the town hall meetings, because they go to the roots of good governance.

  • I MET FRANCIS, MY HUBBY ON PALMCHAT (PART 2)

    I MET FRANCIS, MY HUBBY ON PALMCHAT (PART 2)

    So like I mentioned I work as a Human Resource Manager and well my name is Bimpe Ajayi-and don’t even ask ‘cause I’m not telling you how old I am. Anyways, because my job entails managing people, I had to devise a ways to maintain a steady two-way communication with my staff (…trust me, emails and intranet don’t always work these days). I use instant messaging mobile apps a lot; any of the platforms that my staff members are active, I use it. Be it the Whatsapps, 2gos, BBMs, Wechats and I must say Palmchat (…will tell you why in a moment).

    Instant messages are hard to resist (ladies you know now); once that beep comes in, you just kind of pick up your phone and reply almost without thinking. So my staff can’t resist infos or notices etc I send across to them through these platforms. As for Palmchat, I developed a personal attachment to the platform. Remember when I said I was stuck in traffic running late to work and had a marathon presentation to make to my boss?

    I drifted mentally into a two-minute or so daydream; where I saw myself in the arms of my new found love, Francis dancing to the slow rhythms being played by a high life band at La Tropicana resort. He was about kissing me; slowly closing in like on a Close Up TV commercial when…’honk, honk’ the car behind me shattered my daydream and threw me right back into reality. I am actually in a stupid traffic and heading late to work for a presentation which I hope will go down well. I picked up my phone and sent Francis a ‘Hi dear’ on Palmchat and of course he replied almost instant with ‘sweetie I stuck in traffic…bumper to bumper’

    It is funny how I so clicked with Francis, I met this sweet guy on Palmchat and sometimes it feels impossible. I didn’t say it, but why I was running late to work that Wednesday was because I spent such a good, good time with Francis the night before (hey, not quite what you are thinking…not yet). It was close of work and I wasn’t minding sitting out a little while before embracing my mattress, so I chatted up Francis on Palmchat and told him to meet me at Radisson Blue. That was to be our second real meeting; you know, face to face not online. Our first real date was at the Leisure Mall, Adeniran Ogunsanya street Surulere and it wasn’t a bad one except that, you know, I didn’t know what to expect and quite honestly, stuffs were running through my mind like: ‘I hope I am not making a stupid mistake leaving my house to meet some guy I don’t know?…. I hope the mall is safe and nobody will be stalking me or something? And I am buying my drink, no free drinks…thanks’. With all that going through my mind, our conversation was kind of stale; it lacked energy and was completely cautious but all the same, I could tell he was a sincere guy. Like when he blushed (he has such cute dimples on his cheeks by the wayJ) and said that our meeting was his first blind date, I could tell it was not only his first blind date but his first date…and guess what happened next? (…seriously I can’t believe that I am living my fantasy)

     

     

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  • How we broke into Omisore’s house,raped his maid -Chadian robbery suspects

    How we broke into Omisore’s house,raped his maid -Chadian robbery suspects

    Four suspected members of a robbery gang made up of Chad nationals have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command after allegedly carrying out an attack on the Ikoyi, Lagos home of the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

    A police source told our correspondent that the suspects stormed the senator’s house at No. 11, Thomson Avenue, Ikoyi at about 2 am on June 18, 2014 and used an iron cutter to cut the electrified wire on top of the fence before they jumped into the compound, raping a housemaid and stealing valuable items.

    Once they had gained entry, they were said to have bound the two security men that guided the house with ropes and told a member of the gang named Musa to watch over the security guards. With one of the iron cutters in their possession, they cut the burglary proof on the door and gained entry into the house.

    They were also said to have pointed a gun at the housemaid and ordered her to undress. The hapless housemaid was said to have been reluctant in carrying out the invaders’ instruction, following which they became angry and beat her mercilessly, tearing her clothe and stripping her naked before assaulting her sexually.

    The poor housemaid was said to have been left unconscious by the robbers who also ransacked the rooms. The Senator, who is based in Abuja and currently campaigning for the governorship seat of Osun State, was said not to be at home at the time the robbers struck. A member of his domestic staff was said to have made a distress call to the Ikoyi Police Station whose men responded promptly and got to the house before the invaders could escape.

    Noticing the arrival of policemen, the robbers were said to have opened fire to scare them away and facilitate their escape, but the police responded with superior fire power, wounding one of the robbers and arresting him while the three others escaped.

    The police were said to have the suspect with bullet wound for treatment, after which he was transferred to SARS on June 19 for discreet investigation. The Commissioner of police, Mr. Umar Manko, was also said to have instructed the officer in charge of SARS, Mr. Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, to ensure that the fleeing suspects did not escape from the state or the country.

    Kyari and members of his special squad were said to have swung into action immediately, tracking down one of the suspects named Mohammed at Epe, a suburb of Lagos. Mohammed then led them to the hideout of another member of the gang named Ibrahim Abdulahi.

    Upon interrogation, Abdullahi was said to have disclosed that a member of the gang had escaped to Ibafo, an Ogun community not far away from Lagos. He was said to have led some SARS operatives to Ibafo but the suspected member of the gang opened fire on the policemen as they were approaching their hideout. The police again responded with superior fire power and cordoned off the whole area. Unknown to the police team, some other robbers lived in the house and had hid themselves in the ceiling.

    Upon entering the house, the policemen notice some strange noise in the ceiling and opened fire on the ceiling, wounding one of them in the process and arresting another without any bullet wound. The one without injury, Jidoh Sale, was immediately put in handcuffs while the one with injury was rushed to the hospital where he gave up the ghost.

    A search carried out on the uncompleted building was said to have led to the recovery of three big iron cutters, two red hand gloves, assorted charms, a chisel, a machete, a nail remover, two screw drivers, a torch, three different identity cards, voter ID cards, two Man O’ War ID cards belonging to Mohammed Yusuf and Ali Yawarb, a pen knife, a hammer and two locally made pistols.

    Confessing his involvement in the operations of the gang, one of the suspects, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said: “I am 29 years old. I am a foreigner from Amtima village in Chad. I came to Nigeria in 2010 in search of greener pastures. After three months, I secured a security job in a company in Anthony Village (Lagos). After few months, I was sacked and I went to stay with my brother at Ajah, a suburb of Lagos. I later returned to Chad to take a second wife with the little money I had saved from security work.

    “My problem started when I came back from Chad and there was no money for me to eat and feed my wives. I was thinking about how to survive when Mohammed Sale, who is still at large over his involvement in several robbery operations in Ajah and its environs, came to me with thousands of naira on him. I saw the money on him and begged him to help me, even if it was with a small amount as loan.

    “He promised to help me to get out of my financial problems. But he said he would not give me fish but will take me to the high sea to fish and eat as much fish as I wanted. I told him that a hungry would not understand riddles and that he should speak to me in plain language so that I would understand him. He then asked me to follow him.

    “He took me to Senator Omisore’s house, saying that he would put me at the gate. He said that two other people would join us later. He also told me that as soon as the work started, they would tie the two security men in the Senator’s house and that my role was to guard the security men and be the gang’s eyes while they would go inside the house to work.

    “At about 10 pm, we went to Obalende area and hid ourselves in the flower. There the two others came to join us. Around 2 am, we trekked to the Senator’s house at No.11, Thomson Avenue Ikoyi, armed with two guns, cutters and charms, among other items.

