World Bank Document Names Top Nigerians And Their Loot In Foreign Banks

ALLEDGED WORLD BANK DOCUMENT NAMES TOP NIGERIANS AND THEIR LOOT IN FOREIGN BANKS A list of Nigeria's prominent citizens and the monies they allegedly looted from the treasury and stashed in foreign banks in London, the United States and Germany was said to have been allegedly despatched to President Umaru Yar'Adua recently by the World Bank. The purported World Bank list which has the names of former Presidents Gen Ibrahim Babangida, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, late Gen Sani Abacha, former Adviser to President Shehu Shagari Alhaji Umaru Dikko, former Adviser to late Gen Abacha, Alhaji Wada Nas, former Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Tom Ikimi, former Chief of General Staff Rear Admiral Mike Akhigbe, former National Security Adviser to late Gen Abacha, Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, former Central Bank Governor Mr Paul Ugwuma and Mohammed Abacha, late Gen Abacha's son was emailed to xclusivenigeria.com yesterday. Others on the list are former Petroleum Resources ministers Mr Dan Etete and Mr. Don Etiebet, late Gen Abacha's relative Alhaji Abdulkadir Abacha, detained Chief Security Officer to late Gen Abacha, Major Al-Mustapha, former ministers Mr. Anthony Ani, Bashir Dalhatu, and Alhaji Hassan Adamu. Others are former Chief of Army Staff under Gen Abacha, Gen Ishaya Bamaiyi; former Chief of General Staff Gen T.Y. Danjuma; Gen Wushishi and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Gen Jerry Useni. Gen Babangida topped the purported World Bank list with 6billion pounds sterling allegedly stashed in London banks, 7billion dollars in Swiss banks, 2billion dollars in US banks and 9billion deutsche marks in Germany. Former head of state Gen Abubakar allegedly has 1.3billion pounds in London banks, 2.3billion dollars in Swiss banks, and 800million in the USA. Late Gen Abacha was said to have 9billion pounds in London, 4billion in Swiss banks, 800million in the US, and 3million in Germany. Rear Admiral Akhigbe, according to the purported World Bank document, is said to have stashed away 1.2billion in London; 2.4billion dollars in Switzerlamd; 600million in the US; and 1billion deutsche marks in Germany. Gen Useni's loot was said to be 3billion in London; 2billion in Switzerland; 1billion in the US; and 900million in Germany. According to the document which is currently being circulated in the blogosphere and was emailed to xclusivenigeria.com yesterday, Alhaji's Gwarzo's loot was said to be 1billion in London banks, 2billion in Switzerland; 1.3billion in the USA; and 700million in Germany. Alhaji Umaru Dikko, according to the alleged World Bank document, has 4.5billion in London; 1.4billion in Switzerland; 700million in the USA; and 345million in Germany. Former Central Bank Governor Paul Ogwuma has 300million in London; 1.4billion in Switzerland; 200million in the USA and 500million in Germany. The list goes on. Please see the complete list in the document attached. WE could not reach the World Bank and the office of the Nigerian President as at press time yesterday to verify the authenticity of the purported World Bank document.

Who said our leaders are corrupt?

EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde and ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta

Ladoke Akintola was a one-time premier of the then Western Region of Nigeria. Smooth-talking, loquacious master of jabberwocky, Akintola was often accused by his many opponents of crass corruption.  His sarcastic response sickened many both in his party and outside. The line is memorable.  “I didn’t eat the money, I spent it, whose grandfather can swallow a penny?” he had said.  The premier, in a manner of a stand-up comedian, trivialised the behemoth called corruption, and today, the monstrous Godzilla is still very much around sinking Nigeria deep into thraldom and towering tribulations.  Friends, this is the fungus among us.

To date, our leaders determinedly continue to trivialise the madness of financial misappropriation and the long-term harm and hurt it unleashes on the destiny of Nigeria.  This wildfire menace and monstrous cascade continue unhindered. The loose behaviours of some dare-devils in power now have become dangerous dance steps on a free way to a volcanic conflagration threatening to gulp up the  beautiful but beleaguered country and spit it out down the abyss of history .

