The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Poisoned

  • ‘I was poisoned on eve of PDP governorship primary’

    •Ex-NAFDAC chief Orhii relives experience

    The former Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhii, has alleged that he was poisoned by his opponents in the build-up to the Benue State governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which Governor Samuel Ortom won two weeks ago.

    Dr Orhii, who was among the seven aspirants, said he was poisoned on the eve of the primary and was hospitalised while the poll was going on.

    The former NAFDCA director general bared his mind on his Facebook page.

    He wrote: “The truth of the matter is that I arrived in Makurdi, the state capital, two days before the governorship primary.  The next day, which was the eve of the primary, I was poisoned. That is why I was not even able to go out and greet the delegates when they arrived in Makurdi, even though I had paid money for their transportation, booked and paid for the accommodation of many of the delegations in Makurdi.

    “I was actually on drips, fighting for my life, while my co-aspirants were going out there to meet and greet the delegates. I managed to go to the field the next morning but had to rush back to bed after the event.

    “Everybody moved on as though there were other primaries scheduled in other towns across the state. I was left there with no money; just a few friends and relatives, to fend for myself.”

    Orhii regretted that despite the support he had been giving the party since 2007, he was singled out to be killed.

    He said: “I contributed massively to building the PDP and have financially supported many of its candidates since 2007, only to almost get killed just for coming out to offer myself for service to the state.”

    The former NAFDAC chief thanked God for his survival, saying he would need further treatment in the United States of America (U.S.A).

    “But thank God I survived. I will be leaving for the USA next week for more detailed medical checks to make sure that no residue of the poison is still in my system,” he added.

     

  • Glad to survive poisoned banana, thanks to Diatom

    ALMOST excluded sublingual Vitamin B2 from my diet last month after the second close encounter with fainting in about two weeks. The first spell occurred just after lunch in the office. Suddenly, I remembered that I had not taken sublingual Vitamin B2 which is a part of my dietary food supplement whenever my ophthalmologist spots cataract developing in the corner of the eye lens. This day, I felt too lazy to place the Vitamin tablet under the tongue and move it from one spot to another, as it is used, until it all dissolves and passes into the bloodstream from there. Rather, I swallowed it with water. In about five minutes, I felt a powerful wave of acid rise from one part of my stomach and rapidly spread. My eyes were closing on their own. My nerves were tremulous. My brain became foggy and light. I knew I was fainting. With the little consciousness and energy I had left, I summoned first aid to my aid. I opened the buttons of my top dress to obtain more fresh air, feebly massaged with fingers the dimples on both sides of my cheek near the eye level to get more blood to my head and then wrung my toes and ankles to boost energy flow up my trunk by improving metabolism. I told the women around me I was fainting. They sprang to their feet. Mrs Bukola Azeez, CEO of Budget Travels, got water. Mrs Rashida Kekereekun got milk and malt drink. Tolulope Christiana Arogundade was too frightened to remember that I had in my office some fresh jars of Activated Charcoal which helps immensely in food poisoning of this sort and similar situations of gastritis or ulcer pain or of troubles in the abdomen. In all my 67years, I have not experienced pain of this nature that was so acute, rapid, almost suffocating and killing within minutes. And quite naturally, when I was back on my feet, I immediately called the doctor who sold the Vitamin to me. He has a vast knowledge of nutritional medicine that I doff my hat for. I wanted to know if taking sublingual Vitamin B through the stomach and not from under the tongue could have such an impact as I experienced. He did not think so. Rather, he thought I would merely absorb less of it and that would be a waste of money. The stubborn person that I may be when it comes to experimenting with food supplements, I again took my sublingual Vitamin B2 through the stomach a few days later…and nothing happened. So, what could have gone wrong the last time? Whatever it was would come to light in about one week. I had just had a dinner of bananas about five days later when the answer popped up. The day before, I had thrown away the bananas I bought on the way home for dinner because I did not like the smell. This evening, the banana did not smell bad. But as soon as I ate the third or fourth one, that awful acid flood erupted again. I was alone in the house. I quickly opened the house door and the small entrance gate, just in case I would need help. I rushed to the kitchen for palm oil, holding my stomach and crying and struggling not to collapse. In the confusion, I did not know if it was palm oil I was smelling. I dropped the bottle so I did not take the wrong remedy. I couldn’t go upstairs for Activated Charcoal because I may fall on the stairway. Luckily I had a bottle of diatom in the sitting-room. I gulped about one or two tablespoons of this powder and then washed it down with water, more water…and more water still. The effect was like throwing surfing or bubbling detergent soap on a fire. My stomach began to cool off. I removed my top dress for fresh air, walked out of the house towards the nearest provision store, holding my stomach, in a search for palm oil, a poison antidote. (I learned of palm oil remedy from the survivors of Lake Nyos volcanic eruption in The Cameroon Mountain a few decades ago. Many people died of gas poisoning. Some of the survivors said they were drinking palm oil or honey as they were fleeing). But mid-way to this store, I experienced enough respite that encouraged me to return home so I did not get the neighbours talking. By this time, the time was about 9:30p.m.