    “When we got to the house, we used a cutter to cut the electrified wire on the fence, climbed the wall and jumped inside the compound. Two dogs wanted to harass us but one of us, Mosale, pursued them. That made the two security men to wake up, as they wondered why the dogs were barking. The dogs continued to bark, showing that there were strangers in the compound, but they did not know what to do. It was while they were thinking of what they would do that Musa and Jidoh used guns to order the two security men to lie down and tied them with ropes. We then went inside the house and ransacked all the rooms.

    “We carried clothes, shoes and other things. We only spent 20 minutes. We collected a fine wrist watch and a phone. There were four of us: myself, Mosale, Idris and Mohammed Sale, but I did not join in raping the housemaid. I have two wives and three children. I cannot rape. I only wanted to get money to feed my family.

    “If I had got enough money to do business, I would not have been interested in armed robbery. Look at me, I cannot rape. If the housemaid recovers and we go for identification parade, you will see that I am telling you the truth. Not every armed robber is a beast. I don’t take hard drug. I am conscious and mentally alert every day. I don’t drink or smoke too much because it is very risky to lose control of your senses during a robbery operation. So, count me out from those who raped the housemaid.

    “Idris and Mohammed are still at large. One of our members died when we exchanged fire with SARS operatives at Ibafo.”

    Asked why Chadians enter Nigeria in droves, he said: “Our people come to Nigeria to do one job or the other. Nigeria is our best hope of greener pastures abroad. Some come with their cattle while some come to do security work in private homes and companies.

    “About 50 Chadians come to Nigeria every day to do one thing or the other, but half of us engage in armed robbery because Nigerians have many rich people and they keep big money in their cars and in their houses.

    “Whatever work we do in Nigeria gives us money with which we do reasonable things like building houses, farming and educating our children. There is a lot of money in Nigeria. Those who engage in armed robbery do so to get quick money and go back to Chad. Some do it because it is faster, but they do not kill their victims unless there is exchange of fire, because they do not carry gun for fun. They carry guns so that they can escape if they are challenged.

    “The primary aim of carrying gun is not to kill their victims but to protect themselves and to enable them escape from serious danger during and after operation. Nobody likes to kill his fellow human being just like that.

    “If I am released, I will relocate to Chad and do farming and other jobs to feed my family. I will not rob again. It was financial problems that made me to join them to rob. We are all from Chad.”

    The second suspect said: “My name is Mohammed Musa. I am 26 years old from Amdam village in Chad Republic.

    “When I came to Niegeria some years back, I secured a security job at Living Word Church, Ajah on a monthly salary of N15,000. I was on temporary appointment with the church. When I finished the job, I went to live with Ibrahim at Ajah..

    I was facing hard times in Ajah because I had no work. I had no money while Ibrahim was going out to rob and come back with a lot of money and handsets. I became jealous and begged him to allow me to follow him to his money spinning work.

    “I was still owing the Igbo man who helped me to cross to Nigeria and get security work in the church. When I was working in the church, he used to help me to get manual jobs that fetched me N1,500 every day, out of which he got a commission of N500. When I left the church, he did not know that I had relocated to Ajah, so he was still calculating the money I was supposed to be giving him every day.

    “Later, Ibrahim permitted me to follow him to do armed robbery and I celebrated it. Our gang leader is Mohammed Saleh, who is still at large.”

    Asked how he managed to get somebody to help him to cross from Chad to Nigeria without the necessary papers, he said: “If you have the papers, you can cross. But if you don’t have them, is it not somebody who will help you to cross? Money is involved at every step and I did not have the money.

    “Even when somebody helps you to cross, getting work and accommodation in Nigeria is not easy because you don’t know the country you are going to very well. You can be arrested for wandering.

    “I am not yet married. I had planned to get married after two or three robbery operations but luck was against me. I put my trust charms, not knowing that I would be confronted by SARS operatives. They rendered my charms useless.”

    The third suspect, Jidoh Sale, said: “I am 31 years old. I came with cattle from Chad. My wife is in Chad. I was arrested from one room in Ibafo. I have a room there in an uncompleted building. Area boys used to come there to collect money from every tenant. We do not know the landlord of the house till date.

    “I know that criminals live in the house. But for me to continue to live there, I have to mind my business. It is highly risky to report criminals to the police when you are living in the same place with them.

    “It was Zachariah who came into my room and told me that policemen were everywhere with powerful rifles and that their eyes could scare even a lion, so I decided to run. Unfortunately, I ran into one of the SARS operatives who had a rifle. He ordered me to stop or he would shoot me dead. I fell short of words and fell down in shock.

    “I shouted and pleaded with him not to kill me when he told me that I was playing tricks the way I fell down. He came closer to me and ordered another operative at my back to handcuff me and take me to their vehicle, which they parked near the road.

    “I know Ibrahim Abdullahi. We entered the ceiling together and jumped down together. We took different directions. I would have escaped if I had followed him.”

    Contact for comment, the Media Director, Omisore Campaign Organisation, Mr. Diran Odeyemi confirmed that the robbery took place in June. But he said it had not come to the knowledge of the governorship aspirant that the perpetrators of the act had been arrested.

    “You are the one that is just telling us about their arrest,” he told our correspondent on Thursday.

  • I am married into money , so why am i so miserable? (2)

    I married into money so why am I so miserable? (5)

    Some six months after Nick and I had been communicating by phone, he came to Nigeria for a visit. Though he had family in town, he decided to put up in a hotel for security and some privacy as he explained to me when we met. I did not visit him at the hotel to avoid suspicions from my husband. You see, though he was hardly around, my husband kept tabs on me and monitored my movements. I found out some years back when one of his staff, whom I had done a favour for confessed to me.

    It seemed Chief did not trust anyone including me, his wife. And this was the same man who went all over the place with his secretary Matilda who doubled as his mistress. I had heard about the affair and a few others he had had since our marriage but for the sake of peace and my mother’s counsel, I had ignored them.

    “As long as he provides well for you and the family, what do you care what he does outside?” said my mother when I had complained about my husband’s infidelities as well as lack of attention. “And you complain he’s never home. What do you want him to do? Sit at home and hold your hand all day long? Will that bring in money to enable you live in the type of affluence you do now? My dear, that is marriage-full of ups and down and you have to learn to endure certain things in order to survive in your marital home. It’s not rosy all the time. Have you forgotten so soon what your father did to us, to the family? Lots of women go through the same thing and they learn to cope! My dear, if other married women tell you about their experiences, you will be shocked. At least your husband spoils you with money. So, sit back and enjoy it and stop all this grumbling!” she had admonished.

    It was easy for her to say but what did she know about my needs and desires, I had grumbled to myself at the time. She must know what it felt like to have an absentee husband as my father had been one before his death two years before from an alcohol-related ailment. He was never home or there for the family as he preferred to be with his concubine. My husband was doing the same to me and I’m supposed to just sit back and endure it? For how long was I supposed to do that while I watched my youthful years slip away?

    Anyway, to avoid arousing my husband’s suspicions, Nick and I met up at Brenda’s place. We had not seen for over ten years and he had changed a lot during that time. He had put on some weight on his tall frame and he looked good.