 I have decided in my small corner to stop calling those leaders who steal from the nation’s treasury “corrupt”. Because when you do, it seems the culprits perceive it is as a deserved adornment of a chieftaincy title. So, they glee, and glow, and gyrate over the nomenclature. And unfortunately, the attendant historical punitive consequences meted out to “corrupt” Nigerian government officials are nothing but a replica of the sham and shame that take place in a shanty courthouse.  All of them always get away.

It was both amusing and amazing when we learnt that the government is now on a massive manhunt for the person responsible for revealing the frenzy, frightful, shopping spree of exotic armoured cars for the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, that cost taxpayers $1.6m. A man who should be celebrated and honoured publicly is now the criminal. That is the state of things now in our land where the celebrity becomes the culprit.

Also recently, the “New Peoples Democratic Party” threw a challenge in the face of the PDP-run government that it made $1.05bn in July 2013, and wanted to know what happened to the dough.  The platoons in the “New PDP” should know what they are talking about. The “New PDP” and the ancient PDP used to be conjoined twins until they were separated by the surgical scissors of ambition, power, money and control. Together, they used to fight common enemies, together they took orders under the same commander; they both know what ammunition are used for what squabble, they both know where the ammunition are kept, they know how the ammunition were procured, and they still have the template and blueprint of operations in their possession. When they allege that money is missing, the “New PDP” must know what they are talking about.

Home and abroad, money is missing in stacks and stashes. Home and abroad, our vaults are vanishing in batches. Government recently admitted that between August and September 2013, Nigeria’s external reserves dropped by $1.33bn — from $47bn to $45.67bn. Money is missing, projects are neither completed nor executed, external reserves are on a free-fall, and we are not fighting any wars!

In my own thought, to call our leaders “corrupt” is a musical alto and tenor in their ears. To call them “corrupt” is an attempt to embellish the act, dress the behaviour in angelic robe and toga, and sandblast the feisty festivals of banditry and criminality that are going on in  government. To call them “corrupt” is to make the vice appear meek and mild, because it no longer carries any correctional weight.  Who said our leaders are corrupt? What is going on is no longer corruption; government at all levels has become grim gulags and concentration camps of heinous crime against humanity, and a bromide and banal affront to divinity.

It has shown through recent developments that these people don’t care if you call them “corrupt”. What follows an uncovered case of corruption is usually a coronation of the perpetrator. They are applauded and hailed as if they just scored a winning goal in a World Cup final match.  They either become chiefs in their village, an Igwe in their clan, pastors in their churches, Imams in their mosques, and Jeep-driving, jet-flying celebrity among us.

A “corrupt” official is either sent to jail for a few hours or sent home to enjoy the loot and they live to loot again. When corruption destroys an airline for example, the government withdraws the licence after a gory accident and then re-issues the licence with an upgrade when dust and noise seem to have settled down on the outrage. To label anyone corrupt in Nigeria today spurs an award-winning, honour-bestowing wining and dining event.

There is an uncanny incarceration of the guy who stole N100, while the “oga at the top”, the untouchable ogre who scooped in billons is slumbering easy in his state-of-the-art mansion. Back in the day when you heard screams of “thieves” on any Nigerian street, justice immediately rolled down like waters. Many of our leaders are THIEVES! Who said they are corrupt? A former governor who stole $55m while in office is corrupt?  Another ex-governor   who siphoned   an estimated US$250m of state funds is corrupt?   Secretary of the Police Pension Fund who stole over N5bn and you label him, “corrupt”?  Nigerian civil servants who President Goodluck Jonathan said not too long ago “own more houses than Dangote” are not corrupt. The malodorous mire and madness is not corruption. These people are THIEVES, and they are ruining us all!

They are profusely profligate perfectionists of pilferage who persistently pound their chests in a disgraceful dare of the people. “What are they going to do”? They seem to tell us. They are elite members of certified criminal country-clubs of the Mephistopheles. They control the levers of who-and-who get immunity from the impunity. While the people are crying, they are laughing, while the people are agonising, they are aggrandising. While the people are in pain, they are painting the whole world red with parties and festivities from Paris to Puerto Rico, Bahrain to the Bahamas, Denver to Dubai. When their children are getting married, money is wasted like water, and many lives to whom the frittered money belong in Nigeria are dying daily from hunger and hopelessness on the streets of the “Giant of Africa”. The fungus among us has become a calcified bone in the spine of the Nigerian nation, and it seems as if these people are not going anywhere, and with stern obduracy, they are not changing habits.