    Carbonic Acid

    What I experienced was carbonic acid poisoning. The banana was force-ripened in a sack-load of bananas and carbide chips. In this manner, banana sellers get immature green bananas to soften and appear edible within 24hours of this treatment. Plantain sellers do it also. It gives them business and money everyday instead of about two or three times a week. I had heard so much about carbonic acid poisoning but had only just personally experienced it. It lands many people in hospital. It may damage the stomach or the intestine if the poisoned person does not receive help in good time.

    Automobile panel beaters place carbide in water to generate acetylene gas which they burn to weld metals. Carbide in the stomach reacts with water also to produce this gas and with hydrochloric acid to produce a more dangerous acid. In the sewage business, carbide is used to burn feaces in pit toilets or soak-aways. Its chemical name is Calcium Carbide.

    According to Dr. Liang Hai Sie, retired general internist, former intensive care physician:

    “Calcium carbide is extremely hazardous to the human body as it contains traces of arsenic and phosphorus. It is banned in many countries of the world, but it is freely used in India, Pakistan, Nepal and other countries. Thus, we are at risk of short term and long-term health effects simply by eating fruits that are induced to ripen. Calcium carbide (CaC2) is used to easily generate low levels of ethylene gas which can hasten the ripening of fruits like banana, mango et.c. Ethylene gas is only dangerous if inhaled greater than 33percent concentration, which we would find in after-use, but the contaminants arsenic and phosphorus hydride are the dangers to look out for.”

    Dr. Liang Hai Sei says the early symptoms of arsenic or phosphorus hydride poisoning may include “vomiting, diarrhoea, with or without blood, burning sensation of the chest and abdomen, thirst, weakness, difficulty in swallowing, irritations or burning in the eyes and skin, permanent eye damage, ulcers on the skin, irritation in the mouth, nose and throat. Throat sore, cough, wheezing and shortness of breath may also occur soon after exposure to the chemical. Higher exposure may cause a build up of fluids in the lungs”.

    The warnings continue: “Eating artificially ripened mangoes causes stomach upsets because the alkaline substance is an irritant that erodes the mucosal tissue in the stomach and disrupts intestinal function. Chronic exposure to the chemical could lead to peptic ulcer. As CaC2 initiates acetylene gas, it may affect the neurological system by inducing prolonged hypozia in the body.”

    Hypozia is a state of oxygen deficiency with many symptoms, including dizziness, tiredness and pain.

    Dr. Liang Hai Sei says that recently, carbide food poisoning has been related to “headache, dizziness, mood disturbances, sleepiness, mental convulsion, memory loss, cerebral oedema and seizure. Though eating the fruits would not bring about such an allergic reaction, the method of ripening could cause such problems”.

    In India, the calcium carbide is sold in sachets called MASALA. A sachet is placed in every carton of green mangoes to make them ripen within 24hours. Although a law bans the use of calcium carbide in the ripening of fruits, the practice is widespread underground. It will not be surprising if MASALA has found its way to Nigeria.

    In Nigeria, we eat all sorts of poisoned food, and this may be the reason all sorts of diseases are hitting heavily at the population. There is a particular monosodium glutamate (MSG), a taste enhancer, known to bleach coloured dresses to white which is a popular ingredient in canteen or restaurant food. Sometimes, I imagine if this may not be a cause of the growing number of eye problems in hospitals. For if this MSG can bleach clothes, will it not bleach delicate cells of the eyes as well? I do not trust even the corn sellers. Their trick is to pass on thier wares as “today’s” corn. They cook it with an arsenal of nails to soften it. They add saccharine, a suspected carcinogen,  to the water to sweeting the corn! Water melon is injected with a dye to make it reddish and appealing to the eye. Apples are waxed to make them solid for a long time. And unless you immerse them in boiling water to de-wax them, you’d be eating chemicals with the good, old apples. Poultry egg suffers the same fate. The feed of the chickens is loaded with dyes to give the yolk a super yellow colour. What of ground pepper? It is diluted with Colanut powder! And palm oil? It comes with reddish dyes! The only way out of this poisoned world, as I often suggest, is to keep an arsenal of antioxidants and detoxifyers at home for inclusion in the diet. I wonder what would have become of me last month if I did not have DIATOM and ACTIVATED CHARCOAL at home. To these should be added stuff such as CHLORELLA and WHEAT GRASS. And, of course, GERMAN CHAMOMILE which calms the nerves, as these poisons cause nerve damage. I shouldn’t forget to mention LION’S MANE MUSHROOM as well. It supports the brain to make Nerve Growth Hormone or Nerve Growth Factor which improves nerve energy and helps the repair of damaged nerves.

    sublingual B2

    If sublingual Vitamin B2 were personal, I would tender my unreserved apology for linking it to my first experience with calcium carbide poisoning last month.

