Ojukwu's Will, Bianka gets the lion share.

=Unknown daughter tops list of children
From PETRUS Obi, Enugu
Controversy followed the late Igbo leader, Dim
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, yesterday, as his
much-talked about Will was read in Enugu yesterday,
where he named an unknown woman as one of his
children. Other shockers were the non-mention of
Sylvester Ojukwu, who had dragged the Ojukwu family to
court for preventing him from performing

the ‘dust-to
dust’ rites at the late Ojukwu’s burial, in his Will as well
as the willing of only one property, in Umudim, Nnewi, to
Emeka Ojukwu Jr.
In the Will, read by the Chief Registrar, Enugu Judiciary
and probate registrar, Mr. Dennis Ekoh, Ojukwu
apportioned the lion’s share of his estate to his wife,
Bianca. He also appointed Bianca, the late Igwe of
Oraukwu, Emeka Ojukwu and James Chukwuneme as
trustees and executors of the documents. The Will
stated that only the eight listed people should be
regarded as Ojukwu’s children.
They are: Teni Harman, Emeka Ojukwu, Mmegha, Okigbo,
Ebele, Chineme, Afam and Nwachukwu. Bianca, who
arrived the Enugu High Court premises in a black Prado
Jeep at 8:30a.m, could not hide her surprise when the
strange name of Teni was mentioned among Ojukwu’s
children, as she started whispering with family
members, who were in the registrar’s office with her.
She was all smiles later, as the will awarded her
Ojukwu’s Enugu mansion ‘Casabianca,’ located at No 7
Forest Crescent, GRA, Enugu, which also was named
after her. Also, the controversial position of the late
Ikemba, in the Ojukwu Transport Limited, was
transferred to her and kids.
According to the Will, “Bianca and her children should
take over my place at my transport…She may also wish
to appoint somebody to represent her at the board….”
Bianca also got two property located at Plot 20 Jabi,
Abuja, with Certificate of Occupancy number 4405 as
well as another property located at Kuje, Abuja. Ojukwu
also willed all personal effects, money and cars to
Bianca and her children. He also allotted to Bianca two
hectares of land at Umuezeani, Umudim Nnewi, if she
doesn’t remarry. Ojukwu’s strange daughter, Teni, was
allotted Jubilee Hotels, Zaria.
However, when the codicil was read, it was observed
that the hotel had been sold, thus she would receive the
proceed from the sale. Ojukwu further willed a hectare
of land each to all his daughters. He willed a landed
property at the traffic light area, in Nnewi, to Afam and
directed that his Nnewi property should “remain a
binding legacy to us for generations to come.” He willed
all his interest at 56 Onwudiwe Street, Enugu as well as
his interest in his mother’s plot at Thinkers Corner,
Enugu to his nephews, Tom and Robert Bigga.
The late Ikemba directed that every other remaining
property, apart from those mentioned in the Will, should
be managed by his trustees, who will have the right to
dispose of them, to offset any debt in his name,
including debts that may have arisen from his burial.
None of Ojukwu’s children was present at the
registrar’s office when the Will was read yesterday.
Family members were however, urged to apply for
copies of the Will as well as the codicil, which was
prepared by Barr. Emeka Onyemelukwe on December 16,
2009.
When reporters sought his comments on the content of
the Will, Bianca declined comments in some and just
said a little in others. When asked for comments about
Teni, whose name was listed as one of Ojukwu’s
children, Bianca refused to answer questions from
newsmen. On her nomination to replace her husband in
the Ojukwu Transport Company, she simply said: “God
is able.

Okorocha Announces 50% Fee Reduction For Non-Indegens

-
…Declares Nov. 29 Free Education Day
Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has extended his free education programme to students from other states pursuing their education career in the state owned tertiary institutions as government assumes the responsibility paying 50 percent of their tuition fees.
The governor disclosed this yesterday when the leadership of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and Student Union Governments of all tertiary institutions in Imo state paid him a solidarity visit in government house, Owerri.
He explained that the gesture is for non-indigenous students in Imo State University, Imo State Polytechnic and College of Health Sciences Amaigbo whose counterparts of Imo origin are enjoying total free education.
Gov. Okorocha who reiterated the commitment of his administration in making education free at all level in the state, however urged his counterparts in other states to adopt similar measure towards creating opportunities for Nigerian students in other tertiary institutions to enjoy free education.
The governor promised to sustain the free education programme which he said to be topmost in the priority of his administration, warning that days of corruption and massive accumulation of wealth by public officers are gone for better things like free education at all level to happened in the state.
He urged students to make good use of the opportunity provided by his administration under the free education programme to build a better future as well as shun vices that are capable of ruining their future.
Gov. Okorocha, however, declared Nov. 29 a free education day to commemorate the solidarity visit by the leadership of NANS as the governor of Imo state while the president of the association will always be the special guest.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation and president of NANS, Mr. Dauda Mohamed, said they came to demonstrate solidarity to Gov. Owelle Rochas Okorocha for his outstanding achievements in the education sector.
He described The governor as a man that truly represents hope for Nigerian students adding that his achievements within the short period in education sector have remarkably placed him as the commander of free education in the country.
The NANS president also declared critics of the free education in Imo state enemies of Nigerian students warning that the programme should not be politicized as the governor has done what many had described as impossibility.
Highlights of the event include the presentation of award by SUG presidents of tertiary institution in Imo state as commander of free education

Kano Riot: Bodies of 2 Brothers Arrive Nnewi, Anambra

Following the gruesome murder of two brothers from Nnewi in Hotoro quarters [Kano State],  the family of the murdered brother hurriedly ‘smuggled the bodies of the two dead brothers out of Kano on Tuesday morning  [November 27, 2012].
It is recalled that the two brothers [Chisom, 18 and Nonso, 21] were shot dead at close range at the Hotoro Quarters located at the outskirts of Sabon Garri town – inside Nasarawa local government council near Taroni. The two boys had come to pay a visit to their mother who resides inside the quarters . They were students of University of Jos.
On deadly day – caused by a riot of mischief - middle aged men who drove on two motorbikes – screaming “Allah is Great” in Arabic language shot Nonso directly on the forehead killing him instantly – and then raining barrage of bullets on Chisom who also died instantly. The men then escaped on their motorbikes – only to return shortly to ‘verify’ the identities of the two brothers. Following their verification, they drove into a nearby Mosque – and entered inside. After a brief stay inside the Mosque – they exited and departed the scene.
Within 10minutes of the gunmen’s departure, the police arrived the scene. At the scene of the crime, eyewitnesses indicates that the police proceeded to collect the corpses of the two brothers onto their vehicle – without questioning the eyewitnesses who had gathered near the area. The police deposited the two corpses at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. Hours later, the family of the two boys went to the hospital to identify and claim the corpse.
The police, on its part, failed to launch investigation into the killing. The police department decided not to collect the statement from the mother of the two boys [Mrs Ejikeme] – until on Tuesday November 27, 2012 – three days after the killing. The police came to the grieving mother’s home to collect her statement after pressures were mounted by Ohaneze Ndigbo in Kano State.
Following the statement collection, the community of Umuennem in Otolo Nnewi - thought it necessary to remove the corpses of the two boys from Kano and transport them home immediately to avoid the Police department or the State government from laying claim over the two bodies. The two bodies arrived Otolo Nnewi on the morning of Wednesday November 28, 2012. Burial arrangement are ongoing.

Buhari loses 40-year-old daugther to sickle cell

Zulai, the first daughter of former  Head of State and a former presidential candidate, Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is dead.

She died on  Thursday evening after delivering a baby in Nasara Hospital,Marafa Estate in Kaduna.

Nigerians only got to know the 40-year-old lady after her death.

Zulaiha, who was  born on December 5, 1972, studied at the Department of Economics Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

She left behind Amira, Moh’d and the two-day-old  baby girl.

Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu's WILL will be read today

The Will left by the late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu will be read today in the Enugu High Court. Ojukwu died on November 26 last year in a London hospital. The registrar of the Enugu High Court had during the week directed the Ojukwu family members to come to the court today for the reading of the Will.
According to some legal experts proficient in the writing of Wills, Ojukwu’s Will was expected to put to rest the number of children the Ikemba Nnewi had, as the Will was expected to allocate resources to them. The reading of the Will, the experts also said was expected to settle some of the problems that cropped up in the Ojukwu family, particularly that of who is his original first son. After the death of the Ezeigbo Gburugburu, Debe Sylvester Ojukwu and Emeka Ojukwu Jnr had risen up to claim to be his first son: “So, it is hoped that when the Will is read today, the late Igbo leader may have laid down some clues on how to resolve this issue.”
It is also hoped that Ojukwu might deem it necessary to state who replaced him in the Ojukwu Transport Company where he served as one of the directors before he died, they guessed. Besides these two critical areas, the experts said Ojukwu’s eight children would also know the property and other assets bequeathed to them by their father. But as Ojukwu was known not to have amassed wealth when he was alive, the children may not have much to share, more so when Ojukwu returned some of the landed property donated to him back to their original owners.

‘How my daughter’s fiancé bathed her with acid’

The motive behind the acid bath of 22-year-old Chika Egbo by her estranged lover, David Sulaimon, remains elusive, but one thing is sure, the victim may not remain the same again.

Chika is a student of the Enugu State College of Education.

Last Tuesday, when our correspondent visited her at the Burns Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Egbo has become a shadow of the beautiful girl she was.

The substance Sulaimon allegedly poured on her had destroyed every visible skin from her chest upwards.

She mumbled to her father, a Taraba State-based businessman, as she could neither see nor speak properly at the time.

When her father, Matthew Egbo, narrated the incident that led to Chika’s state, the story brought tears to his eyes as he lamented that his daughter would never be normal again.

Matthew said, “In March 2011, someone who identified himself as Lekan Sulaimon called me, asking for my daughter’s hand in marriage. We talked a lot and I promised to speak with Chika on the issue.

“My daughter later told me he was the boy she was in love with and said she had resolved to marry him.”

After much discussion, Matthew told Sulaimon to bring his parents for proper introduction, but the suitor said his father was ill and needed to be taken abroad for treatment. He also said his mother was abroad.

Matthew said, “On the June 25 date that we agreed on, Sulaimon brought seven men and four women dressed in Yoruba attire to my hometown, Enugu, where we held the introduction.

“But around November last year, my wife travelled from Taraba to Enugu and Chika told her she was pregnant.”

According to Matthew, Chika told her parents they should not be alarmed since she and Sulaiman had agreed to get married.

Chika was instructed to go to Lagos and tell Sulaiman’s relations about the pregnancy.

But when she got back from Lagos, Chika told her father that she discovered that most of what Sulaiman had told her about his parents were lies.

Matthew explained, “For instance, Chika discovered that Sulaimon’s father was hale and hearty. The father told her he was not aware of any plans by his son to get married.

“She also learnt that the mother was not abroad too. She visited her and she told us the woman received her well and even expressed joy that his son had found someone to marry.

“But after the visit, we heard nothing from neither Sulaimon nor his parents until after my daughter gave birth to a baby girl on May 4.

Our correspondent learnt that Chika had broached the idea of abortion to her parents, as she told them it was apparent that the man she was in love with had lied to her all along.

Matthew forbade her to consider abortion. After the baby was born, Chika was said to have informed Sulaimon, but he gave series of excuses why he could not visit her.

He reportedly told her he was facing some challenges and did not have the wherewithal to take care of the baby at the moment.

After a few months, Chika’s baby girl was weaned and taken to Taraba to live with Matthew and his wife.

The Egbos said they took the decision to take the baby off their daughter’s hands so that she could continue her study.

In November, Sulaimon began to request that he needed to see his baby, but Matthew told him to bring his parents to come and iron things out.

Chika was said to have insisted she did not want to have anything to do with the young man anymore.

But on November 5, Chika travelled to Lagos after Sulaimon had informed her that his mother wanted to see her. The unsuspecting girl left Enugu without informing her parents.

“My phone just rang that day and I was told to come to Lagos because a young man had poured acid on my daughter,” Chika’s father said.

Matthew said the message came as  a rude shock since he was not aware his daughter went to Lagos. He explained that the police were the ones who got his number from her phone.

He said,“What I learnt was that when she arrived Igando, Lagos, Sulaimon met her and she demanded that he should take her to his mother who wanted to see her.

“What we gathered from the little she could mumble to us was that Sulaimon went behind a house and as they were about to pick an okada to his mother’s house, he brought out a polythene.

“But when they stopped at a point and Chika thought they were going to proceed to his mother’s house, he just opened a container in the polythene he was carrying and emptied its content on her head.

“She told us when she realised that what Sulaimon poured on her had began eating into her skin, she raised the alarm and called for help.”

Passersby and sympathisers, who had been alerted to the young woman’s plight, pursued the fleeing Sulaimon. He was caught and taken to Ikotun Police Station.

 “Till now, I still don’t know why he did what he did,” Matthew said.

Divisional Police Officer of Ikotun, Mr. Augustin Akika, confirmed the incident, but said the suspect had been transferred to the state Criminal Investigations Department, Yaba.

Nigeria gunmen 'dressed as soldiers' fire in pub

Ten civilians have died after gunmen stormed a pub in central Nigeria's Plateau state and opened fire on customers, authorities say.

The attackers wore military uniforms according to eye witness reports, but the army has denied any involvement.
"You can get camouflage clothes from the market," a military spokesman told the BBC Hausa service.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Plateau state in recent years in clashes between rival ethnic groups.
The state lies on the fault line between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian and animist south.
As a result rival groups, split along religious, ethnic and political lines, have clashed in the region on numerous occasions over the past decade.
The pub shooting took place in the remote village of Heipang in the predominantly Christian Barkin Ladi region, army spokesman Capt Salisu Ibrahim Mustapha said.
"The gunmen opened fire indiscriminately on customers, killing eight on the spot while two others died later as a result of the gunshot wounds they sustained," he said, reports the AFP news agency.
Several eyewitnesses said the assailants were dressed as soldiers and drove a type of van also used by the army.
Capt Mustapha said criminals have in the past resorted to wearing army uniforms to carry out attacks.
"There is nothing that connects the army with these killings. None of our vehicles is involved," he told the BBC Hausa service.
No responsibility has been claimed for the attack so far.
In addition to inter-communal clashes, militant Islamist group Boko Haram has also staged attacks in the area.
It wants to establish Islamic law and has killed hundreds of people this year, mostly in the north.

Sex tape scandal in China

Blackmail videos
Mr Zhu has a lot to look forward to. He is preparing to release four more sex tapes, also shot inside hotel rooms, clearly showing Chongqing officials having relations with young girls.
All five videos were recorded as part of a blackmailing scheme by a crooked property developer in Chongqing.
The developer recruited attractive, young women between the ages of 18 and 20, paying them 300 yuan ($48, £30) each time the girls secretly recorded themselves having sex with prominent Chongqing officials.

Zhu Ruifeng Journalist

If the girls failed to get a clear view of the officials' faces on camera, they would be forced to record more sex acts until the developer had the material he needed to blackmail the city's bigwigs into giving him better deals.

The honeytrap scheme went belly-up when Lei Zhengfu, star of the first sex video, appealed to the Chongqing police for help.
The city's then-police chief, Wang Lijun, came to Mr Lei's rescue, raiding the developer's home and confiscating the videos. The property developer was jailed for a year and the young women were each detained for a month.
This year, Wang Lijun later starred in his own, separate corruption scandal, after offering US diplomats information on the Chongqing murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Gu Kailai, the wife of the city's disgraced former party chief, Bo Xilai, was later convicted of that murder. Wang's related misdeeds landed him 15 years in prison.