Into corruption, they are giving birth to triplets; in thievery, they are raising them. And the offspring don’t know any better but what Daddy and Mummy have taught them, so corruption becomes a baton that is passed from one generation to the other. They live in mansions and palaces built with sand of thieving and gravel of deceiving.  But houses built on sand cannot stand.  One day, and not too long, they will groan over their grabs and choke on their grubs. Could they deceive God as they deceive a mere mortal? The answer is No! Those who plow evil and those who sow trouble do reap it. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows, that he shall reap, the Holy Book says.

I don’t know when, and I don’t know how, but all I know is that this craze will soon stop in Nigeria! The minority cannot muzzle the majority for too long, and thank God we are more than them. We will wriggle, thread and tread  through the knotty,  corrosive and catatonic crinkum-crankum that has been our story for a long time in Nigeria, and launch  into an autarky where all of our thirst will be quenched, our hunger satisfied, and the dreaded, slow-killer corruption confined into the leper’s colony far away from us. And then, civility will reign. From the presidential palace to the governor’s quarters civility will reign. From the senators’ mansion to the ministers’ drive, civility will reign. From the church to the mosque, from my house to yours, and then in all of our hearts, civility will reign. Did I have some kind of Island of Patmos experience? No, I can just feel it inside of me, and I am not alone.

BillionaireEx-gov Orji Uzor Kalu’s homes, privates jets and cars(PHOTOS)

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The billionaire ex-governor of Abia state Nigeria own Two private jets, homes in Lagos, Abia, Maryland USA and fleets of cars…pics after the cut…

30 Year Old Man Cuts Off His Penis And Gives It To A Dog!

 [WARNING!!! GRAPHIC PHOTOS]

A 30-year-old man, Ejike is lying in critical condition in a private hospital in Nkpor near Onitsha after cutting off his manhood with a knife.
According to sources, Ejike, from Nkwelle Uke community in Idemili South Local Government Area of the state, was a luxurious bus conductor based in Onitsha until he returned to the village recently.
He allegedly visited the village shrine and invoked the spirit of the diety before taking away kolanuts offered to the gods and from that moment, began to manifest strange signs.
It was gathered that last weekend, Ejike took a knife, cut off his penis and scrotum, and a strange dog suddenly appeared and ran away with the severed genitals. Family members were said to have rushed him to the hospital immediately.
When Daily Sun visited the hospital yesterday, Ejike’s private parts were completely bandaged while a catheter was fixed from the region where he passes urine.
Though he refused to talk to the reporter, he was furious when her sister arrived with his aged father. He blurted out, saying he took the action in protest so that the family would know that he was not joking when he said he would cut his penis. Scores of visitors in the hospital also said he had threatened to cut off his manhood in the past because his penis had disappointed him several times.
But the elder sister who was attending to him in the hospital told Daily Sun that he acted under the influence of evil forces. She said that no man in his right senses would slice his manhood, adding that the family wass shattered by his action.
The Chief Medical Director, Crown Hospital Nkpor, Dr. Eddy Emegoaku confirmed that Ejike’s case was critical but declined further comments on his medical condition.

Ethiopian fans attack Eagles, injure Igiebor

Nosa Igiebor
| credits: Complete Sports

Nigeria midfielder Nosa Igiebor was injured when angry Ethiopian fans attacked the Super  Eagles after the first leg World Cup playoff against the Walya Antelopes in Addis Ababa on Sunday.

The Eagles defeated the Walya Antelopes 2-1 at the Addis Ababa Stadium to take a three-point advantage to the return match in Calabar on November 16.

In a statement  on Monday,  spokesman for the  Eagles Ben Alaiya  said  the fans attacked the  bus  conveying the Eagles to their hotel after the game with stones and  shattered its  rear windscreen.