    We chatted for hours, reminiscing about the old days. It was fun meeting up with Nick again and I was reluctant to leave when it was time to return home. For the six weeks he was in the country, Nick and I saw regularly. He was nice company and I enjoyed spending time with him. He made me laugh and forget my troubles at home. At first, I simply saw him as an old friend whose company I enjoyed but with time, my feelings towards him changed.

    He did not hide the fact that he was still crazy about me despite my being married.

    “I will always have you in my heart,” he told me a week before his departure to his base abroad. I felt bad that he would soon be leaving but there was nothing I could do about it. I was bound to Chief, had made my choice and I had to live the life I had chosen.

    Then, on the last day we saw, he told me something that surprised me.

    “Alice, I can see that despite your bright looks that you are not happy. What’s the problem, dear? Is it your husband? Is he maltreating you? You can talk to me! Are we not friends?” he said.

    For a moment, I was tempted to confide in him about my unhappiness at home. About my feelings of loneliness due to my husband’s long absences, or that in the past three months, I had seen him just once when he returned from one of his long trips. He had stayed for just two days and had travelled again. But I kept all these to myself, simply smiled at him and said:

    “I’m fine Nick. Everything’s fine. Perhaps, it’s the thought that you will soon leave that’s making me feel bad.”

    He looked sceptical for a moment as if he did not believe my words.

    “If you say so. But you know I’m always there for you if you need a shoulder to lean on,” he said, taking and squeezing my hand.

     

    New wife, fresh troubles

    After Nick left, life went back to normal- it was the same old dull routine. The only bright spot in my life was Nick who called regularly to check on me. I missed him terribly and at a point, I nursed the idea of travelling to see him but I changed my mind because of the risk involved. My husband would definitely find out and that could affect my marriage. Despite the situation, I was not ready to lose Chief and the perks that came with being his wife. Afterall, he had done so much for me and my family, I reasoned. All my siblings were doing well because of Chief’s generosity. How could I jeopardise that because of Nick even though I had fallen in love with him and I wanted to be with him more than anything in the world?

    One day, some months later, my husband returned from one of his trips with lots of gifts for me. But my joy at seeing him was cut short by his secretary Matilda. She arrived the following day with her bags and other belongings. Chief explained that she was having accommodation problems and needed a place to stay for a few weeks. My first instinct was to object, knowing the relationship between them. But I kept my cool and instructed one of the maids to prepare one of the guest rooms for her.

    “As soon as she gets another apartment, she will leave. Thanks for being so understanding, dear. That’s one of the things I love about you. You are so cool-headed!” my husband said later that night in our bedroom.

    From a couple of weeks, Matilda’s stay extended to months. She had been with us for nearly six months when I pointed out to my husband that she had stayed for more than the time frame he had told me she would be with us.

    “I think it’s time for her to leave. This is my home and I can’t continue to share it with your secretary!” I said.

    He assured me he would look into it. When the situation remained the same, I called Matilda one Saturday morning when my husband had gone to the club to play tennis. I told her she had overstayed her welcome and she should get a place to move to.

    “Move where?” she countered. “I’m going nowhere. This is my husband’s house and I have a right to be here as well!”

    I looked at her as if she had gone crazy.

    “Matilda, are you sure you are alright? What are you talking about?” I demanded angrily.

    “This!” she said, placing her hand on her stomach. Then, to my shock, she announced: “I’m pregnant for Chief! It’s two months! This is not the first time. For your info, I’ve had three abortions for Chief. But this one is staying. I’m keeping this baby!”

  • A president’s misplaced priority

    A president’s misplaced priority

    Critical national problems Jonathan’s PR fund could have solved

    IN silence, her eyes raved. They uttered words that had no measure. Sitting on a corner bench in her shanty porch, she cut a perfect picture for a “save-the-needy” campaign. But Gladys Nenghe spotted no hope. She gave up on that two months before she turned 21in March 2012. That was after it became apparent to her that despite graduating cum laude from high school, she would not be able to proceed to a university of her dream. Nenghe had to forgo her ambition to study History and International Relations at the Lagos State University (LASU) because her father couldn’t foot her bills anymore. “I barely made it through secondary school,” she said.

    Stoically, she counted her losses and cast them behind her. But just when she managed to secure employment as a sales girl for an Ikeja, Lagos-based air freshener producer, Nenghe became the victim of an unavoidable and long-drawn out battle of will and wit between the Federal Government and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). Sitting pretty on the bench in her filthy porch, Nenghe cursed the day the strike action began. According to the 23-year old, the strike action cost her too much, particularly her employment as guerilla marketer for the local air freshener producer.

    “I prayed fervently that we are allowed to go back to work. It didn’t matter what the government and NLC decided. Me…I needed to make money for my schooling. I needed money to survive. I have no mother to assist me and my father can do nothing. He is an old man. He was a civil servant in Benue State before he was sacked. Now, I have three brothers and a father depending on me. The strike ruined us. We had nothing to eat,” disclosed Nenghe, adding that the hopes of her entire family currently rests on a paltry N240 she had been holding on to since she scrounged it off a childhood friend.

    Cynthia Duru’s predicament also offers food for thought. Duru, a graduate of Industrial and Human Relations and Masters Degree holder in Business Administration (MBA) thought she had prepared herself well to compete in the country’s budding information technology industry. For five years, she studied hard. But after graduating in February 2011, Duru discovered that even those desirable qualifications mean little in Nigeria’s congested labour market.

    Duru struggled to keep faith, sending a total of 58 résumés to different organisations but she hasn’t got a single offer. Today, she applies makeup on newlywed brides for a fee, but that industry itself has recently become congested with the massive influx of secondary school dropouts and undergraduates seeking to augment their allowances and unemployed graduates seeking to make ends meet. Predictably, Duru’s earnings can barely sustain her hence she still squats with her elder brother in his one room apartment in Ogba-Aguda, Lagos.

    Miles from Nenghe and Duru’s peculiar problems, in faraway Kirfi Local Government, Bauchi State, Rabia Muhammadu, 30, struggles to feed her five children daily. In her drifting voice and tired gaze resonates the heartfelt wail of her 1,000-year-old village, Jagalwa. Lost behind a blur of withered flora and copious sand dunes, Muhammadu and over 2, 000 residents of Jagalwa struggle against intimidating odds every day.

    “We dwell in destitution and abject neglect,” said Muhammadu Danladi, 50, the deputy Jooro (deputy chief) of Jagalwa. There are no industries, small and medium scale enterprises in the area. Hence, the major means of livelihood for the entire community is subsistence farming. Jagalwa lacks electricity, pipe-borne water, good roads and a functional health centre. The houses are built with mud and bamboo and planks are used as beams for support.

    Due to government’s inability to provide basic amenities, the community, comprising “over 2, 000 people,” depend on a single well for their use. “Whenever it rains, we manage to get water from puddles that collect in a few potholes along the road. But we have to share the water in the potholes and the well with her cattle. Now that there are no puddles to draw from, the entire community depends on this single well (he said pointing to the well). The water is dirty but we are forced to drink it like that,” said Danladi, 50.

    Danladi complained bitterly of successive governments’ insensitivity to their plight. According to him, the government does not care what happens to them. “It’s like we do not exist to them (the government)…this is very bad. This is not what they promised us. They come here to campaign and seek our votes at election time; they promise to give us electricity, fertilizer, hospitals, good roads, pipe borne water and they promise to build schools for our children. It’s all lies. They come here to lie every time. No sooner had they got our votes than they forget us completely,” lamented Danladi.