Riot At Alvan Ikoku College Owerri

Information reaching Atlantic News Nigeria through sources 242ureport in Owerri indicate that a riot has broken out at the Alvan Ikoku college of education in Owerri, Imo State. The riot was reported to have begun today’s morning at minutes to 9am.
As at 11:30am, it was understood that the riot was still on. Information as to the details of the riot is known. But details are expected to be available shortly.
A media source attached to the Okorocha administration confirmed the riot but indicated that he is not aware of the cause of the riot. He pointed out that the institution was a federally owned institition.
Of late, the capital of Imo State has been plagued by spats of protests by various groups directed at the State government of Imo State.
Stay tuned.

Prostitution -The Trans-Saharan Sex, Slave Trade Ring!

*rescues escapee minor from Libya
*says 20,000 Nigerian sex workers roam Italian streets daily
*stakeholders canvass severe punishment for culprits
  Mrs Nkiruka Michael had disclosed that a Herculean but
successful rescue of a17year old girl, names withheld, from Awka the
Anambra state capital has led to the bursting of a closely-knitted
trans Saharan sex, slave and human trafficking ring.
Also, that an Awka-based native doctor and some other accomplices have
also been arrested for their roles and membership of the alleged
highly lucrative international cross border business.
Police, Immigration, the State Security Service and other
agencies/organizations have already mounted an intensive manhunt for
the alleged female leader and chief executive of the syndicate along
with her overseas based accomplices.
In her 14-page presentation, Mrs Michael noted that records and
research show that about twenty thousand 20,000 Nigerian girls engage
in commercial sex work in Italy, with 3000 in the city of Turin alone.
That most of them were from Edo, Delta and some other
South-South/South-East states. She also pointed out that report by
TAMPEP, an Italian based non-governmental organization stated that
about 60% of street prostitutes in Italy were Nigerians, while about
13,000 were stranded in Libya.
She noted that 776 victims of trafficking from various parts of the
country were rescued and returned between 2003 and 2007, but that the
scourge has been on the increase as the culprits have continued to
develop new and innovative methods of recruiting victims.

On the rescue of the 17 year old girl, Mrs Michael said they are still
investigating the matter and some of the ring leaders, Madame
Ebubechukwu and her husband were still being hunted.
NAPTIP boss disclosed that it has been revealed that middle aged woman
reportedly uses direct, indirect, subtle, often forceful and
unconventional means to recruit young under-aged girls with promise to
provide lucrative jobs and education overseas, to them. That suspect
said to be from Anambra, but married to an Imo man comes twice
annually, in August and December to recruit.
Her last August expedition which has now turned awry involved 15
underaged girls, most of whom were mere street hawkers who were lured
away by their mates and peers, while others were forcefully abducted
and shipped from Awka to Kano, then to Niger Republic and then to
Libya. That a man rescued the 17 year old who was fingered earlier by
the suspects as ‘troublesome’.
The native doctor, in his fifties, was reported to be the chief priest
who always administer oath of allegiance and absolute submissiveness
to the syndicate on new recruits before setting sail.

Boko Haram writes FG asking for dialogue

The Islamist militant group,  Boko Haram,  has distributed a letter requesting dialogue  with the Federal  Government.

The letter, which was  sent through head of journalists in Borno State, Aba Kakami, came less than 72 hours after a double suicide bombing  led to the death of  at least 17 people at the Protestant Military Church, Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Jaji, Kaduna State.

Kakami  has often received and distributed statements from the sect.

According to an  international news agency, Reuters, the letter was signed by Sheik Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez, a man known  in  security sources to be a moderate senior member of the sect.

The letter, if  genuine,  would  mark a change  of departure  of  tactics by the  group which has been been responsible for  many  bombings in the country.

Nearly 3,000 people have died violent deaths related to the conflict since the sect launched its uprising in 2009, according to a count by Human Rights Watch. Boko Haram has replaced militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta over that time to become the biggest security threat to Nigeria.

Communication  with Boko Haram , which   wants  imposition of  sharia  on Nigeria, has been even more sporadic than normal since the military killed its  spokesman, Abu Qaqa, in September.

Nwosu, Others Used Fake Customers’ Names To Acquire N18Bn Shares

A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja and presided over by Justice Lateefa Okunnu, was on Tuesday, 27 November, 2012 told that a former managing director of FinBank Plc ( Now First City Monument Bank), Okey Nwosu and three other directors being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, used names of spurious customers of the bank to purchase shares worth N18billion from Springboard Limited. The three directors are: Dayo Famoroti, Danjuma Ocholi and Agnes Ebubedike.
Sabo Yaro, an operative of the EFCC, who is a prosecution witness in the on-going trial told the court that the Federal government in 2009 set up a task force comprising the EFCC, Central Bank of Nigeria, State Security Service, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and the police to look into the management of some bank and discovered that the accused persons used their positions to debit account of FinBank to the tune of N18 billion and credited same to Springboard Limited to purchase shares for bank customers.
Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, Yaro said it was discovered in the course of investigations that the customers for which the shares were purportedly purchased on their behalf were not customers of the bank and that the addresses they gave as offices did not exist. He said they also got confirmation from the bank through a letter that the companies for which the shares were bought are not real customers of the bank.
Jacobs tendered a 225 page report of the CBN and NDIC to the court which was the findings the team that investigated the bank. The report was admitted as exhibit by the court. Justice Okunnu adjourned the matter till Wednesday, 28 November for continuation of hearing.

Cynthia: Court frees detained pharmacists, 2 others

 Messrs Orji Osita and Maduakor Chukwunonso, who were arrested and detained in connection with the gruesome murder of Miss Cynthia Osokogu Udoka in Lagos by her Facebook friends. Also, two other suspects, Gideon Okechukwu and Ezeaka Chinonso were let off the hook yesterday based on the advice of the state Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
Yesterday, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo ordered the release of the two pharmacists, who had been in detention on the order of a Magistrate Court. In the DPP’s advice, dated November 1, Osita, Maduakor, Okechukwu and Chinonso were declared not culpable of the offences of murder, conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit felony to wit; stealing, preferred against them at the lower court.
However, the two young men at the centre of the murder, Messrs Okwumo Echezona Nwabufo and Ezike Ikechukwu Olisaeloka were found culpable of the offences of murder, conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit felony to wit; stealing.
Also, one Ezike Nonso Ifechukwu was equally found culpable of receiving stolen property contrary to Sections 326(1) (2) Laws of Lagos State. In a report signed by Mrs. M. B. Olaniyi, Director, Department of Public Prosecution, on behalf of the state’s Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, it stated that to establish offence of conspiracy, “the prosecution must establish that there was agreement between two or more persons to carry out the crimes or unlawful act.
“It is well settled that to secure a conviction on a charge of murder, the prosecution must prove that; the deceased had died, that the death of the deceased was caused by the accused, and that the act or omission of the accused which caused the death of the deceased was intentional with knowledge that death or grievous bodily harm was its probable consequence.
“In the light of the foregoing, this office shall prosecute Okwumo Echezona Nwabufo, Ezike Ikechukwu Olisaeloka for the offence of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, conspiracy to commit felony to wit stealing and stealing contrary to Section 231,221, 409 and 285 (1) of the Criminal Law, No. 11, Laws of Lagos State, 2011 respectively.”
The state said since a prima facie case had been established against the suspects, they would soon be arraigned before a state High Court for proper trial.

Ex-banker bows to pressure, suspends hunger strike

Olubiyi Odunaro, the 53-year-old former employee of Hallmark Bank Plc., protesting against non-payment of his terminal benefit, on Monday suspended his 14-day hunger strike.

The   suspension of the protest followed spirited appeal by a representation from the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, and officials from the Lagos office of the Public Complaints Commission.

Senior Special Assistant to Fashola on Justice Sector Reforms, Lanre Akinsola, who led a team of legal, welfare and medical officials to the tent Odunaro had turned to his home on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Lagos, promised to intervene.