“(Real Betis player) Nosa Igiebor was the unlucky one as the stones  slashed his right palm leading to profuse bleeding that was immediately attended to by team doctor, Ibrahim Gyaran.”

Alaiya said the Nigeria Football Federation reported the  incident to the  FIFA Security team at the match venue for the encounter.

“We hope FIFA  will take an action,” Umeh told BBC Sport.

“It’s a shame that such an embarrassing behaviour could happen after a football match.”

The NFF  also accused the Ethiopians of maltreating the Nigerian supporters at the stadium on match day.

“Matters came to a head on match day, when bottles were hauled at Nigerian players and supporters when the Ethiopians thought that they had scored an opener in the first half,” Alaiya said.

However, the  NFF  insisted that the Ethiopians would not be maltreated when they visit Calabar for the return leg in November.

Unconfirmed reports said some Nigerians resident in the North-East African country were also attacked and their business centres destroyed by the protesters.

Meanwhile,  the  Nigerian delegation to the  Addis Ababa    arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at about 4.30am on Monday.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria,   the Nigeria Football Federation President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, led the team back home.

NAN  reports that while  most of the foreign-based players connected flights immediately back to their bases in Europe, the domestic league players returned to the country.

Some National Assembly members, including the Senate Committee Chairman on Sports, Adamu Gumba, and his House of Representatives counterpart, Godfrey Gaiya, were in the entourage that arrived with the team.

Others were officials of the National Sports Commission, the Nigeria Football Supporters’ Club, as well as the management and secretariat staff of the NFF.

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2015: APC refutes zoning VP slot to South-West

The All Progressives Congress on Monday dismissed claims that it had zoned its vice-presidential slot to the South-West ahead of the 2015 Presidential elections.

It described as “reckless, baseless and completely unfounded” a report published by a newspaper (not The PUNCH) that it had ceded the slot to the South-West instead of the South-East.

This was contained in a statement issued by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

The APC said the report was orchestrated by those who were threatened by the high profile and prospects of the party’s candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngige.

It read in part, “Having realised that their attempt to milk the so-called deportation issue had fallen flat on its face, these desperate politicians have now resorted to outright lies and wild imagination.

“They figure that if they played the South-West against the South-East, by saying the APC has zoned the VP slot to the former over the latter, some people may just fall for it. This is cheap politics.”

The party assured Nigerians that the party had, at no time, discussed the issue of its presidential and vice-presidential slots, hence it could not have zoned any of the posts.

“Our party is an inclusive national party which will definitely accommodate the interest of all Nigerians in all its actions. We are therefore urging all the good people of Nigeria to ignore this fabricated story. There is no iota of truth in it,” the party said.

Re- Orji stops Okorocha’s birthday reception in Abia

 

Its absolutely act of irresponsible, politics taking to extreme by Governor T.A Orji, who betrayed the good people of Abia State when he decamped from the PPA. He became the despotic do-or-die Governor to the PDP.

 

One is not surprise that Governor T.A.Oji, having committed abomination against Ndi-Igbo, by the sack of all Ndi-Igbo, of non Abia origin from the services of the State's establishments. Gov.Orji is being hunt by his past acts against Ndi-Igbo, his vision less,corrupt ridden & inefficient governorship, the sordid state of affair of the State, especially Aba, Enyimba City formerly referred to as the Taiwan of Nigeria.

Its quite unfortunate,that Gov.Orji have taken his politics to this abysmal & ridiculous level against a fellow Igbo man and sister States. Its quite regrettable that while patriotic Nigerians were working to entrench peaceful co-existent amongst the diverse ethnic Nationalities in Nigeria, Gov. T.A. Orji is fanning the ember of disunity within Ndi-Igbo, on the platter of political slavery and jingoism. Let all well meaning leaders of Igbo Nation now, call Gov.Ahamefula Orji to order before he destroys the unity of Ndigbo now that President Goodluck Jonathan has presented Nigerian ethnic Nationalities the ample opportunity to discuss the future of the Nation's cooperate existence.