    Farther from the local scenes of impoverishment and abject neglect, Ahmadu Bubaji, 74, grapples with grief he does not know how to make sense of. The resonance is bloodcurdling and replete with anguish and rage several months old. Bubaji’s misery is unbounded: the 74-year old lost his wife, Aminatu  thus suffering a brutal and sudden end to a marriage of 52 years Lima, their only daughter and two grandkids in a bloody attack carried out by Boko Haram in Bama. This occurred one month after he received news of his son’s death in the Nigerian Joint Task Force (JTF)’s April 16 offensive against the Boko Haram sect in Baga, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State.

    Umar, his son, was gunned to death as the JTF sought to rout suspected Boko Haram sect members at Baga, in a campaign that left no fewer than 185 people dead. Precisely 2, 275 buildings were razed to the ground while 65 motorcycles and 40 cars were burnt in the attack.

    While Bubaji struggled to deal with his grief, Boko Haram insurgents dislodged from their camps in Sambisa Game Reserve by the JTF issued an ultimatum to residents of his community and Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State. “They gave us one week to vacate our homes,” said Bubaji. Consequently, he fled with his daughter-in-law, Khadija, and Idris, his surviving grandchild, across the border into Cameroun.

    With thousands of their neighbours and residents of Bama, Gwoza and other neighbouring communities, they sought refuge in Mokolo. While in Mokolo, Governor Awa Fonka Augustine of Cameroon’s Far North Region visited them and urged them to leave with him for a better organised refugee settlement in Garwa.

    “We had no choice but to comply,” said Bubaji. According to him, his family and 2,997 fellow refugees had constituted great strain on their host Cameroonian community and it was only a matter of time before they encountered hostilities from their hosts who struggled to accommodate them and share their very scarce resources with them.

    Nenghe, Muhammadu, Danladi and Bubaji without doubt are united by a common bondthey are Nigerians on the receiving end of what Danladi describes as abject government insensitivity and neglect.

    But rather than get in the trenches to find lasting and humane solutions to their plight, the  Federal government, led by President Goodluck Jonathan, contracted an image-laundering deal valued at $1.2 million (about N275 million) a year to Washington, DC, United States-based public relations firm, Levick Strategic Communications. Levick accepted the deal to help manage President Jonathan’s image, which has taken a beating in recent weeks over the Nigerian leader’s poor handling of the abduction of more than 250 high school girls in Chibok, Borno State by dreaded terrorist group, Boko Haram.

    Levick Strategic Communications was engaged to assist with a range of government affairs and public relations matters. The agreement is with effect from June 16, for an initial term of 12 months. According to the contract, professional fees for Levick staff will be billed at the rate of $100,000 per month (about N15,573,000).

    Levick is to engage Jared Genser of Perseus Strategies, “a lawyer in the international human rights and democracy community”, to assist in the firm’s objectives “to promote transparency, democracy and the rule of law throughout Nigeria”.

    The sub-contract to Genser will attract additional $25,000 per month (about N3.9million) and “will be passed through in its entirety Perseus Strategies”.  Levick will bill travel-related expenses and meals to the government. “We estimate these to average $22,500.00 per professional per trip,” the firm said.

    Additionally, the government will pay a percentage of the fees upfront. “It is our policy to invoice our clients a flat 4.50 per cent of monthly fees to cover these costs,” Levick said.

    Fees for other services, such as paid media, video production and web development, will be borne by the government in addition to the fees for Levick staff.

    “Actual long-distance or conference calling charges incurred on behalf of the client will be billed separately, at cost,” the firm demanded. The government will also bear third-party vendor expenses, such as private newswire, outsourced printing, copy jobs, and significant costs for postage and handling.

    Levick is to begin work upon receipt of advance quarterly retainer and interest of 1.5 per cent will be charged on all balances outstanding over 30 days. The government also agreed to indemnify and hold Levick and its agents “harmless” with respect to any claims or actions for libel, slander, defamation, copyright infringement, idea misappropriation or invasion of privacy arising out of the firm’s consultation.

    It was agreed that work would begin upon Levick’s receipt of the signed agreement and initial payment. The funds are to be sent by cheque to Levick or by wire transfer to its banker, BB&T, Washington, DC, with account number 5156166334.

     

    Nigerians express outrage over “window dressing” PR campaign

    In the wake of the President’s action, concerned segments of the citizenry have condemned the PR deal, claiming it is hardly the needed palliative to the nation’s escalating security, political and socio-economic woes.

    Yomi Sanya, a Lagos-based lawyer argued that no degree of image laundering could improve perceptions about Nigeria’s incumbent leadership in the eyes of the international community. “What the government needs to do is to get serious and start addressing the country’s several maladies with the purposefulness and aggressiveness they deserve.

    “That PR initiative is just another sad case of window dressing by Mr. President. He is yet to rescue the abducted girls of Chibok and he is desperate to repair his severely battered image. I will say that is simply a misplacement of priorities,” said Sanya.

    Corroborating him, Segun Lawson, a civil engineer, noted: “An atmosphere of distrust has submerged the trust we initially reposed in Mr. President. And it extends beyond his office to every other public officer. We do not trust our leaders anymore. And they do absolutely nothing to correct the situation. Life is scarier today than it used to be.”

    A hashtag #SomeoneTellLevick is currently trending in Nigeria in response to the image laundering deal between the Washington, DC-based public relations firm and President Goodluck Jonathan. Some of the hashtag critics of the deal accuse the American PR firm of accepting “blood money” to help burnish the image of a Nigerian ruler who appears absentminded and disconnected in the face of a deteriorating security situation in his country.

    True, the situation in the country presents a grim portrait of cynicism and hopelessness. And nothing accentuates this despondent state more than the scandalous episode of March 15, 2014; the incident involving thousands of traumatised and unemployed youths locked in a deathly struggle for the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) jobs. The NIS had advertised vacancies for 4,550 entry level officer positions but in response, 6.5 million unemployed graduates applied for the jobs each paying the N1, 000 fee non-refundable fee for the application form.

    Apparently swooning from the financial implication of registering applicants that exceed the number of advertised positions, the NIS proceeded to conduct a 35-minute aptitude test for half a million shortlisted job seekers, outdoor, in large city venues across the country, all in one day.

    By the time the pandemonium was over, 25 applicants had been trampled to death and thousands more sustained grievous injuries. The nation watched in horror as the catastrophe evolved with many parents and guardians watching helplessly as their children and relatives were forced to engage in a humiliating scramble for survival. Besides losing their dignity as humans, all of the applicants also lost their non-refundable application fees.

    In their reaction to the incident, the Minister of Interior and officials of the NIS blamed the multitude for flouting stipulated test centre procedures.

    That singular incident emphasised the country’s unemployment quandary. However, to understand the miseries of the Nigerian youth, it helps to understand the social realities of the world in which they are maturing into adults. Nigeria has arguably one of the richest and largest natural resource deposits in the world. Government and the structure of government however, constitute a challenge to development. For instance, the total cost of servicing government and public officers has continued to exceed 70 per cent of annual budget in the last 12 years while just little is left to service capital project or human development.

    Even so, the Nigerian leadership confidently announced a new gross domestic product (GDP) of $510 billion on April 6, 2014, up from the GDP of $290 billion, and thus becoming the largest economy in Africa after overtaking South Africa’s GDP of $370 billion. Nigeria’s output has reportedly been experiencing a continual expansion of about 6.5 per cent yearly over the past decade with a current population of 165 million, compared to South Africa with 3 per cent average annual growth rate and a population of 51 million.