Akinsola said, “The attention of the Lagos State Government was drawn to the various media reports about the protest being embarked upon by Odunaro and it’s quite pathetic.

“Governor Fashola who was worried about his state of health formed an inter-ministerial committee comprising medical, legal and welfare officials and directed me to lead the team to  persuade him to end his hunger strike.

“As a responsible government we don’t want a dead casualty in our hands as a result of this protest. Once he ends this protest, we would first provide him medical service while the Lagos State Directorate of Citizens Rights would engage the authorities concerned in a comprehensive dialogue.”

Akinsola said the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, had given him his word on free legal services to Odunaro and other ex-workers of non-consolidated banks seeking the payment of their entitlements if the negotiations become unfruitful.

“We will mediate and talk to the right people and we believe reason will prevail in this matter and if not, lawyers from the Lagos State Ministry of Justice will work in conjunction with the lawyer of the group and ensure that justice prevails and everyone of them gets their entitlement,” he added.

John Ogunniyi, who led a legal team from the Public Complaints Commission, implored Odunaro to end the hunger strike.

He said, “The Lagos Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission, Funso Olukoga, sends his word that you end this protest and go back home while we look into your complaints

Woman, 31, bags three and half years for stealing, forgery

The act of greed caught up with a 31-year-old woman, Oju Bob-Manuel, who got sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment by a Magistrate Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, after being found guilty of stealing and fraud. The convict had been forging the signature of a fellow girl whose man was showering with money and gifts while she watched from the sidelines as a go between.

By the charges brought against her in court, she withdrew over N300,000 from Princess Nume Mangibo’s (her girl friend) account with Union Bank including the stealing of $2,500. She did not only stop there, she got enchanted by the jewelry of her friend and stole same all in a bid to look flashy without working for it.

Delivering the judgment on Monday, November 26, 2012, Emmanuel Woke, a Chief Magistrate in charge of the trial proceedings, said that the convict, who was standing trial with Union Bank Plc, Station Road Branch, Port Harcourt, were found guilty on counts three, five, six and seven, which were stealing of N372,000, possession of torn Union Bank Plc withdrawal voucher No. 5016162, stealing of $2,500 and stealing of one cosmetics box valued at N372,000, respectively, all property of one Princess Nume Mangibo.


The bank was discharged because the prosecution could not prove his case against it. He held that the bank only paid out the said money on the grounds that the signature presented to it was same as was in its system and not as a co-conspirator with the convict.

Gunmen kill 8 Igbos in Kano‏

No less than eight Igbos have been killed in the northern commercial town of Kano by terrorists in the past two weeks, the leader of Igbos in the town has disclosed.
Raising an alarm over the ordeal of Ndigbo in Kano, the state chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Michael Tobias Idika, condemned the indifference of the state government, saying that Igbos have lost confidence in its ability to protect them.
“We have lost confidence in the security arrangement of Governor Muhammad Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso; and Ohanaeze in Kano demands that he should be summoned to explain why all these things are happening. Kano State Government has not deemed it fit to pay condolence to the bereaved families. Yes, we are aware that not only the Igbos have been killed, and on this note we call on the Federal Government to beef up security in the entire North and other parts
of Nigeria,” Idika told newsmen.
Castigating Igbo leaders, the Ohanaeze chief said: “We have been abandoned by our leaders, both those at the National Assembly and the governors. We are being slaughtered like chicken every day; and nobody is asking questions as to where the leaders are.”

He called on President Goodluck Jonathan to protect lives and property of Nigerians irrespective of where they live and where they come from.

FG’s statistics on budget performance deceptive – David Mark

Senate President David Mark yesterday described Federal Government’s claims on the implementation of the 2012 budget as deceptive. Speaking at the 2013 budget defence of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mark said heads of ministries, departments and agencies were still in the habit of selective implementation of budget.
He blasted the Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, for awarding constituency projects barely one month to the end of the 2012 fiscal year.
Mark said, “Statistics given by percentage (on budget implementation) never gives any real figure or perception or what is practically on ground. You have less than 30 days. What can you do? Budget performance is very low. We want to look at the performance based on the real number of people it has affected. At the end of the day, it is not the statistics on paper. If the statistics don’t translate to change in the lives of Nigerians, it has not done what it is supposed to do.”
Mark also queried the minister’s electronic wallet approach to fertiliser distribution, saying “I want to know how much fertiliser and seedlings went to the farmers directly through the new method you introduced.”
Responding, the minister said through the electronic wallet method, fertiliser had been distributed to about 1.2million farmers, 90 percent of whom were from the north. He put the 2013 budget estimate of the ministry at N47. 3billion out of which capital expenditure is N40.2bn; personnel costs, N6.7bn and overhead costs, N368.8 million.

• The late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu family yesterday attended a Holy Mass service at the Michael De Archangel Catholic Church, Umudim, Nnewi, Anambra State to mark ...
  
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  Ojukwu remembered a year after

  

  
  The late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu family yesterday attended a Holy Mass service at the Michael De Archangel Catholic Church, Umudim, Nnewi, Anambra State to mark a year anniversary of the departed Igbo leader. Ojukwu died on November 26 last year in a London hospital after he was sick for about one year.
  The one year memorial church service was, however, not like the burial of the late former national leader of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) held in the same church on March 2 this year as the service yesterday was attended mainly by members of the Ojukwu family, their friends and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) members.
  The church service also exposed the acrimony that had hit APGA in recent times, as the camaraderie that existed among the factional chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh, Governor Peter Obi and Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu was lost at the ceremony. Umeh had arrived at about 10:15 a.m. and headed straight to the church while Governor Obi arrived about 12:15 p.m. and as he was exchanging pleasantries with those sitting on the front row of the church he merely shook the hands of the embattled APGA chairman. Umeh who was ostensibly not comfortable with the situation tried as much as possible to avoid the duo of Governor Obi and Bianca at the Ojukwu house.
  The church service, which started at 10:00 a.m. saw the officiating priests drawing from the Bible to illustrate the life and times of the late Ikemba. Speaking, Governor Obi said the memory of Dim Ojukwu like those of other great men in history such as Napoleon Bonaparte, King Louis xiv, General MacArthur, Alexander the Great, King Philip of Macedon, among others, would forever remain conscious in the memory of men as they lived for something worth remembering.
  Ojukwu’s son, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (Jr) promised to uphold the legacies of his late father. Obi used the occasion to call on Nigerians to always tell themselves the truth, saying that Ojukwu’s motto was ‘to thy self, be truthful’, adding that with this he lived the life of Ojukwu that enabled truth to permeate all facets of his life.
  The Anambra governor thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for the honour he did to Ojukwu both in life and death, saying that the people and government of Anambra State would continue to be inspired by the life Ojukwu lived to work for the common good. He advised the Igbo to work closely among themselves, as he believed that more would be achieved in a true spirit of unity. Ojukwu’s widow, Ambassador Bianca thanked all Nigerians for the honour they had continued to heap on her late husband. Asked how she felt about the absence of Owelle Rochas Okorocha, an APGA governor at the ceremony, she said he might have had other more important state functions.
  Ojukwu’s son, Emeka Jnr thanked Nigerians who had continued to stand by them. “We are removing our mourning clothe as part of the process. And I have given him one year. I would have preferred even giving him longer period. He touched many lives positively and he was a great father, great teacher, leader and hero,” he said. He added that the expressions on the faces of people at the event showed that his father live a good life. According to him, a date should be set aside to remember the late Ikemba annually as done for Martin Lurther of America and other great men in the world.
  He said the presence of Chief Umeh and Governor Obi at the event signified the beginning of the end of APGA crisis. Chief Umeh on his part said nobody could remove him as the APGA chairman until his remaining two years in office expired. He said since the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) had offered to mediate in the APGA crisis that he would sheathe his sword and wait for time. Also MASSOB leader said he could not stop to mourn Ojukwu, saying that the departed warlord was a major pillar upon which the Igbo race rested upon.
  Uwazuruike said he was surprised that those who took front seats during the burial of Ojukwu had now disappeared as he assured Ndigbo that the Ojukwu legacies would be kept alive despite his demise. He said despite what he was doing physically to immortalize the name of Ojukwu he would use the last drop of his blood to protect the Igbo interest.