    I learned about the importance of Vitamin B2 in the prevention and cure of cataracts of the eye lens about 1980 from Dr. Robert Atkins, now of blessed memory, one of the frontier-moving conventional doctors in the United States who paved the way for Alternative Medicine ingress in that country.

    In his VITA NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS, Dr. Atkins says: the amino acid Lysine slows damage of blood sugar to the eye lens which results in cataracts. He suggests that while beta carotene is good for vision, it is Lutein and Zeazanthin “are the dominant carotenoids that protect our eyes. They are concentrated especially in the macular, our true center of sight at the back of the retina. Because of their yellowish colour, Lutein and Zeazanthin are particularly adept at absorbing the damaging blue rays from the light spectrum. Lutein also seems to be better than beta carotene at heading off free radicals harm to fats inside the eyes. If consumed regularly from Kale, Collard greens, Spinach and other leafy green vegetables, the two carotenoids are unbeatable combination. Not only can they ward off cataracts, but they can also cut by 57percent the risks for macular degeneration, a deterioration of central vision that is responsible for about one-third of all new cases of blindness every year”.

    Apologies if I have drifted from Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin). Dr. Atkins was versatile. I read his book about 1980. It was only about 2000 onwards that many ophthalmologists began to let their patients take Lutein and Zeazanthin, abundant in Marigold flower (as shown last week for their vision).

    Dr. Atkins says Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) is a “superstar player” on the B-complex roster”. He believes without B2, the B complex would not be a star food metabolizer, food and cell guards. It helps the conversion of Vitamin B6 to its active form. It supports the activation of glutathione, one of the body’s three basic antioxidants.

    He says Riboflavin and Glutathione are so related that glutathione’s levels are often measured by Riboflavin’s levels. Riboflavin is crucial in the “natural approach to preventing and beating cataract”. During a stroke or a heart attack, Riboflavin “limits the cell damage and minimises respiratory injuries from various toxins”. Even sickle cell anaemia “improves when Riboflavin which guards our red blood cells is included”. Iron absorption may be impaired, and the thyroid gland may be weakened by Riboflavin deficiency. Some studies, says Dr. Atkins, suggest that “a B2 deficiency increases the likelihood of depression and/or other mental health problems.”

    The Dr. Edward Group corroborates Dr. Atkins’s conclusions. In this group are doctors and researchers in prominent American universities and other institutions. It says, for example, that children and adults who obtain little or no Riboflavin in the diet tend to have more headaches and migraines. They quote the National Institute of Health as suggesting that “people who get more Riboflavin along with Niacin may have a lower risk of getting cataracts”. Iron absorption and red blood formation are promoted by Riboflavin.

    Dr. Axe, writing under the subject FOOD MEDICINE, lists some signs of Riboflavin deficiency as:

    “Signs of Vitamin B2 deficiency can include anaemia, fatigue, nerve damage, a sluggish metabolism, mouth or lip sores and cracks, skin inflammation and skin disorders especially around the nose and face, inflamed mouth and tongue, sore throat, swelling of mucus membranes, change in mood such as increased anxiety and sign of depression.”

    Dr. Atkins said in his days: “Most doctors know only the superficial sign of B2 deficiency, including cracks at the corners of the mouth and difficulty in adjusting to darkness and bright light. My suspicious arose when I find out that someone eats a diet high in carbohydrates. Wholegrains, it is true, are good sources of the nutrient, but refined flours, even if fortified, are not.

    I am happy I recognised in good time that my food poisoning was caused not by a Riboflavin supplement but by calcium carbide reacting with water in my stomach to form a more toxic acid and gas.

    The lesson in this for everyone ought to be that, everyday, our bodies are degraded by poisoned food, air and water, not to mention negative emotional responses to events around us. While our bodies may struggle to overcome these challenges, they do not succeed 100percent. We can aid them with daily intake of antioxidants and detoxifiers to hit the upper mark. We should remember that that left over or remainder is that “something that must kill a man someday”. That “something” may be accumulations of carbide or arsenic in the system.