 

We may not like Okorocha joining APC but all well-meaning Nigerians must condemn Orji’s show of shame the same way we condemned Fashola's deportation of the Igbos from Lagos to Anambra State. In a democracy, one has the right to freedom of association and movement. Governor T.A. Oji is one of those Igbos that have made people like me see Biafra as a joke. Igbo unity with men like Orji will remain a mirage.

Only in Nigeria can people’s rights be so abused with impunity! Only in Nigeria are people’s constitutionally guaranteed freedoms be so vehemently violated! Nigerians are guaranteed fundamental human rights & freedom to assemble & associate regardless of color, creed, ethnicity, religious, or political affiliations. Followers of Okorocha should not be denied these rights & freedoms. APC is a registered national party and its and should be open to anyone who chooses to belong & associate with its ideology. Abia State is not a one-party state and T.A. Orji should not use fiat & the instrument of state power to frustrate activities of other duly registered political entities in the state. Please, don’t make Abia State another Rivers State of the Southsouth.

Tell Igbo all you know about Ojukwu’s death, APC tasks Victor Umeh

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has challenged the National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, to release his much awaited bombshell on the circumstances leading to the heart attack and subsequent death of Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Emeka Ojukwu.

The party said during the last APGA crisis, Umeh had in an interview published in a national daily, warned Governor Peter Obi and Mrs Bianca Ojukwu to stop instigating his removal or else he would tell the whole world how Ojukwu died.
Umeh has however reconciled with Governor Obi, shortly after the Appeal Court Enugu quashed the judgment of an Enugu High Court, which sacked him as the National Chairman of APGA.
The APC in the South East region contends that as the first anniversary of Dim Emeka Ojukwu’s death on November 26, 2013 draws close,  “it is now incumbent on Chief Victor Umeh to avail the world as he promised in the newspaper report of the much Governor Obi knows about the circumstances leading to Ikemba’s heart attack and subsequent death.”
The party threw the challenge in a statement by its Zonal Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu on Friday, while reacting to alleged attempts by Governor Obi to use the annual Ofala festival of Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, to blackmail Senator Chris Ngige, the APC candidate for the November 16 governorship election in the state.
The opposition party appealed to the good people of Anambra State to use the index track record performance as the yard-stick to measure who to vote for, in the November 16 governorship election.
Part of the statement reads: “We are worried that Governor Peter Obi is becoming excessively desperate in the face of the collapse of his propaganda machine, being fully aware that he achieved merely seven percent performance of the Sen Ngige’s Blue-Print in seven years.
“Recall that penultimate week, when Governor Fashola apologised to Ndigbo over the deportation of 14 Igbo, Governor Peter Obi felt disarmed and went ahead to persuade Peoples Democratic Party {PDP} leadership to replace Comrade Tony Nwoye  in INEC list.
“Now that Nwoye had gone to court, the only propaganda card left was to use the annual Ofala festival of Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, Agbogidi, Obi of Onitsha to blackmail Senator Chris Ngige.
“To the best of our knowledge Senator Ngige is a cultured person, well brought up and cannot disrespect the great Obi of Onitsha, hence he duly got permission from the palace for the rally”
The party urged Governor Obi to concentrate on “preparing his not less than transparent hand over notes instead of attacking Senator Ngige.
“Otherwise we would be forced to remind the good people of Anambra State and indeed Nigerians of the infamous monthly N250m money haulage to Lagos by Governor Obi and the much-expected bombshell from Chief Victor Umeh on the shady circumstances surrounding the demise of Gburugburu Dikedioranma Ndigbo, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumuegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi”.

How Nigeria’s poor make the rich richer

As early as 7am on any day, Abdullahi Shuwa, pushes out the cart he uses to supply water around a neighbourhood in Ikeja, Lagos.

The 24-year-old man pushes the cart with 10 empty 25-litre kegs to a borehole where the landlord of the house allows him to fill them at N10 each.

Shuwa is a native of Niger State but speaks Yoruba fluently.

“I came to Lagos a long time ago. I got married here,” he told Saturday PUNCH.

If one is to consider the enthusiasm with which Shuwa carries out his daily routine of pushing his heavily-laden cart around the neighbourhood in search of customers, one may conclude that he makes a lot of money from the business.