    The new GDP figure was obtained by changing the base year from 1990 to 2013 for calculating its output to reflect newly emerged sectors of the economy such as telecoms, information technology, music, online sales, airlines, and film production. The figure instantly shrank Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio from 19 per cent for 2012 to 11 per cent for 2013.

    Income per head for Nigerian citizen as per 2011 index is $1,423, that is GDP $235.92 billion divided by 165 million population. That of Singapore is $63,740 income per head with GDP $318.7 billion and population 5 million; Chile $14,623 with GDP $248.59 billion and 17 million population; Brazil $12,653 income per head with 196 million population and GDP $2.48 trillion.

    However, news about the country’s rising economic prosperity gives little cause for excitement amongst the citizenry. Ngozi Philomena Okor, a retired school teacher, argued: “What use are the figures they are quoting when the citizenry can neither feel nor enjoy the dividends of such reality? I think our government has taken us for granted. That is why they try to deceive us with such spurious figures.”

    Recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) states that Nigeria is not one of the African countries recording remarkable improvement in its human development index. The agency in its 2013 Human Development Index (HDI) Report listed Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Tanzania among the African countries that made the greatest strides in HDI improvement since 2000. According to the report, Nigeria was ranked amongst countries with low development index at 153 out of 186 countries that were ranked.

    Life expectancy in Nigeria is placed at 52 years while other health indicators reveal that only 1.9 per cent of the nation’s budget is expended on health and 68.0 per cent of Nigerians are stated to be living below $1.25 daily. Adult illiteracy rate is 61.3 per cent yet the report contradicts the reported growth in the Nigerian economy, with the country recording a GDP growth rate of 6.99 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

    At the backdrop of this grim situation, the nation has to contend with persistent power outage. Of about 35,000 MW energy needed to light homes and power industry in the country, Nigeria generated less than 10 percent at 3,463MW up till March 20, 2014 when it dropped to the previous abysmal level of 2,500MW or seven per cent. The government however, blamed the situation on “a significant drop in gas supply and a number of fire accidents along the Benin-Sapele highway.”

    Despite this grim picture, the country’s economy has been described as robust and resilient.

    At the backdrop of this socio-economic situation, the Nigerian youth are witness to the

    Federal Government’s outrageous budget of a whooping N992.57 million on food and general catering services for President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo in 2012.

    Out of the N4.749 trillion budget presented by Jonathan to lawmakers at the twilight of 2011, N18.34 billion was budgeted for the state house and from that, the cost of foodstuffs, catering supplies and kitchen equipment for the President, his deputy and their offices was estimated to cost the nation N992.57 million, approximately N1 billion.

    This infuriated the nation’s teeming youth and drove them to the streets in a protest march tagged the “Occupy Nigeria” movement. Although the protest which was meant to object President Goodluck Jonathan’s removal of fuel subsidy as well as perceived profligacy of his administration occurred with maximum turnout and pockets of skirmishes that led to death of few youths in the hands of the police across the country, the situation, contrary to widespread apprehension, didn’t degenerate further than that. The “Occupy Nigeria” protest is over, but the youth have discovered more effective means of venting their frustrations: they simply pick up a gun and explosive device.

     

    Problems the N275 million PR money could have solved

    Instead of spending such money on what Ruqqayah Amona, an economist and grassroots microfinance bank administrator identify as “window dressing,” President Jonathan should have invested such money in resolving some of the country’s infrastructural and economic woes argued Amona. And she might not be too far from the truth. This is because the situation in wastelands like Jagalwa presents an eyesore. For instance, the only school in the community, Jagalwa Primary School, comprises just two classrooms and there are no desks or chairs in the classes save three rubber mats spread in one of the classes for pupils to sit and write on. Headmaster of the school, Zakka Husseini, claims that the school has a population of 85 pupils although the pupils that could be sighted at the time of The Nation’s visit barely numbered 16. En route the school, Husseini was sighted chasing after pupils that were fleeing from school although he maintained that the number of pupils in school was scanty because majority of the pupils had gone to visit an ailing classmate. Husseini doubles as the schools headmaster, science and mathematics teacher and he claimed that three other teachers frequently visited to assist in teaching the students.

    An interesting feature of the school, however, is that even though there is no electricity in the area, the two classes making up Jagalwa Primary School are fitted with ceiling fans and the floors are covered with expensive terrazzo. The headmaster could not identify clearly the classes making up the school and despite his hearty efforts to make excuses for the glaring lack characteristic of the school, he could not do much to explain away the school’s abject neglect by the government.

    And at a time that the country requires N56 trillion, according to Gimba Ya’u Kumo, Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), to reverse the nation’s housing deficit of 18 million housing units, such money could have been invested in bolstering President Jonathan’s touted drive to provide affordable housing to the homeless and low income earners.

    Housing experts argue that for those in the low income bracket, it is possible to build a house on a lean budget of between N2.5 million and N3 million. Rasheed Amoo, an electrical/construction engineer and Managing Director of Hardalt Technical Ventures, Papalanto, Ogun State, advised that aspiring house owners with lean budgets should look beyond the major city areas to acquire land for their homes. According to him, with N3million, you can build a modest home for yourself and your family on the city outskirts.

    The inherent advantages in diverting such money to finance low cost housing schemes or building hostels for the homeless in such locations are inestimable, argued Amoo. According to the former Project Engineer of Dunlop Nigeria Plc, if Mr. President had invested such money in ameliorating the nation’s housing woes, it would go a long way in resolving the nation’s housing deficit and homelessness.

    Several other infrastructural lapses across the country including the preponderance of bad roads, chronic electricity outages and inadequate healthcare have been identified as major areas deserving urgent government attention. “I do not understand why Mr. President prefers to pay N275 million to an American PR agency to create a favourable image for him at home and abroad. Why would he do that? If he could devote such money to supporting the improvement of ailing sectors of the country, the citizens will be happy with him. We will think favourably of him and he would need no expatriate PR firm to launder his severely battered image. Good leadership begets good image at home and abroad…It’s as simple as that,” said Tope Olubode, a school teacher.

  • How we broke into Omisore’s house, raped his maid – Chadian robbery suspects

    How we broke into Omisore’s house, raped his maid – Chadian robbery suspects

    Four suspected members of a robbery gang made up of Chad nationals have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command after allegedly carrying out an attack on the Ikoyi, Lagos home of the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

    A police source told our correspondent that the suspects stormed the senator’s house at No. 11, Thomson Avenue, Ikoyi at about 2 am on June 18, 2014 and used an iron cutter to cut the electrified wire on top of the fence before they jumped into the compound, raping a housemaid and stealing valuable items.

    Once they had gained entry, they were said to have bound the two security men that guided the house with ropes and told a member of the gang named Musa to watch over the security guards. With one of the iron cutters in their possession, they cut the burglary proof on the door and gained entry into the house.

    They were also said to have pointed a gun at the housemaid and ordered her to undress. The hapless housemaid was said to have been reluctant in carrying out the invaders’ instruction, following which they became angry and beat her mercilessly, tearing her clothe and stripping her naked before assaulting her sexually.