     

  • Poisoned by Gold

    Poisoned by Gold

    •Plight of communities bedeviled by deadly gold rush that has killed scores of children

    Health authorities in Niger State are battling with lead poisoning arising from gold mining activities in some communities in the state. Assistant Editor, ADEKUNLE YUSUF, reports that more than 20 children as well as adults and even cattle have died without an end yet in sight for the ugly trend.

    It is like a journey to the underworld, overflowing with forebodings and confounding discoveries. The undulating, rock-strewn road is littered with several small rivers without bridges, spewing a backbreaking motorcycle trip that lasts for more than three lengthy hours from the nearest place with semblances of civilization. And after braving all the odds on a strenuous journey, the small village instantly gives itself up as a settlement that is rough, tough and lacking in all appurtenances of good living; yet it pulsates with excitement in its accustomed rusticity. At least, that is the feeling a first-time visitor gets at first glance in Shikira, a gold-rich village that is tucked away in the belly of Niger State’s Rafi Local Government Area.

    But after more than a cursory look, the thin veneer of communal throbbing melts instantaneously, uncorking the veiled mourning in the land as some of the bereaved bare tales of sorrow welling up in their grieving hearts. The locals have genuine reasons to be sad. Two months ago, a ‘mysterious’ disease sneaked into Shikira like a thief in the night, killing eleven children  with all the avoidable deaths occurring within weeks. Medical authorities attributed the deaths to lead poisoning, occasioned by artisanal gold mining and processing activities taking place in the village.

    “We lost 11 children within a few weeks,” lamented Nuhu dan Magiro, 80-year old head of Shikira, who added that his people were completely heartbroken after discovering the cause of the mortalities. He however maintained that his village had never been visited with any misfortune as a result of lead poisoning until recently. The age of the deceased kids ranged from six months to one year, he said.

    Shedding light into how the recent tragedy started, he said nobody had an inkling of what was happening when his people were coming to his residence to lodge complaints of strange illnesses.

    “They just kept coming one after the other about sickness of their children. None of us knew what was happening until they told us that it is gold poisoning,” Magiro said.

    As the villagers in Shikira lament for losing their innocent kids to the same vocation that has brought them smiles over hassles imposed by the grinding poverty domiciling in the backyards, it was discovered that they were not alone in the tragedy that has befallen them. Shikira, a village accessible mainly through motorcycles, shares this wicked fate with Tungan Kawo, where 17 children also died as a result of lead poisoning.

    Tungan Kawo, which is situated southward of Shikira, is also in Rafi Local Government Area. Like other villages, Shikira and Tunga Kawo lack social amenities. The only meaningful health facility around is the General Hospital, Kagara, which some of the villagers have to travel for hours by motorcycle to access treatment. Besides the fact people live in mud houses, the source of drinking water in many villages visited is the stream or river, where they also wash the gem stones after successful mining hauls.

    Shikira has only one primary school that serves many villages  no secondary school as wards in the surrounding villages have to trek several hours to receive secondary school education in Madaka, another village in the same local government area where rudimentary gold mining and processing is a booming vocation among the poor locals.

    Like their counterparts in other parts of the state, inhabitants of these embattled communities  who were predominantly farmers  have dumped agriculture for artisanal mining. Contrary to reports that gold mining is a recent discovery in the villages, it is a vocation that dates back to several years. The district head told The Nation that illegal “gold mining has been going on in this community before my late father was born.”

    However, there has been a change in the business, starting from last September when residents of the two communities, especially those involved in the illegal mining, started dying. Unfortunately, by the time tragedy started rearing its ugly head in the villages, it was ignorantly attributed to some terrible evil spirits that angrily swathed the land. Pronto all manner of soothsayers, whose services were quickly sought, suggested that a particular banana plantation, where the spirits were claimed to be taking abode, be destroyed. And the villagers wasted no time in carrying out the propitiation rites as directed. Rather than abate, lead contamination continued to mow down the children in the communities before providence smiled on them.

    A heavy price children killed by contamination

    Although official figures claimed that 28 children died, it was difficult to ascertain the actual number of deaths arising from lead poisoning. The reason is premised on the fact the deaths did not take place at once and that it took long before the communities came to grasp with the cause of recurrent deaths that plagued their homes. Worse still, most of the communities are too remote to attract the attention of medical personnel in good time. Some villagers even claimed that they buried their deceased wards without knowing the cause of their deaths, while some assumed it was mere fever.

    All this, some villagers said, contributed to the worsening of the problem before the federal and state health authorities came to the rescue. According to Dr. Mustapha Usman, Director of Public Health, Niger State, initial data at the time showed that 65 children were affected while 28 deaths had already been recorded as at that time. This forced the state government to embark on emergency treatment procedure for the sick children.