Nigerian Military Church on Fire

The militant Islamic group, the Boko Haram has reverted to their old ways of doing business only weeks after they had proposed a ceasefire.
Today saw the Islamic militant group strike at a military protestant church inside the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji in Igabi local government area in Kaduna state. The explosion was reported to be the result of a car bomb. This is according to eyewitness account that went on to explain that the explosion injured many people. “There were two blast and bodies were littered everywhere.”
According to the information received, a vehicle carrying on the suicide bomber drove into the church premises and detonated the bomb.
There were six people reported dead on the scene, according to an eyewitness. The eyewitness stated that the bodies were delivered to a military hospital – while scores of others were injured. A joint task force commander pegged the number of injured at 34. The wounded were transferred to the Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna and the ABU Teaching Hospital Zaria.
Majority of the affected included members of the choir who were still at the church – as many of the members were exiting the church. The explosion came near close of service.
The northern state of Kaduna has been the target of militant Islamic terrorists in the recent months. The terrorist had already attacked military bases and Churches including secular events.

Kano Riot: 2 Nnewi Boys [brothers] Shot Dead, Ohaneze Ndigbo to Protest

The riot which broke in Bichi area of Kano State yesterday following a misunderstanding between youths engaged in the game of soccer, may have spread into other quarters of Kano State. According to information available to 247ureports.com through a source resident in Kano, two persons were shot dead at close range at the Hotoro Quarters located at the outkirts of Sabon Garri town – inside Nasarawa local government council near Taroni.
According to the information received, the two boys had come to pay a visit to their mother who resides inside Hotoro quarters . They were students of University of Jos. They were shot by youths on two motobikes – who were reported by onlookers to have yelled “Allah is Great” in Arabic as they squeezed the trigger – with the guns pointed directly at the two youths in close range. The youths on motobike escaped the scene. Eyewitness placed the time of the incident at 4pm yesterday.
The boys were native of Umuennem, Otolo Nnewi in Anambra State – the sons of Gabriel Ejikeme.  The father had long evacuated Kano state for Lagos following the last riot in Kano – leaving the wife and his children. The name of one of the murdered sons is Nonso Ejikeme and his younger brother. Nonso was a 400 level medical student while his younger brother was a 300 level engineering student.

Orji Uzor Kalu’s Open Letter to Abians: Sustaining The Stamp of Shame

From Umuahia, Abia State
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When an individual bears the stamp of shame, he becomes an incredulous moral burden; decorated with the baggage of alienation and ostracism. That is the current status of former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu.
OUK has again, albeit very unfortunately; proven that he did not know one bit what transpired while he was Governor. He has published his mistakes and brought his ineptitude to public glare. While regretting washing his dirty linen outside, he has again proven that he does not even wear any linen. OUK is fast sustaining the stamp of shame. Anybody who wants to know what it means for a former Governor to have the brain of a sponge or the thinking power of a rock should read OUK’s OPEN LETTER TO ABIANS published online 22.11.12 and Frankie James’s reply.
His OPEN LETTER TO ABIANS is shrouded in frustration as Abians; speaking through their Stakeholders foreclosed his readmission into the PDP. They simply described OUK as an embarrassing moral burden whose presence would naturally ignite uncontrollable disaster. I am yet to see a man whose presence excites more negative emotions than Oji Uzor Kalu. His letter is therefore understandable.
He has just written an open letter to ABIANS, the first according to him since he left office in 2007. May be, very few Abians know that OUK actually left government in July 2010. In his honesty, he failed to acknowledge that. The stamp of shame has a way of eroding the inner consciousnesses of the victim; otherwise OUK ought to have remembered that in his greed, selfishness and unabashed gluttony, he refused to give up the paraphernalia of office until he was disgraced by popular will. That will be a story for another day.
1. OUK said he serviced a debt of $600 million incurred by an administration in 1983. It is possible that he was referring to the revered Dee Sam because he was the Governor of then Imo State till Dec. 31 1983. Nothing can be farther from the truth because Imo, Abia and Ebonyi collectively shared the subsisting liabilities incurred by the old Imo State. That debt was still being serviced until lately. Abia State never inherited $600 million dollars of that debt. The records are there and OUK knows he did not leave with a clean bill of health
2. OUK said in his letter that as against the lies, against his person that he left behind a debt of N29B for Abia people, that it was TAO that borrowed N20B in the first two months of his administration. At this point, one can forgive OUK because his mother may have just given him after six years, scanty information about Abia. No sane person, no former Governor who was in – charge, no reasonable adult would make such frivolous claims. OUK’s mother is fast losing it and could be pardoned for persistently misleading her little boy.
3. Which bank would give an administration that was just two months old N20B? If OUK was truly a Governor, he would know that the processes of getting clearance from the Ministry of Finance, concluding the assessment on liquidity confidence and passing the legibility mark would have taken more than two months at least. Abians would now judge the disposition of this hanger on, who in the first material sense; had no business being at the Government House. Abians would know that OUK was an unapologetic stranger and by stander as far as governance was concerned.
4. OUK economically accepted that he borrowed N2B from the bank for the purpose of ‘infrastructural’ development. I have searched the length and breadth of my dictionary to see if the word infrastructure could mean anything different. The best I saw was that OUK is a lesson in misadventure. What infrastructure? It is on record that while that child’s play he called administration lasted, OUK did not invest on a single infrastructure. This clown sold off Golden Guinea, killed National Ambassador, literally sold off Abia Hotels; sold off Modern Ceramics Industry and criminally inserted ‘Dubai Roads’ into the lexicon of Governance.
5. OUK does not know what N2B can do to a State. If he truly used N2B, Osusu would not have collapsed in two months, cemetery road, which he selfishly named after himself would not have gone extinct after three months, he would not have repainted Aba Township Stadium and shamelessly code named it INTERNATIONAL STADIUM
6. OUK should admit that he sunk N2B into the establishment of SUN NEWSPAPERS and CAMP NEYA. N2B, though just a little part of what he borrowed in Abia’s name never found its way into Abia’s coffers.
7. OUK is asking the people to judge him and TAO. I say without fear of any intimidation that, OUK is miles away. Even at the risk of over repeating myself, I challenge this University drop out called OUK to tell us one single capital project he executed while in office.
8. To the best of my knowledge, OUK’s eight years in the saddle were EIGHT WASTED YEARS that never, did not and will never add any value to the collective development of Abia State. Let him prove me wrong in pictures and not words. Pictures don’t lie.
9. The best he could do was to attempt being richer that the State. OUK did not know that one day, he would face the competent court of public opinion.
10. Anybody who wants to know what it means for a former Governor to have the brain of a sponge or thinking power of a rock should read OUK’s OPEN LETTER TO ABIANS.