But it is not so.

“The problem with this area is that most people have boreholes in their houses and don’t need our services. But the houses that patronise us are too few for all of us who supply water in this area to make much money,” the cart pusher said.

Shuwa said there were eight other water suppliers patronising the same streets as he did.

He buys the water at N100 (10 kegs at N10 each) and sells each load for N200 (each keg at N20).

When asked where he lived and if he could afford accommodation with what he makes every day, Shuwa told Saturday PUNCH, “I live with some of my colleagues (also Northerners) in a room in Ogba. We try to contribute money at the end of every week, which we save for our rent.

“We are  five in the room and we contribute N200 every week so that we will be able to save enough money for the rent at the end of the year.”

Asked how he accommodates his family as a married man, Shuwa said for the sake of convenience, he had relocated his wife, whom is yet to have a child, to Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The most surprising thing about Shuwa is that even though he is a struggling young man who makes little from doing a very strenuous business, he is an ardent fan of Chelsea FC and never misses the club’s matches.

“They call me Aboki Chelsea on my street and I love the name. Many of my friends (Northerners) don’t watch football but I will rather not eat than not watch Chelsea play. I pay to watch club matches like two or three times a week,” he said.

He added that he paid about N100 per match at viewing centres, which is a sizeable fraction of the profit he gets from his water supply business everyday. But he pays as much as N200 on days when major matches are shown.

It will be difficult to explain to Shuwa that part of the money he pays out of his meager income invariably finds its way into the pocket of the millionaire footballers he watches all the time.

How can he understand that though he remains poor and cannot afford a decent apartment, his ‘Widow’s Mite’ and that of many other people like him, make it possible for Chelsea to pay Mikel Obi, a fellow Nigerian, $440,000 (about N68m) a month.

Shuwa said he could not afford to go to a hospital when he was ill but tried to buy drugs when he could.

The only leisure he can afford is a pack of cigarette he occasionally smokes and the club football he ardently follows. The life of Shuwa is a world apart from that of his fellow Nigerian, Obi, whom he is unknowingly making richer.

This cart pusher is not the only one on this pedestal.

Samson Oyeleke, 25, has never considered staying home on weekends when European league matches are played, particularly, the English Premier  League. At such times, Oyeleke’s home tentatively shifts to his favourite football viewing centre at Agege.

Depending on the fixtures, up to five matches can be shown live at the centre and Oyeleke never likes to miss any live match. So he pays N70 for each game, which is often jerked up to N100 when two big teams face each other.  According to Oyeleke, the atmosphere of viewing football matches at the centre he often calls ‘stadium’ is great.

Although Oyeleke’s habit has been difficult to sustain, considering his income, yet he has remained stuck with it. Oyeleke, a Chelsea FC fan, has no fixed job; his small income comes from assisting his parents, both of whom are vendors.

On days when business is good, Oyeleke can make up to N500. On other days, however, particularly when there is rainfall, he hardly makes any money.

Oyeleke said that on such days, his parents don’t require his service since business was usually ‘slow’. Still, Oyeleke insisted that he had managed to sustain his habit of not missing important premier league matches in spite of the economic challenges.

He said, “There are some people who don’t even have any work, but they pay to watch the foreign leagues. Sometimes, I watch up to five matches on a Saturday, but the cost doesn’t really matter because it helps me too.

“There is no money, no work due to the unemployment situation in the country. So football gives me something to look forward to and a reason to leave home. When I’m hungry and I’m watching football, I won’t feel the hunger until after the match. When I’m at home, I tend to quarrel with my parents, but by going out to watch football, it saves all of us the troubles. If not for football, maybe a lot of youths will be depressed today, but somehow, football keeps us sane.”

But that’s not the only attraction, these days, many football lovers have also taken to organised betting on the outcomes of European league fixtures.

An unemployed youth, Segun Olawale, said he watched football to keep up with the performances of club sides in order to make informed predictions.

Olawale is trained as a carpenter, but he has yet to set up due to financial challenges. So far, Olawale has been living on dole-outs from friends and relatives. But in addition, Olawale said he recently started betting on the outcome of matches at a registered betting company.