    “The next thing we did with the children still affected by the illness was to evacuate about 15 of them to Anka in Zamfara State, where MSF is managing a situation like that already. We sent all the children there and they are all back. They have been treated, they are back and we are still monitoring them,” he told The Nation.

    Dr. Michelle Chouinard, Head of Mission/Country Representative of MSF, who confirmed that the children received treatment in one of the MSF facilities, however, added that “it is only one round of treatment” that the children received. According to her, treatment of lead poisoning takes a long time, requiring several rounds of treatment.

    “They received only one round of treatment and their mothers insisted that they wanted to go back home. One of them who had not yet completed the one round also insisted to join those that were going, and that was it,” she said.

    But unlike the parents of the 15 seriously affected children, many homes were not that lucky to enjoy the caring heart of the state government before their wards gave up the ghost. One of those still smarting from the painful loss of their children is Fati Umar, 30, who said she has not been feeling fine since tragedy struck in her household, killing her twins  her only children. Coming close to tears as she stood by the entrance of her family compound to narrate the wicked fate that befell her, she said: “I am not feeling fine at all. My twins, my only children are gone.”

    She added that her 18-month-old deceased children ran excessive temperature that worsened into convulsion before they gave up the ghost two months ago. Umar, her husband who is a gold processor, was said to be in the mine field when this reporter visited their compound in Shikira.

    Almost in a similar way, Alira Amodu, 40, lost a girl out of her 10 children to lead poisoning, also in Shikira. Alira, a trader whose husband is a farmer-turned gold miner, said she truly did not know what killed her girl, admitting that it was later it dawned on her that her child died as a result of lead exposures that sent other children to their untimely graves. The death of her kid took place at a time health authorities were yet to unravel the mystery behind persistent ailments and deaths in the villages. And as if she and her entire household had learnt no lesson from their recent misfortune, some of her remaining children were seen processing raw gold ore with bare hands in the family compound all through the duration of this conversation with their mother  involving sieving the particles after mixing very well with water.

    Asked if she was unaware of the deadly implications of what her children were doing, their mother retorted rather perfunctorily: “I have told them to stop it.” Oblivious of any dangerous effect of processing gold ore with bare hands in the living compound, the children simply looked the other way as they carried on with their preoccupation without even a whimper from their mother who should know better, having swallowed the bitter pill of bereavement some months back.  It would however take a heart of stone not to feel pity for Ibrahim Galadima, a farmer who lost six children to the poison in quick succession.  Four of his children fell sick at the same time and died one after the other without an inkling that the deaths were as a result of the contaminated water resulting from the lead poisoning. After the four died, two other children gave up the ghost in the same pattern, leaving the household traumatised and heartbroken.

    Other tales of sorrow abound in other villages where children have died as a result contamination from gold mining and processing. Even in some communities where there is no official figure of death attributable to gold poisoning, scars of effects of the dangerous vocation are too obvious for anyone to ignore. While deaths of children easily attract headlines, adults too are constantly lost to artisanal gold mining activities, as accidents in mines are said to be claiming lives. Unfortunately, these often go unreported in far-flung communities where it is not unusual to see many young men with amputated legs.

    One of such unlucky teenagers is Muhammed Sanni, now an amputee after embarking on a gold hunting expedition that turned awry last month in Igedi, Mashegu Local Government Area of the state. According to him, he had barely entered a mining hole when he fell into the pit. A stone fell on him, wounding him severely in the process. Two of his colleagues were however not that lucky as they died instantly. Two other were also brutally injured.

    Hub of gold mining

    According to geological archives, Niger State is enormously blessed with deposits of mineral resources: gold, talc, kyanite, kaolin, ball clays, graphite, feldspar, marble and dolomite, manganese, mica, lead and copper, quartzite, asbestos, iron, silica sand, granite, and gemstones of various varieties. And with current gold prices hovering around $35 million per ton, artisanal mining seems to be an irresistibly important economic activity to the locals. Some miners who spoke with The Nation said a bag of 50kg of the stones goes for N800 or more. A ground bag of same stones can be sold for N1,500 or more, though government has asked them to stop the dangerous activities after the unfortunate deaths.

    The fact taxes are not being levied also makes gold mining adding little or no contribution to the development of the state, while huge profits are being made by mine owners who are mostly from other states and foreigners as well.

    A walk through the communities also shows that the environmental impact of these artisanal mines has been disastrous. In some villages, there are no livestock  a rarity in the northern parts of the country where farming is a pastime in many families. With wood being used for the construction of some of the mines as well as for fuel for cooking in the mining villages, accelerated deforestation is a massive issue. Living conditions in the mining villages are poor, just as they suffer water contamination, large-scale air and soil pollution. Health problems are rife, with strong possibility that miners may be suffering pulmonary and infectious diseases.