Imo State: Again Disabled Persons Shut Down Owerri Over Alleged Gov’t Insensitivity

Disables Protest

.Demand sack of SA, Special Citizens
Two days after they staged a protest to the Ahiajoku Conference Centre to get the attention of Governor Rochas Okorocha to no avail, physically challenged persons numbering over 500, drawn from the 27 council areas of Imo state yesterday converged in Owerri, the state capital in protest of alleged insensitivity and high-handedness on the part of the government of Imo state and its agents.
The group led by the state chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons Living with Disability (JNAPLD), Dr. Stanley Nwachukwu, accused government through its agent, the Special Assistant for Special Citizens, Mrs. Kate Okoli of intimidating and subjugating their members.
They accused Okoli of hijacking gifts and goodwill donations to the association and re-presenting same to the group, making it appear to have been donated by government.
“Gift donated by charitable individuals would be brought in by Mrs Okoli presented to us, videoed, photographed and posted on a special website as government achievement.”They accused Okoli of asking charitable donors to donate gift items to her office and not to the disables association and had never accounted for such gifts.
“Most recently, Senator Osita Izunaso promised us a gift of N1million during his birthday party with us, as has been the custom for the past six years now, to our utter surprise, Kate Okoli, without our consent went and collected the money only to present it to us with photographers and video cameras as part the effort of the government to better our lot. This is fraud and we are no fools.”, they fumed.
According to the angry disables, the Special Assistant had clamped down on their parent union, JNAPLD directing them to desist from assembling and change the name of their organization to reflect ‘special citizens’.

The protesters however called for the immediate removal of Mrs. Kate Okoli, the SA, Special Citizens and replace her with a physically challenged person who would better understand their plight. Explaining, they stated that they took to the streets because they had earlier taken their complaints to the Governor, the State House of Assembly and the Chief of Staff to the Government House, Eze Madumere, yet no attention was given to them.
Efforts by the Security Aide to Governor (Owerri zone), Mr. Onyeukwu to dissuade the protesters was greeted by near aggression. Police and military patrol teams were helpless as to how to handle the situation.
Special Advisers (Media) to the governor, Ebere Uzoukwa described the action of the disabled persons as unnecessary”

African Presidents Robbing Their Nations And Siphoning Ill-Gotten Gains To Safe Havens

Recently some African presidents have featured in media headlines not for their heroic accomplishments as leaders but for robbing their nations and siphoning their ill-gotten gains to safe havens.
Since 2010, French judges have been investigating illicit wealth accumulation by the presidents of the Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, all of whom are accused of embezzlement of public funds, money laundering, and plundering national wealth (Gurrey 2012).
In July 2012, Judge Roger Le Loire issued an arrest warrant against Teodoro Ngema Obiang, nicknamed Teodorin, the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, on the basis of evidence of illicit wealth accumulation through embezzlement of public resources. The stylish president's son has amassed a portfolio that includes multi-million-dollar real estate in France, luxury cars, designer watches, and art objects. His personal financial transactions are handled through his forestry company, Somagui Forestal, and bank accounts in offshore centers.
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo are among the richest countries in Africa with per capita incomes of $8,649 (second), $4,176 (5th), and $1,253 (15th), respectively. They have massive oil reserves, ranking 7th (Gabon), 8th (Congo), and 10th (Equatorial Guinea) in the continent. While their presidents and other members of the political elite are amassing fortunes abroad, the majority of their fellow citizens live in abject poverty, lacking access to basic social services such as decent sanitation, clean drinking water, elementary school, and health care.
Despite Equatorial Guinea's large oil revenues, a baby born there has less chance of living to his or her fifth birthday than the average sub-Saharan African infant. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea rank second and third to last in their rate of immunization against measles, at 55% and 51%, respectively.
The stories of opulence and extravagant lifestyles of leaders of resource-rich African countries illustrate critical leadership failures, where national leaders rob their nations instead of helping to develop them. These pathologies are perpetuated by complicit foreign special interests and a shadow international financial system that enables the perpetrators of financial crime to walk free thanks to banking secrecy.

Why I can contest 2015 election – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has told an Abuja Federal High Court that he is eligible to contest the presidential election in 2015, even if it would mean staying in office for a total of more than eight years from the date he was initially inaugurated as President on May 6, 2010, following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua.
The President made the statement through his lawyer, Mr. Ade Okeaya-Inneh, SAN, in response to a suit in which a Port Harcourt-based lawyer, Mr. Henry Amadi, asked the court to declare that Jonathan no longer qualified to run for office in 2015.
Amadi had argued that in doing so, Jonathan would be spending more than the constitutionally stipulated maximum period of eight years in office.
The plaintiff said he was a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The suit is similar to another one filed by another self-declared member of the PDP, Chief Cyriacus Njoku, before an Abuja High Court.
Njoku’s suit, which asked the court to stop Jonathan from running for office in 2015 on the grounds that he was currently serving his second term in office, having taken the oath of office as President twice already, has been adjourned for judgment.
In the new suit, which came up before an Abuja FHC presided by Justice Adamu Bello, on Wednesday, Jonathan and the Independent National Electoral Commission were listed as the defendants.
The court was also asked to stop Jonathan from once again running for office when his current term expires in 2015.
However, in his counter affidavit to the plaintiff’s originating summons, Jonathan averred that he took the first oath of office on May 6, 2010, following Yar’Adua’s death.
Jonathan asked the court to dismiss the suit on the grounds that the plaintiff had no locus standi to ask the court to stop him from running for office in 2015.
He described the plaintiff’s claims as “hypothetical and academic”, noting that he failed to disclose reasonable cause of action.
The matter was adjourned to January 23, 2013.
Okeaya-Inneh said, “The question that arises for determination is whether, having regard to the facts of this case, he (Jonathan) is in his first or second term.
“In other words, given that the Constitution prescribes a maximum of two terms of four years each totaling a maximum of eight years as President, is he eligible to run for re-election in 2015? “In resolving this issue, the court is invited to make a determination whether the period of May 6, 2010 to May 28, 2011 wherein Jonathan occupied the office of the President, can in law be regarded as one term of office and relevance of the oath of office Jonathan took on May 6, 2010 in computing the tenure of office of Jonathan in line with sections 135 (1) and (2), 137 (1)(b), 140 (1) and (2) and 146(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

Nigerian gets 80 years imprisonment in the US

A Houston jury has reached a decision on the sentencing phase of the trial against Jessica Tata, a daycare owner whose home caught fire, killing and injuring several children.

She will serve 80 years in prison

Tata was found guilty on November 13 of murdering 16-month-old Elias Castillo.

Tata, 24, left children in a home on Crest Park near Waypark alone with a pan of grease heating on a stove while she went shopping on Feb. 24, 2011. When she got home, the house was on fire. Elias, Shomari Dickerson, 3, Elizabeth Kojah, 20 months, and Kendyll Stradford, 20 months, all died in the fire. Three other children were hurt.

Jurors took eight hours to decide on punishment. Tata will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

Closing arguments in the punishment phase were held on Monday morning. Tata wiped away tears as her attorney, Mike DeGeurin, said the fire and deaths were an accident. He said Tata made a mistake and never intended for the children to be hurt because she loved them.

"She should have called for help or she should have said to herself, 'I'll wait until they wake up, change their diapers, I'll load them up in the car and we'll go to Target together,'" DeGeurin said. "But she didn't."

DeGeurin said that Tata will pay forever, no matter how long she spends in prison, for using bad judgment.

Nigerian’s hand amputated in Saudi over theft

Saudi authorities on Wednesday chopped off the hand of a Nigerian muslim convicted of theft, in compliance with the Islamic sharia law strictly applied in the kingdom, the interior ministry said.
Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim was convicted of theft and sentenced to having “his right hand amputated” the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.
The punishment was executed in the western city of Mecca, home to the Muslim holy Grand Mosque, where the theft took place, it said.
The ultra-conservative kingdom applies the Islamic sharia law, including executions by the sword for people convicted of rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking.
Last year December, another Nigerian Abdulsamd Ismail Hausawa had his hand also chopped off for being involved in the tehft of gold, a pistol, a mobile phone and a car.
At intervals, Nigerians have also been beheaded for smuggling drugs into the Saudi Kingdom.