He said, “Sometimes, I’m so broke that I can’t even afford to watch matches, but the moment someone gives me some money, I don’t hesitate to spend it on a football match. If I decide to stay at home, what will I be doing there? I prefer to go out and watch football. It’s lively, and you are able to talk to people, argue and even stand a chance to win some money if your predictions are right.”

Isiaka Mohammed is a cobbler who earns about N1,000 day, but he doesn’t work each time his favourite team, Arsenal FC, has a game.

Mohammed said he had not missed an Arsenal FC game in over two years and that his wife and child were already familiar with his schedule. Although, Mohammed knows about the huge financial worth of some of his football heroes, he said it made no difference to him that he was making them richer.

He said, “My family knows where I will be every Saturday and understands it. I know that the footballers earn thousands of dollars per week, but it really doesn’t matter once I get my satisfaction too. When they don’t play well, I curse them, but I don’t really care if I’m able to get value for my money.

“When I was in Bauchi, I also used to play for a club, Black Rose. So If I had made it from football, this is how some people would also be watching me today. So it doesn’t matter, that is life.”

According to Mohammed, if he is left with his last N50 note and has to choose between watching his favourite Arsenal FC and buying biscuits for his hungry daughter, his hungry daughter will win the contest, but barely.

“Well, I will give the money to my daughter but I will be very reluctant,” he said.

Some football fans can barely afford three square meals per day, but will still go as far as paying N1,000 to purchase club jerseys.

John Ibiloye, sits in his tiny shop on a street in Agege, nodding his head rhythmically to the music playing on a small CD player beside his work table.

The watch repairer’s daily routine is basically opening his shop, putting on the CD and waiting for the occasional customers who may come in to change a dead watch battery, repair a ramshackle wall clock or change the strap on a wrist watch.

“I’ll change one watch battery for N100 or N150 depending on the quality of battery you want. Some last longer than others, which is why the price is different,” he told Saturday PUNCH.

On the profitability of his business, Ibiloye said some days, he doesn’t get a customer at all.

He said watch repair is not the kind of business one expects customers to troop in everyday,

“But how do you cope? How do you take care of the family with this kind of business,” one of our correspondents asked him.

Ibiloye replied, “Well, God is in control. But it is not easy at all. I have three children and two of them go to school. The third one is a tailoring apprentice.

“I get up to five customers sometimes coming for services ranging from repair and changing of watch straps and battery. Sometimes I make N500, sometimes N1,000. You can imagine how much I am left with if I have to deduct the rent, the council dues and others.

“The day my daughter fell sick and I took her to the General Hospital at Ifako Ijaiye was the day I told my wife she needed to start working too. She is now a petty trader. That was the day I realised that the profit of my business was not enough for us to feed, let alone take my children to the hospital when they are ill.

“If I change your watch battery and you pay N200, I’ll make N100 from that. It is not because I am greedy but because I need to cover the loss I incur sometimes. There are times that the batteries expire after long storage at home. If I insert the battery in your wrist watch and it doesn’t work, I’ll change it and that’s my loss.”

Ibiloye said when he deducts cost of repairs, there are days he makes up to N300 in profit but some days he does not make more than N150.

However, as gloomy as the picture Ibiloye paints is, one thing he cannot do without is Fuji music.

Music from popular Fuji musician, Wasiu Alabi, popularly called Pasuma, was playing on his CD player.

“You love Pasuma obiviously.”

To this, he replied, “I like K1 (Wasiu Ayinde) and Pasuma very much. I don’t think there is any of their records I don’t buy. Listening to Fuji music is my way of ‘killing depression.”

But Ibiloye  in comparison to Pasuma is poor whom some refer to as the richest Fuji musician in Nigeria.

Even though the singer’s exact net worth is not known, he is rich enough to build a N150m-mansion in 2011; a result of his large and loyal fan base made up of mostly area boys and commercial bus drivers.

He also owns numerous posh cars and other houses, thanks to loyal but poor fans like Ibiloye.