    On artisanal mining sites, various types of workers can be found in mines scattered across many local government areas of the state. At the top of the chain are the mine owners, who usually get the largest share of the profit. In some cases, nobody lays any ownership claim to the mines. Then there are the diggers, usually young men, and sometimes boys, working long hours to get a small percentage of the mined products or, more often than not, a salary from the proprietor who financed the building of the mine shaft. And there are boys who operate on their own, free from the lordship of any profiteers. And their tools are rudimentary  pickaxes, buckets and hammers. Safety equipment is non-existent and the work is unhealthy and dangerous, with feelings that an unspecified number of artisanal miners die every year unannounced in the villages.

    When asked if the state was aware that other communities in the state were under the siege of illegal gold mining, Dr Usman answered in the affirmative. But he was quick to assert that the state is working on a framework to address the issue across-the-board.

    Condemning the response of authorities to the lead poisoning crisis, Global Rights, a global human rights defender, said it is regrettable that since a rapid response committee comprising of government agencies, NGOs and international aid partners was set up, the government is yet to implement any tangible intervention to prevent further deaths or to educate the affected community and other vulnerable communities on the causes and prevention of further deaths.

    “In May 2015, the Federal Ministry of Health broke the news of the death of 28 children with 65 others critically ill from lead poisoning, at Shikira, a remote community in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State. A few days later, a rapid response committee comprising of government agencies, NGOs and international aid partners was set up and 10 acutely sick children were transported to Zamfara State to commence treatment. Apart from this action, regrettably, the government is yet to implement any tangible intervention to prevent further deaths or to educate the affected community and other vulnerable communities on the causes and prevention of further deaths.

    “Apart from the 28 casualties recorded, other children in the community had been exposed to lead and are at risk of brain damage and multiple organ failure. While the adult population is better able to tolerate the effects of lead poisoning, they are ultimately vulnerable to its effects. The effects of lead poisoning are usually permanent, and irreversible. There are currently no livestock at Shikira, a predominantly pastoral community, because most of the livestock had died from lead contamination.

    “Other precarious effects of the lead poisoning outbreak include contamination of the community’s only water source and the soil nursing the crops on which the community depends for subsistence. Most of the effects of the lead contamination on the environment and the community members may take several years to manifest. There are currently no basic health facilities or medical personnel at the community, and the closest medical facility to the village is about a four-hour drive through non-existent roads,” said Global Rights’ director of information, Mrs. Abiodun Baiyewu-Teru.

    Why more lives may be lost

    According to one of the locals who acted as a tour guide, it is impossible to stop illegal mining as long as there is poverty in the communities, adding that the merchants of death have devised ingenious ways of silencing the traditional leaders whose communities are being put on ‘death-row’ with huge sums of money so that they can look the other way while the deadly operation thrives in their backyards. Perhaps that explains why some village heads who spoke to The Nation were quick to vouch that there are no mining activities in their communities  a claim that easily falls on its face when the miners start returning in droves from their hunting expeditions.

    Despite an order that mining should stop, the locals still troop to the mines to scoop the gem stones in order to make money. Although there is no information on any latest contamination, Chouinard said the villages and their inhabitants cannot be said to be safe until an environmental remediation is carried out in all the affected communities. This fear is also nursed by Sheu Anka, director of pollution in the Zamfara State Environmental Sanitation Agency (ZESA), who is one of those that were brought into the affected communities to carry out the soil testing to ascertain the level of contamination.  He said 43 compounds in Magiro, 22 compounds in Kawo and other places were still contaminated.

    “The villages are highly contaminated,” he said, adding that the level of soil poisoning in Niger State is far higher than what his state suffered recently. “Trouble is how to get money to carry out remediation because it is highly expensive to remediate the environment,” he said.

    As for now, no one is sure of when the state and federal governments will come to the aid of these embattled communities. What is however not in doubt is that a large chunk of the state is under siege by illegal miners who migrate in large numbers to different villages to ply their dangerous trade, with disastrous consequences for the residents in around illegal mining sites that abound in the state.

  • Obasanjo: Ribadu was once poisoned

    Obasanjo: Ribadu was once poisoned

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said ex-chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was once poisoned in the course of his duties as anti-corruption czar.

    Obasanjo disclosed this at an international forum on Third Tana High Level Forum on Security in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

    He also revealed that Ribadu created enemies for him because of the ruthlessness with which he carried out his responsibilities of tackling corruption.

    Obasanjo, who spoke from the floor following a presentation on Illicit Financial Flow and Governance of Natural Resources made by Ribadu, affirmed that he had known from experience that the fight against corruption attracts a lot of enemies.