Ghanaian gambler jailed 7years for throwing away bank’s $2.3b

Kweku Adoboli: jailed for trading error

LONDON(AFP) – Kweku Adoboli, the UBS trader who gambled away $2.3 billion, painted himself as a model employee who fell victim to the turmoil of the markets in his quest to impress the bank he loved.
Fresh-faced and elegantly-dressed, the Ghanaian-born trader, 32, regularly broke down in tears during his two month trial in London, insisting he thought of Switzerland’s biggest bank as his “family”.
But a jury convicted him of two counts of fraud on Tuesday, while clearing him of four counts of false accounting.
Adoboli’s early life was spent shuttling between countries because of his father’s job as a United Nations official.
After spells in Ghana, Israel and Syria, he was sent to Ackworth School, a small Quaker boarding school in northern England.
“He was an able student who made a very positive contribution to the school community,” his headteacher Kathryn Bell recalled.
He went on to study e-commerce and digital business studies at Nottingham University in central England and secured an internship at UBS, which offered him a full-time job after he graduated in 2003.
Adoboli rose swiftly through the ranks, joining the exchange traded funds (ETF) desk in 2006, dealing with funds whose value rises and falls depending on the performance of the markets they track.
By 2007, he and another more senior trader were managing a portfolio worth $50 billion.
It might seem “crazy” that a 26-year-old with just five years’ experience was in charge of such a huge portfolio, Adoboli told the jury, but “that’s how it was”.
He described how he would wake up at 3:00 am to monitor the financial markets around the world, and regularly stayed in the office until after 9:00 pm. Twice, things were so hectic in the office that he slept under his desk.
“UBS was my family, and every single thing I did was for them,” he told the court.
With a six-figure salary, a love of fine wines and a huge, ultra-modern apartment to host his all-night parties, Adoboli seemed like any other young man who had struck gold in one of the world’s most powerful financial centres.
But unbeknown to friends and colleagues, he had quietly begun conducting off-the-book trades in 2008, holding them off the ledger until the market rebounded.
“His motive was to be known as a star trader at UBS,” said Perry Stokes of the City of London Police, who led the investigation against Adoboli.
“To increase his bonus, his status, his job prospects, and his ego.”
A friend jokingly compared Adoboli to Jerome Kerviel, the French trader who brought the Societe Generale bank to the brink of collapse by gambling away 4.9 billion euros ($6.3 billion).
The email exchange, from 2008, was read out in court. “The more I have read about this, the more interesting parallels I see with your life,” the friend unwittingly wrote.
“Please don’t let me read about you in the papers in the same fashion.”
At first, Adoboli’s strategy seemed to work.

Kweku Adoboli: says he is not a rogue trader

Prosecutors said he earned $90 million for UBS and its clients by May 2011 and the bank rewarded him with massive bonus increases, rising from £15,000 in 2008 to £250,000 in 2010.But as the eurozone debt crisis savaged the markets, his luck ran out.
He was forced to spin a complex web of fictitious transactions to hide the losses, and UBS colleagues were increasingly asking him about discrepancies in his trades.
A final post on his Facebook page on September 6, nine days before he was arrested, read: “Need a miracle.”
On September 14, a back office accountant received the “bombshell” email in which Adoboli confessed that UBS was exposed to colossal losses resulting from his unauthorised trades.
He was hauled in for questioning, and arrested at the bank in the early hours of the next morning. His arrest in September wiped 10 percent off the bank’s share price.
“The amount of money involved was staggering, impacting hugely on the bank but also on their employees, shareholders and investors,” said Andrew Penhale, deputy head of fraud at the Crown Prosecution Service.
During the trial, he insisted that what he had done did not make him a “rogue trader”.
“It is not fraudulent — it is finding a way to do your job,” he told the court.
On Tuesday, a London court found him guilty and jailed him seven years.
“There is a strong streak of the gambler in you,” judge Brian Keith told Adoboli as he sentenced him. “You were arrogant to think the bank’s rules for traders did not apply to you.
“The tragedy for you is that you had everything going for you.
“Your fall from grace as a result of these convictions is spectacular.”
The judge said Adoboli would serve half his sentence before being released on licence.
Adoboli wiped away tears as he was sentenced. He had admitted the losses but denied any wrongdoing.
During the two-month trial he claimed senior managers were fully aware of his activities and encouraged him to take risks to make profits for UBS

Woman,17yr-old daughter raped

By FRANK EGENONU
A middle aged woman and her 17 year old first daughter (names withheld) were penultimate Friday allegedly raped at the same time by a young man from their community.
The bizarre incident which occurred at Umuezeani/Umuama community, Awo-Omumma in Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State has left the people of the area bewildered as to why a man from their community should rape a woman and her daughter at the same time.
The man, Mr. Nnaoma Egwu, 30, from Umuezeani village allegedly carried out the dastardly act at the wee hours of that fateful night when he invaded the home of his victims. The alleged rapist, a known contractor in the town who specializes in fixing aluminum doors and windows was said to have gone to the room where the woman and her three daughters were sleeping having first of all locked out (on the outside with his own padlock), the room where the woman's husband was sleeping.
He was said to have also pretended when he was carrying out his escapades of having forceful carnal knowledge of mother and daughter (at the same time,) that there were other bandits with him by intermittently shouting, “Agile, any movement shoot” and this was said to have further frightened the woman's husband when he wanted to come out through the window of his room. Mr. Egwu who was described as a serial rapist, having allegedly raped various women and under aged girls in the past was said to have had an unfettered access to the woman's room as a result of his closeness to the family.
He was the contractor who fixed the aluminum doors and windows of that house when it was under construction. A source told Nigeria Newspoint that the man had a dagger on him with which he cowed his victims into submission having threatened to kill them if they resisted. He then raped them (the woman and her daughter) in turns. He was however forced to flee after several rounds of his sex escapades in between mother and daughter when one of the woman's three daughter who was not being raped, summoned courage and dared him by pouncing on him while he was still on top of one of his victims.It was then that it was discovered that he came alone and  before people could come out when an alarm was raised, he had already bolted away. The incident was reported to the traditional ruler of the town, HRH, Eze Titus Ngima who directed that the matter be reported to the Nigeria police. AT the Omuma police station where the incident was reported, the victims were directed to go to the hospital for medical treatment and laboratory tests.
Meanwhile, the man is still at large as policemen and youths from the community are hot on his trail. Investigations by Nigeria Newspoint revealed that the families involved are trying to settle the matter within themselves. Nigeria Newspoint also learnt that the family of the alleged rapist is trying to find a spiritual solution to his problem as he is said to be under spell. The spell was believed to have been cast on him when he was living in the Western part of the country far years back by the husband of a Yoruba woman she allegedly slept with and since then he had never been himself again having being involved in series of rape incidents.
When our reporter visited the home of the victims, the woman was seen telling her sad stories to friends and sympathizers but she declined comment when she realized that one of the visitors was a journalists.

Man shoots Woman, Son dead, Surrenders to police

An indigene of Ikem Community in Ngor/Okpala LGA of Imo State, Mr Mbadiwe Onwukwe has reportedly shot a woman, Mrs Beatrice Onwukwe and her son, Ikemba dead.
It was gathered that Mr. Mbadiwe thereafter surrendered himself to the police.
According to the traditional ruler of the community, HRH Eze Ben Nwankwo, Mr. Mbadiwe shot mother and son dead when they attempted to attack him with a matchete.

Eze Nwankwo said trouble started when the late Ikemba allegedly abducted a lady whom he kept hostage in their family house for five days.
The monarch informed that Mr. Mbadiwe, an uncle to Ikemba and who lives in same family compound reported the purported kidnap to his palace.
On receipt of the report, he said, he despatched the community's security men who went and rescued the lady and handed her over to the police.
Eze Nwankwo said Ikemba upon learning of the lady's freedom since he was not at home when the security men came calling threatened to kill his uncle for exposing him.
A visibly-livid Ikemba charged towards his uncle with a matchete, the monarch said adding that Mr. Mbadiwe who saw him from his window, decided to save his life by shooting him.
It was further gathered that his mother, Beatrice on seeing that her son had been gunned down came to avenge his death with same matchete.
The monarch said the rampaging woman first charged towards Mr. Mbadiwe's sister but missed her by a hair's breadth, adding that thereafter she vented her spleen on a goat belonging to Mr. Mbadiwe. 
It was at this point, he said, Mr. Mbadiwe released another bullet which ended Mrs Beatrice Onwukwe's life and restored normalcy in the compound.