    The poor housemaid was said to have been left unconscious by the robbers who also ransacked the rooms. The Senator, who is based in Abuja and currently campaigning for the governorship seat of Osun State, was said not to be at home at the time the robbers struck. A member of his domestic staff was said to have made a distress call to the Ikoyi Police Station whose men responded promptly and got to the house before the invaders could escape.

    Noticing the arrival of policemen, the robbers were said to have opened fire to scare them away and facilitate their escape, but the police responded with superior fire power, wounding one of the robbers and arresting him while the three others escaped.

    The police were said to have the suspect with bullet wound for treatment, after which he was transferred to SARS on June 19 for discreet investigation. The Commissioner of police, Mr. Umar Manko, was also said to have instructed the officer in charge of SARS, Mr. Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, to ensure that the fleeing suspects did not escape from the state or the country.

    Kyari and members of his special squad were said to have swung into action immediately, tracking down one of the suspects named Mohammed at Epe, a suburb of Lagos. Mohammed then led them to the hideout of another member of the gang named Ibrahim Abdulahi.

    Upon interrogation, Abdullahi was said to have disclosed that a member of the gang had escaped to Ibafo, an Ogun community not far away from Lagos. He was said to have led some SARS operatives to Ibafo but the suspected member of the gang opened fire on the policemen as they were approaching their hideout. The police again responded with superior fire power and cordoned off the whole area. Unknown to the police team, some other robbers lived in the house and had hid themselves in the ceiling.

    Upon entering the house, the policemen notice some strange noise in the ceiling and opened fire on the ceiling, wounding one of them in the process and arresting another without any bullet wound. The one without injury, Jidoh Sale, was immediately put in handcuffs while the one with injury was rushed to the hospital where he gave up the ghost.

    A search carried out on the uncompleted building was said to have led to the recovery of three big iron cutters, two red hand gloves, assorted charms, a chisel, a machete, a nail remover, two screw drivers, a torch, three different identity cards, voter ID cards, two Man O’ War ID cards belonging to Mohammed Yusuf and Ali Yawarb, a pen knife, a hammer and two locally made pistols.

    Confessing his involvement in the operations of the gang, one of the suspects, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said: “I am 29 years old. I am a foreigner from Amtima village in Chad. I came to Nigeria in 2010 in search of greener pastures. After three months, I secured a security job in a company in Anthony Village (Lagos). After few months, I was sacked and I went to stay with my brother at Ajah, a suburb of Lagos. I later returned to Chad to take a second wife with the little money I had saved from security work.

    “My problem started when I came back from Chad and there was no money for me to eat and feed my wives. I was thinking about how to survive when Mohammed Sale, who is still at large over his involvement in several robbery operations in Ajah and its environs, came to me with thousands of naira on him. I saw the money on him and begged him to help me, even if it was with a small amount as loan.

    “He promised to help me to get out of my financial problems. But he said he would not give me fish but will take me to the high sea to fish and eat as much fish as I wanted. I told him that a hungry would not understand riddles and that he should speak to me in plain language so that I would understand him. He then asked me to follow him.

    “He took me to Senator Omisore’s house, saying that he would put me at the gate. He said that two other people would join us later. He also told me that as soon as the work started, they would tie the two security men in the Senator’s house and that my role was to guard the security men and be the gang’s eyes while they would go inside the house to work.

    “At about 10 pm, we went to Obalende area and hid ourselves in the flower. There the two others came to join us. Around 2 am, we trekked to the Senator’s house at No.11, Thomson Avenue Ikoyi, armed with two guns, cutters and charms, among other items.

    “When we got to the house, we used a cutter to cut the electrified wire on the fence, climbed the wall and jumped inside the compound. Two dogs wanted to harass us but one of us, Mosale, pursued them. That made the two security men to wake up, as they wondered why the dogs were barking. The dogs continued to bark, showing that there were strangers in the compound, but they did not know what to do. It was while they were thinking of what they would do that Musa and Jidoh used guns to order the two security men to lie down and tied them with ropes. We then went inside the house and ransacked all the rooms.

    “We carried clothes, shoes and other things. We only spent 20 minutes. We collected a fine wrist watch and a phone. There were four of us: myself, Mosale, Idris and Mohammed Sale, but I did not join in raping the housemaid. I have two wives and three children. I cannot rape. I only wanted to get money to feed my family.

    “If I had got enough money to do business, I would not have been interested in armed robbery. Look at me, I cannot rape. If the housemaid recovers and we go for identification parade, you will see that I am telling you the truth. Not every armed robber is a beast. I don’t take hard drug. I am conscious and mentally alert every day. I don’t drink or smoke too much because it is very risky to lose control of your senses during a robbery operation. So, count me out from those who raped the housemaid.

    “Idris and Mohammed are still at large. One of our members died when we exchanged fire with SARS operatives at Ibafo.”

    Asked why Chadians enter Nigeria in droves, he said: “Our people come to Nigeria to do one job or the other. Nigeria is our best hope of greener pastures abroad. Some come with their cattle while some come to do security work in private homes and companies.

    “About 50 Chadians come to Nigeria every day to do one thing or the other, but half of us engage in armed robbery because Nigerians have many rich people and they keep big money in their cars and in their houses.

    “Whatever work we do in Nigeria gives us money with which we do reasonable things like building houses, farming and educating our children. There is a lot of money in Nigeria. Those who engage in armed robbery do so to get quick money and go back to Chad. Some do it because it is faster, but they do not kill their victims unless there is exchange of fire, because they do not carry gun for fun. They carry guns so that they can escape if they are challenged.

    “The primary aim of carrying gun is not to kill their victims but to protect themselves and to enable them escape from serious danger during and after operation. Nobody likes to kill his fellow human being just like that.

    “If I am released, I will relocate to Chad and do farming and other jobs to feed my family. I will not rob again. It was financial problems that made me to join them to rob. We are all from Chad.”

    The second suspect said: “My name is Mohammed Musa. I am 26 years old from Amdam village in Chad Republic.

    “When I came to Niegeria some years back, I secured a security job at Living Word Church, Ajah on a monthly salary of N15,000. I was on temporary appointment with the church. When I finished the job, I went to live with Ibrahim at Ajah..

    I was facing hard times in Ajah because I had no work. I had no money while Ibrahim was going out to rob and come back with a lot of money and handsets. I became jealous and begged him to allow me to follow him to his money spinning work.

    “I was still owing the Igbo man who helped me to cross to Nigeria and get security work in the church. When I was working in the church, he used to help me to get manual jobs that fetched me N1,500 every day, out of which he got a commission of N500. When I left the church, he did not know that I had relocated to Ajah, so he was still calculating the money I was supposed to be giving him every day.

    “Later, Ibrahim permitted me to follow him to do armed robbery and I celebrated it. Our gang leader is Mohammed Saleh, who is still at large.”

    Asked how he managed to get somebody to help him to cross from Chad to Nigeria without the necessary papers, he said: “If you have the papers, you can cross. But if you don’t have them, is it not somebody who will help you to cross? Money is involved at every step and I did not have the money.

    “Even when somebody helps you to cross, getting work and accommodation in Nigeria is not easy because you don’t know the country you are going to very well. You can be arrested for wandering.

    “I am not yet married. I had planned to get married after two or three robbery operations but luck was against me. I put my trust charms, not knowing that I would be confronted by SARS operatives. They rendered my charms useless.”