    The former president declared that he had no fear of anyone still living in Nigeria, adding, “it is rather them that fear me.”

    Saying that Ribadu took on a lot of highly connected people in his fight against corruption, Obasanjo said that the former anti-corruption chief was once poisoned, causing a scare in concerned quarters.

    “It was a matter of life and death” the former president said. He gave no details of the incident.

    Obasanjo said that once Ribadu was appointed, he gave him a free hand and that Ribadu investigated him, his late wife and several persons close to him.

    He also narrated a story of how a serving minister, who was his senior in secondary school, was indicted and prosecuted by the EFCC, adding that when the minister was found wanting, “there was no issue of seniority again.”

    On leadership, Obasanjo, who is also the chairperson of the Tana Forum, re-echoed Ribadu’s submission that at the centre of the anti-corruption fight is the need for willing political leadership at the highest level.

    He, however, added that the leader also needed legislations to work with.

    Obasanjo recalled narrating his experience with the bill establishing ICPC which, he said, was whittled down by lawmakers, who felt they could be victims of the law.

    Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn thanked Ribadu for his presentation, which, he said, highlighted many good things about Nigeria, different from what is portrayed in the media.

    Ribadu listed measures African countries can take to tackle illicit financial flow and repatriate money already illegally taken out of the African countries.

    He said Africa needed honest and committed leaders who will set examples with themselves by eschewing corruption and closing avenues of illicit financial flow.

    According to him, it is the seriousness and commitment showed by the political leadership that will convince other foreign countries to work with them towards recovering looted monies stashed abroad.

    Ribadu also emphasised the need for concerted effort among countries and a synergy among law enforcement agencies so that looters could be caught.

     

  • The poisoned carrot of an Ibadan State

    SIR: Nigeria Election 2015! There have always been some asinine, farcical and insincere features to the politicking and electioneering in Nigeria, even long before the real election times. Nothing has ever been normal or straightforward with politicians; if they are not involved in one corruption scandal or the other; they are involved in bloodletting, mudslinging and what not. It is entirely typical and with my universal experience, has come to realise that this particular trait of “insincere, do-or-die politics” is unique to Nigeria. Please I stand corrected and educated.

    Anyway, before I continue, and in order not to be seen to be hypocritical, let me say my sympathy lies with the opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, so most of what I will be saying, will of course be biased against the ruling People’s Democratic party, PDP. But what I say should be weighed and balance with truth.

    In my state of Oyo and in my city of Ibadan in particular, the PDP and its gubernatorial candidate and other aspirants are on a downward trend, and one of the causes of their demise is due to their outright lies, deceit and sincerity in their promises to the people. I listen to their campaign jingles and other electioneering gimmicks, and I could not but help marvel at their inanities, and how their mediocrity shows through every time. I am not even worried by their reputation for insincerity anymore; it is the quality of their deceitful claims.

    The PDP jingle on radio stations (I never watch the TV stations), sponsored by an Ibadan daughter who happens to be a junior minister in President Jonathan’s mediocre cabinet, make claims of improved agriculture, an effective, efficient and easily accessible healthcare system, building and reconstruction of roads, empowering of women, improved electricity supply, enhanced, youth employment, refurbished and standard airports and improved rail transportation, etc.

    My problem with this jingle is the dangling of the carrot of the creation of an Ibadan State, if Mr Jonathan is re-elected. This outright deceit and wrong promise is too much for me to take. With others asking for Oduduwa State in Osun State, and Ijebu State in Ogun State, and who knows how many others such small states to be carved out of the 26 existing states, it becomes pertinent to ask the disseminators of these lies how and why President Jonathan intends to prioritise the creation of an Ibadan State, assuming he can single-handedly do this or push a bill through in the National Assembly, over the others.

    We should also ask the Oyo State Coordinator of President Jonathan’s Campaign, what mileage or advantage this will be to the whole people of Oyo State, if, as a campaign slogan, she is asking for the Oyo State people to vote for Jonathan, and at the same time telling them that their state will be split up and Ibadan exorcised from the rest of them, giving the Ibadans an advantage, which they already enjoy anyway, as the most populous and most metropolitan and most developed of the people of Oyo State?

    I therefore find it very deceitful and condescending to the people of both Ibadan and the encompassing Oyo State to be assailed with such obviously fraudulent political promises and guarantees to get their votes.

    But then I figured it out as soon as I know who the Coordinator is. Treachery and trickery, artificiality and grandstanding are not strange to them. Her father, a prominent, yet self-centred son of Ibadan, is likely to be one of the brains behind this creation of Ibadan State.