Ex-banker on hunger strike, sleeps on the street

Olubiyi Odunaro, a 53-year-old former employee of Hallmark Bank Plc., has embarked on hunger strike to protest against non-payment of his terminal benefit.

Besides, the ex-banker has turned a garden on Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way into his new home, vowing to remain there until he is paid his benefits.

Hallmark Bank was one of the banks which did not meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recapilatisation policy in 2005 resulting in its folding up.

Odunaro, a senior manager of the defunct bank, said he began the hunger strike on November 12.

Odunaro said he wrote President Goodluck Jonathan on October 24 informing him of his decision to embark on the hunger strike if the agencies concerned did not pay them their entitlements on or before October 31. He said on a personal note, I even took it upon myself to get President Goodluck Jonathan informed by posting series of comments about this issue on his Facebook page.

“Unfortunately, nothing has been done and many of us live a deplorable way of life with the majority unable to meet obligations to their children and other dependants.

“Thirty-eight people from just three banks that I know of have died and one of the employees of Hallmark Bank committed suicide in Aba, Abia State, as a result of his inability to eke out a living.

Constitution review: Senators, Reps beaten up

…As constituents allege poor representation

Some federal lawmakers had a raw deal in the hands of their constituents at the public hearings organized by the Senate and the House of Representatives Committees on Constitution Review (CRC). The names of the legislators are withheld by us.
The two chambers of the National Assembly organised series of public hearings in a bid to ensure participation by the citizenry as well as garner input from all Nigerians on the fresh amendment of the 1999 Constitution. The sessions took place on November 10 and 17, 2012 across the country.
The lawmakers did not bargain for the raw deal they got at some of the public hearings. National Assembly sources told Daily Sun that some Senators were slapped, kicked and shoved by aggrieved constituents who seized the occasion to vent their anger over what they claimed was “non-representation.” In other cases, the politics of 2015 played a significant part in the venting of anger on some of the senators.
For instance, a first-term Senator from the North-west was reportedly dealt some slaps with his police orderly fleeing from the scene of the attack. The Senator was said to have defeated a political heavyweight to clinch the ticket during the primaries in the run-up to the 2011 election. The incident occurred during the town hall meeting organized by the House of Representatives member from the senatorial zone.
Eye-witnesses said, “the Senator was manhandled, slapped and shoved by the people as they accused him of abandoning them after helping him win the election. “Some pointedly accused him of sitting back in Abuja to enjoy the perks of office without recourse to his constituency. In fact, the boys were happy that he showed up for the public hearing.
While the slapping incident lasted, the Senator’s police orderly was nowhere to be found.” Also, a senator, from the North- Central, reportedly got the same treatment during the national public hearing organized by the Senate at the International Conference Centre in Abuja. The perceived ‘sin’ of this Senator was that of “being partial. He preferred to empower a section of the constituency to the detriment of others; yet, we all worked to put him there.
We are waiting for him in 2015 to come back and ask for our votes,” the source said. Efforts to confirm these beatings failed as some of them contacted denied being involved. In Delta State, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, who represents Isoko constituency, Hon. Leo Ogor, was said to have fought with the youth leader in the area, Mr Ogaga Egbuwokwu. Although, Ogor denied that there was a brawl between him and the youth leader, he said that one of his aides had a misunderstanding with Egbuwokwu.
He said: “I didn’t fight with the youth leader, I could not have done such a thing, I don’t know who is spreading the falsehood.” In Kano and Jigawa states, two members of the House of Representatives were said to have been stoned by their constituents.
The lawmakers(names withheld) were not allowed to address the constituents who gathered for the public session. Ironically, suspended chairman of Adhoc committee on fuel subsidy probe, Farouk Lawan, was given a hero’s welcome by his constituents in Kano.

President Jonathan’s Younger Brother Dies inside Aso Rock

Information reaching News Nigeria.com indicates that the younger brother to the President of the federal republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Meni Jonathan died at the Aso Rock clinic in Abuja today following a brief illness. As gathered, Jonathan’s younger brother – who had been battling an undisclosed illness was flown in from Mr. President’s home State, Bayelsa last week Sunday to the Aso Rock Villa medical center for medical treatment.
Sources close to the President stated that Meni was the President’s half brother and/or cousin – and had been head of Otueke council chiefs .
Meni died on Mr. President’s 55th birthday. Meni was aged 45.
Details of his death remain sketchy…

Obasanjo’s aide replies Jonathan on Odi killings

… Says Jonathan comment is factually incorrect

Former minister of aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has punctured the statement by President Goodluck Jonathan that the military invasion of Odi resulted in the killings of unarmed civilians, instead of taming the activities of militant groups. Jonathan’s claims that the invasion was a failed operation that left many innocent people dead was rebuffed by the former minister, who insisted that the attack stopped the incessant killings of security agents and innocent people by the militants.
“The truth is that the killing of security agents and soldiers with impunity by the Niger Delta militants virtually stopped after the operation in Odi and remained at a bare minimum right up until the time that president Obasanjo left power eight years later in 2007.
I advise those that doubt this to go and check the records,” he said. Fani-Kayode, who served Obasanjo’s administration that ordered the military operation, described Jonathan’s statement as ‘factually incorrect’ and ‘regrettable.’
During a two-hour presidential media chat on Sunday, Jonathan had argued that the deployment of military troops to Odi was an exercise in futility, as it failed to solve the problem of militant insurgency in the region. Rather than stamp out the militants, it aided the growing of restiveness of militants in the area. Jonathan’s comments, however, seemed not to have gone down well with major players in Obasanjo’s administration.
In a statement made available to Daily Sun, Fani-Kayode said those that served the Obasanjo administration needed to clarify the air further to set the records straight for posterity. He said: “I had the privilege of being briefed about all the facts by president Olusegun Obasanjo himself and Col. Kayode Are, the former director general of the SSS, immediately after the presidential media chat and I believe that it is appropriate to share some of the facts with members of the Nigerian public, given the grave assertion and serious charge that President Jonathan has made.” Fani-Kayode said Obasanjo recourse to military operation became imperative, as a result of the failure of the former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamesighya to arrest the growing criminality in the region. He said similar military action was taken against Zaki Biam in Benue State after 19 soldiers were murdered in cold blood.
He argued that with the military precision and efficiency of the attacks, terrorists were killed and those that escaped the soldiers’ bullets fled their operational base. “President Goodluck Jonathan was therefore in error when he said that Odi did not solve the problem of killings in the Niger Delta Area by the Niger Delta militants. Not only did it stop the killings, but it is also an eloquent testimony of how to deal with terrorists, how to handle those that kill our security personnel with impunity and how to deter militants from killing members of our civilian population and thinking that they can get away with it,” he said.
The former minister said Obasanjo’s comments on Boko Haram were misconstrued. According to him, the former president never said that the Odi treatment should be applied to Boko Haram. Instead, he said Obasanjo canvassed for a solution that would heal the festering wound of insecurity in the country.
“There can be no doubt that he was right on this because, according to President Jonathan’s own Chief of Army Staff, no less than 3000 people have been killed by Boko Haram in the last two years alone. That figure represents approximately the same number of people that were killed by the IRA in Northern Ireland and the British mainland in the 100 years that the war between them and the British lasted and before peace was achieved between the two sides,” he explained.
Fani-Kayode said the harvest of deaths from the bloody attacks of the Boko Haram sect was unacceptable and disturbing. He urged the Federal Government to ‘cultivate the courage and the political will to stop the killings by Boko Haram and to find a permanent solution to the problem. When president Obasanjo was in power, he handled such matters decisively, with vigour and with the utmost urgency.’