    The third suspect, Jidoh Sale, said: “I am 31 years old. I came with cattle from Chad. My wife is in Chad. I was arrested from one room in Ibafo. I have a room there in an uncompleted building. Area boys used to come there to collect money from every tenant. We do not know the landlord of the house till date.

    “I know that criminals live in the house. But for me to continue to live there, I have to mind my business. It is highly risky to report criminals to the police when you are living in the same place with them.

    “It was Zachariah who came into my room and told me that policemen were everywhere with powerful rifles and that their eyes could scare even a lion, so I decided to run. Unfortunately, I ran into one of the SARS operatives who had a rifle. He ordered me to stop or he would shoot me dead. I fell short of words and fell down in shock.

    “I shouted and pleaded with him not to kill me when he told me that I was playing tricks the way I fell down. He came closer to me and ordered another operative at my back to handcuff me and take me to their vehicle, which they parked near the road.

    “I know Ibrahim Abdullahi. We entered the ceiling together and jumped down together. We took different directions. I would have escaped if I had followed him.”

    Contact for comment, the Media Director, Omisore Campaign Organisation, Mr. Diran Odeyemi confirmed that the robbery took place in June. But he said it had not come to the knowledge of the governorship aspirant that the perpetrators of the act had been arrested.

    “You are the one that is just telling us about their arrest,” he told our correspondent on Thursday.

  • It’s hard to admit that I’m 53 —Yeni Kuti

    It’s hard to admit that I’m 53 —Yeni Kuti

    Yeni, the gorgeous daughter of the iconoclastic Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, recently clocked 53. The occasion witnessed a milder celebration than the one that took place when she turned 50. PAUL UKPABIO met her cozy home on the outskirts of Lagos, and the popular dancer spoke about life as Fela’s daughter, her spinster status and her love of dogs. She also went down memory lane to recall the invasion of her late father’s home by heavily armed soldiers in the 1970s; an incident in which Fela’s aged mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was seriously injured after the invading soldiers allegedly threw her down from the upper floor of a storey building. Excerpts:

    HOW does it feel to clock 53? In a way, I feel different. Because once you reach my present age, people give you the kind of respect they would not give you while you were in your 40s. Now they don’t look at me as another omoge (young lady) or something like that. They see me now as someone above 50 years. I prefer being over 50 to get that respect.

    What was your impression of people who were more than 50 years old when you were much younger?

    I used to see them as old people (laughs).

    Would you consider yourself an old woman now?

    I remember an incident a few years back when I was to travel and had to fill the immigration form. I was already 50 then. Afterwards, I said to myself: ‘So, you are 50? Wow!’ It is okay when you are 50, but when you actually have to write it, it becomes a different ball game. Then when you are 53, like I am today, you look and say the person is old. That must be how our kids look at me now. My daughter says when you are old, you are old. But I tell her, ‘Will you shut up?!’ I now know how my parents felt when we called them old at over 50. But I guess old is old. Surprisingly though, I am still doing some of the things I used to do when I was much younger. For instance, I still dance professionally.

    How is your body now?

    My body talks to me every day. The other day I was training the girls and I was doing the dance routines and realised that I was panting. I told myself that yeah, this is old age. Even when I try to do exercise, my body pains me for like three days. So, the body talks to me.

    Does that mean you no longer dance on stage?

    Not on stage anymore. I just train the girls and do choreography, though I danced on stage some months back when one of the dancers did not come. So, I danced the whole routine. I felt good after because it was as if I had shed some weight. That is one good thing about dance; it keeps you trim.

    Do you still control your weight?

    Yes, I try to control my weight. But since I turned 50, I’ve done a bad job of taking care of my weight. I turned 50 and just let it go. But weeks before I turned 50, I trimmed down because I wanted to be an omoge at my 50th birthday celebration. But after the celebration, I slowed down. Three weeks after the milestone event, I started exercising again. Since then, pressure upon pressure has affected the size of my body from time to time. I know that I have to always put my shape and size in top form. I lose weight when I need to. Right now, I’m not fat.

    You are the woman at the centre of everything at the Shrine. How have you managed to keep it going?

    I’ve done so with the help of my staff. I can’t say it has been easy, but I don’t believe that our Creator would put anything on our table when we are not able to deal with it. Right now, we are dealing with it. Yesterday, I had a meeting with my staff till late in the night. We are always having meetings to deliberate and re-strategise on some things that disturb us at the shrine from time to time.

    What are the challenges that you face managing the shrine?

    One of the challenges is the boys outside the shrine. We can’t seem to get rid of them no matter the amount of grammar we speak. When we first moved there, there were so many empty plots and a lot of the boys stayed on the empty plots. But now, the owners have claimed their lands and are now building. So the boys have moved out to converge in front of the shrine and it is so difficult to move them and people are complaining about them. The boys, on the other hand, feel it is their birthright because Fela was a man of the people and this is Fela’s shrine. So, one is trying not to make enemies with them. So, that is one of the difficult challenges we now face.

    Are you afraid that it may turn out to be another Pebble Street affair, which occurred while Fela was alive?

    We will never allow it. For instance, we don’t allow shops outside the shrine. If you allow it outside your property, it’s your business. But again, more people are building, so they will soon be driving them and I don’t know where they will go then.

    Inside the shrine, it is written that drugs are not allowed. How are you able to checkmate drugs?

    It’s very difficult, but we do.

    The music at the shrine is very interesting and comes with a lot of energy expressed in gyration. It is so with the kind of music Fela played and Femi now plays. What has drug got to do with music?

    I really don’t know. I suppose that a lot of artistes who take drugs do so for inspiration. But I don’t know because I don’t compose. It can also be because musicians have hard times. For instance, they are on the road for months on end while on tour or shows. Maybe it is an outlet for them to just smoke. You would find that a lot of artistes take one drug or the other. When it is soft, like igbo (marijuana), it is not that bad, unlike when they are into cocaine or heroin. Those ones kill a lot of them! They think it makes them to relax, but they get addicted to it. Which I think is very sad.

    Are you saying that consumption of marijuana is not alien to African culture?

    You know our land is very rich. Anything can grow here. Even English apple, which people thought could not grow in Nigeria, grows here and other parts of Africa. I don’t know if it is an African thing; I just know that our soil is very rich. Government should pay attention to our vegetation; not concentrate on oil alone because oil profits their pocket. Let them encourage the planting of food across the country.

    Having said that, maybe that is why we have marijuana farms everywhere, because it is profitable for the people that are doing it. Since I don’t own a marijuana farm, I don’t know about the profit and I don’t ever intend to do that.

    So why do fans take drugs more than the musicians whose songs they enjoy?

    I think that is an assumption. I don’t think it is a correct assumption too. I know a lot of people who come in to listen to Femi play, who do not even drink beer and have never taken a joint (wrap of Indian hemp) before. I know a particular guy who comes every Sunday, who I have never seen with a bottle of beer. So, that assumption boxes everybody together, and that is wrong. Femi performs and he doesn’t smoke or drink. It is about individual’s taste.

    Let’s talk about your childhood…

    My childhood has helped me because we didn’t grow up as silver spoon kids like a lot of people think. Fela did not spoil us with money. I had friends who were spoilt with money. Even to get school fees from my father was war, not to talk of enjoyment money. But that taught us to appreciate what you have. It has helped me a lot because when my friends were going to London, my father said to us, ‘London for what?’ So, he didn’t let us go. We were here. It taught us to appreciate more.