    So, this poisoned carrot of an Ibadan State is bound to backfire. It will not work. Yes, I don’t mind an Ibadan State, but what’s the use of having it now; a state that will keep on going to Abuja to beg for a meagre monthly allocation; and because it will not be an oil-producing state, it will be getting pittance; a state that will not be able to stand on its own industrially because of short-sighted and clueless elites; a state whose existing industries are moribund and a lack of political will is not them resuscitate them. I don’t know.

    Anyway, since it is a poisoned carrot at the end of the stick, the donkey will never catch up to eat the carrot, so we can conclude that, in the meantime, we are safe from the warped, insidious, invidious plans and chicanery of those who want to create private empires and states for themselves, where their fellow people will be their serfs and servants perpetually or allow them to perpetuate them and theirs in power continually.

    Forget it for now.  Let the Truth be said always.

     

    • Akintokunbo A Adejumo

    Lagos

     

  • Ribadu was poisoned, says Obasanjo

    Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was once poisoned in order to get rid of him as an anti-corruption czar, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said yesterday.

    He said a strong political will at the highest level is required to wage war against corruption

    He also said Ribadu’s commitment to anti-graft war created enemies for him.

    Obasanjo broke the news on the attempt to kill Ribadu after a presentation on “Illicit Financial Flow and Governance of Natural Resources” by Mallam Ribadu at the 3rd Tana High Level Forum on Security in Africa in Badir Dar, Ethiopia.

    A statement by Ribadu Network, on submissions at the forum said: “Talking of vested interests in the anti-corruption crusade, Obasanjo told a story for the first time of how Ribadu was once poisoned which he said was a very serious case that was “a matter of life and death”.

    “Obasanjo said the activities of Ribadu created enemies for him because of the ruthlessness with which the latter went about his assignment to address the scourge of corruption in Nigeria.

    “I made it clear to Ribadu that there should be no sacred cows in the fight against corruption. The EFCC then investigated him and other people close to me, including my late wife.

    “He also narrated a story of how a serving minister, who was his senior in secondary school, was indicted and prosecuted by the EFCC.

    “When the minister was found wanting, “there was no issue of senior again”, he said.

    Although, the ex-President admitted that fighting corruption attracts a lot of enemies, he said he had no fear of corrupt persons who are still alive in Nigeria.

    “It is rather them that fear me”, he said.

    The former president, who is also the chairperson of the Tana Forum, supported Ribadu’s submission that at the “centre of anti-corruption fight there is the need for willing political leadership at the highest level.

    “He however, added that the leader also needs relevant legislations to work with, narrating his experience with the bill establishing ICPC which, he said, was whittled down by lawmakers who felt they could be victims of the law.”

    Obasanjo also unfolded the mission of the forum on its crusade against Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).

    He said: “What we are trying to do is get decision-makers in politics and diplomacy, in the private sector, academia and civil society to realise that this is a pernicious evil that requires effective action to curb.

    “The Forum will be focusing on the convergence between security and Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs). The impact of IFFs on Africa’s development is also a priority issue for the African Union and its member states, as evidenced by its establishment of a High-Level Panel chaired by former South African president, Thabo Mbeki to report on the issue.“

    In his remarks, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, said Ribadu “highlighted many good things about Nigeria different from what is portrayed in the media”.

    In his presentation, Ribadu suggested measures that African countries can follow to tackle illicit financial flow and repatriate money already illegally taken out of the African countries.

    He said “what Africa needs is honest and committed leaders who will set examples with themselves by eschewing corruption and close in avenues of illicit financial flow.

    “It is the seriousness and commitment showed by the political leadership that will convince other foreign countries to work with them towards recovering looted monies stashed abroad.

    “There is the need for concerted effort among countries and synergy between law enforcement agencies so that looters would have no hiding place.”

  • ‘Poisoned’ student battles to live

    Monday Oluwafemi, a 27-year-old student of Political Science at the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, is dying.

    His survival depends on the readiness of sympathetic Nigerians to bail him out of his present predicament.

    According to a source, Monday mistakenly took a substance suspected to be poison about a year ago and has since been moving in and out of hospitals.

    He underwent his first surgical operation on his stomach late last year at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Osun State.

    A pipe through which he could feed was fixed on him. Now, he can’t eat with his mouth.

    So far, about N250,000 was said to have been expended on him by his poor family. Now, his case requires another operation to enable him regain normal eating process.

    The victim, an indigene of Ode-Aye in Okitipupa Local Government area of Ondo State, told The Nation that he lost his father along time ago. His mother is a peasant farmer.

    Now, medical findings reveal that it will require about N1 million to make him survive his ordeal. Where such money would come from is the headache of his family now. Thus, the family is plead seeks financial assistance from kind-hearted Nigerians to rescue him from untimely death. The victim and his guardian gave their phone numbers as 07035403364 and 08063127921.