    I used to wash my own clothes. What they didn’t allow us to do was to iron our clothes. We did all those things without house helps and that helped me a lot to become who I am today. That helped my brother too because he grew up the hard way. My mom is from the Taylor family. They are Lagos people.

    Did your mum spoil you?

    My mum?!

    Some people say you are tough. Did that come from the kind of childhood you had?

    I don’t know. It is the people who don’t know me that say I am tough. Those who know me say that I am just too soft. It is easier to get to me than my siblings. If Femi says no, it is no. But my compassion is much. I don’t even know where I got the title Iron Lady from, because I am not an iron lady.

    Is it then because of your soft nature that you are the one that manages or oversees the family business?

    I think it was just a natural progression. I don’t think I was allowed; it came naturally perhaps because I am the oldest in the family. I don’t know how it came about. That is why I said earlier that God would not give you what you cannot handle.

    Did your parents see that relationship qualities in you?

    I don’t know. And did I even see that in myself? I don’t know. I just do what I have to do. There are even things that I do not because I like to do them, but I have to do them whether I like it or not.

    In a family with name, talent and some people you don’t even know but tell you they belong to your family, how easy has it been to carry everybody along?

    It hasn’t been easy, but we have managed. We have learnt to adapt to the situation.

    What gives you the stay power when you are under pressure?

    The determination to succeed gives me the stay power. I hate to fail. I know that as a human being I say, ‘hey, the wahala is too much.’ But when I get to that point, I tune off, rejuvenate myself and move on again.

    How did you come about being a dancer?

    I’ve always wanted to dance from the time I was 5. When Fela’s dancer was dancing, we were there learning from her. She used to teach my sister and I. We loved the way she danced. In secondary school, I was in the cultural troupe. I wanted to go to an advanced dancing school then, but my father couldn’t afford it. They had burnt his house by then. So what I did was to do a secretarial course, worked as a secretary for a while, and when Femi said he was ready to start his band, I ditched my job. The rest is history.

    Tell us briefly what life has been as a dancer…

    I enjoy dancing, so it has been a pleasure to dance. It was fantastic going all over the world. Places I would never have gone to.

    Would you say you were too young when the Kalakuta incident occurred? Did you understand what was going on?

    I was not too young; I was about 16. We had gone to school. We were not living with Fela, but Sola’s school was on that path. So we used to stop over there since she had to pass through there to get to her school. Femi and Sola rushed home from school that day and woke up my mum. It was in the afternoon and she was having her siesta. They chorused that there were many soldiers in front of Fela’s house. My mum thought it was like one of those other times, when they came home like that and said the same thing, and they would go round looking for where the soldiers had carried him to. But this time around, Femi and my sister said that the soldiers did not allow them to enter the place. We tried to get to Kalakuta. It was about 2 pm.

    In those days, school closed at a reasonable time: 1.30pm and not 3pm when the brain is tired. On the road, the traffic was bad, so we went back home. Femi was outside playing when some boys were passing and said to him, ‘You are here playing, your father’s house is burning!’ So, Femi rushed in and told my mum and my uncle. His message was taken literarily as we do in Nigeria whenever there is trouble. We didn’t know that it was real fire.

    The traffic was heavy but we didn’t know that it was the fire in Kalakuta that was causing the heavy traffic. This was about 5 pm. We finally got there at 8 pm. When we got there, my mum started screaming. We couldn’t drive down there totally. We walked and people had their hands over their heads. It was my mum that told us to crouch on the floor because we thought they were looking for the Kutis. My mum was shouting that they had killed them. It was a really emotional day for us all.

    We didn’t find Fela until three days later. He was in a military hospital. It was really sad. So I remember very well. It was 1977.

    Was he able to make a comeback after ‘government’ destroyed Kalakuta?

    He lost everything. Fela was a very resilient man. He told me about his dreams while he was in jail that when he got back, everything would still be there. But in reality, everything was gone. He didn’t have anywhere to stay and he had about 70 people to take care of. He had one hotel that he had been using for his girlfriends. The owner allowed him to stay there. What happened was that because he was spending so much money on hotels, he eventually ran out of cash. And he had some aides who were duping him. He lost virtually everything. He started from the beginning again. He never got back to that state financially but, at least, he was able to survive.

    How was Fela’s relationship with your mum?

    My mum loved him very much, but Fela had plenty of women. My mum accepted his women. She loved him. Towards the end, she gave him a gap. My mum never divorced him but gave him a wide gap because of his wahala. I guess towards the end of his life, he realised how so much she loved him, because each time we went to greet him, he used to send to her rolls of Marlborough cigarettes, peppermint and trebor. My mom loved these things, and when we brought them to her, she used to exclaim, ‘Wow!’ That was the extent of their relationship at that time.

    What do you miss about Fela?

    A lot of things, particularly the gists. I miss him. He was my father. But I’m also an old woman now; I’m 53, so I have to forge ahead.

    What can you say about Femi’s career?

    I think it is a misconception for people to say I play a big role in Femi’s career, because Femi is in charge of his career. I can help out where I can, that is, in the dancing and also act as an intermediary in booking him for a show. But that’s about that. He is a strong man. He always knows what he wants. I’m just an assistant.

    What does the Afrikan Shrine mean to you?

    It is a legacy. It was built as a memorial to Fela. It is a continuation of a legacy our father left for us: a legacy for Africa.

    How different is the Shrine today from what it used to be in Fela’s days?

    I guess it is better managed. We try to make sure the toilets are always clean and drinks are cold. Fela was playing, so he could not manage as well.

    Apart from dance and music, what other passions do you have?

    I co-host a TV show, which I enjoy doing.

    Will you ever marry again?

    Not too sure. I am happy the way I am.

  • I need a scholarship

    I need a scholarship

    I AM a girl of 18, working as a housemaid in Mende, Maryland, Lagos.

    I lost my parents when I was about to finish my secondary education. All those who promised to sponsor my education later disappointed me.

    I am interested in furthering my education, and I can only do this through a scholarship.

    I am, therefore, appealing to the Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, to give me a scholarship to pursue my studies in an institution of higher education.

     

    Peace Sunday,

  • Release my results

    Release my results

    I WILL like the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to help me out of the serious problem I find myself.

    I did the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) at the Gregory  University, Uturu, Abia State about two months ago.

    My problem is that I cannot access my results on the Internet, meaning that the JAMB has not released my results in the four subjects I chose.

    My pin number is 1473731236692868 and 441568528 is my serial number.

    I hope to hear from the JAMB Registrar soon.

     

    Maduka Victor,

    Abia state.

  • Let Oron produce next governor

    Let Oron produce next governor

    THIS is an appeal to Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and other political leaders in the state.

    Of all the three major ethnic groups in the state, it is only the Oron people that have not produced a governor since the creation of the state in 1987. This is unfair, and it should be corrected.

    Oron is very strategic to the buoyant economy of this country. 90 per cent of the oil produced by Akwa Ibom State comes from the area. There are about 10 oil companies operating there.

    We have many people with qualities of a governor. They are all bubbling with patriotism and dynamism. Somebody from Oron should be given the opportunity to rule the state from May, 2015 in the interest of the unity of the state.

    Government Akpabio and other leaders should agree to give this chance to Oron.

     

    Ulap Jacob Nsoh,

    Uyo,

    Akwa Ibom State.