Interestingly, however, many of these celebrities who become millionaires today were once individuals who could barely afford a square meal per day.

Through a stroke of luck, they broke the yoke of poverty and have  become affluent  through hardwork rewarded by patronage of those at the bottom rung of the social ladder in the society.

Mikel Obi was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth and neither was Pasuma.

Bus conductors are also individuals who make millionaire musicians richer in spite of their own poverty.

For another struggling Nigerian, a street trader, whom Saturday PUNCH spoke with, life will not be interesting without having a chance of watching movies.

The young lady, Khadijat Ojikutu, said her addiction was Nollywood movies, especially those in the Yoruba language.

When this correspondent first sighted her on Tuesday around a motor park in Ogba, Lagos, where she usually vends bread and butter, she was browsing a collection of Nollywood movie DVDs displayed on the cart of a CD vendor.

“I usually buy Yoruba movies when I realise that my profit for the day is enough for me to buy the CDs,” she said.

Asked whom her favourite Nollywood movie star was, she said, Odunlade Adekola.

“I also like Jim Iyke. I watch Nigerian English movies too once in a while,” Ojikutu  wearing a pair of worn-out slippers, said.

A pyramid-shaped load of bread and plastics of Blue Band margarine covered with transparent nylon was balanced on the head of the young woman as she explained that what she was getting from her trade was not as much as the energy she expended on it.

“You are funny. How often do I go to the hospital? What happens to herbs? You think everybody can afford to walk into the hospital for treatment every time they fall sick? How much do I make from this business?” she said when our correspondent asked if she doesn’t fall sick often because of her stressful street trading business.

She said she made as much as N400 in profit everyday, out of which she had to save for accommodation, clothing and feeding.

Ironically, people like Ojikutu live in the slums of Agege while the millionaires whom her love for movies make richer, live in highbrow places like Lekki and Ikoyi.

However, many experts have argued that the insecurity in the society cannot be divorced from the widening gulf between the rich and the poor in the society.

This is why one cannot underestimate the impact the socio-economic disparity between the haves and have-nots will have on the stability of the country.

The harsh economic reality in Nigeria is such that the middle class is gradually vanishing, some economists have argued. The gulf between the rich and the poor in the society is widening day-by-day, lending credence to the Biblical saying that the rich will become richer while the poor will become poorer.

The reality is grim for many people in Nigeria. They see affluence flashing before their eyes everyday, but do not have the wherewithal to break out of their economic condition.

In a city like Lagos, this is more evident as hardly can one stay on a major road for a minute and not see a multi-million naira worth of vehicle pass by.

It is no longer news that a sizeable population of Nigeria lives in poverty.

According to a 2006 United Nations Human Development Index, 70.8 per cent of Nigeria’s population lives on less than $1 (N150) per day, ranking Nigeria 159 out of 177 countries. The National Bureau of Statistics, in 2010, said that 60.9 per cent of Nigerians were living in “absolute poverty”.

Most of these people, ironically, are the ones who enrich the millionaires like footballers, musicians and movie stars.

A sociologist and consumer behaviour analyst, Monday Ashibogwu, said the poor have always made the rich richer by their habits.

He said, “Paying for football games, buying records, cigarettes, beer, playing draughts are some of the ways by which the poor make the rich richer. In the case of football, the players cannot even be classified as the rich, they are just the celebrities. The rich are the club owners who pay salaries to the footballers. Also for records, the record labels are the ones making all the money.”

Ashibogwu described claims by the poor to be deriving some sort of satisfaction from habits that affect their income as a case of “perception rather than the reality.”

“The question is: Is it what they really need? You can’t blame the capitalist for being a capitalist, but there must be rules that guide people,” he said.

Orji stops Okorocha’s birthday reception in Abia

The proposed civic reception in honour of Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, billed to hold today in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, has been stopped on the orders of the state governor, Theodore Orji.
Abia governor who alleged that the reception was a ploy to launch the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state stopped the reception organised by rescue missionaries to mark the 51 birthday of Okorocha.
According to one of the organisers who pleaded anonymity, “all arrangements have been concluded for today’s event to mark our governor’s (Okorocha) birthday, scheduled to hold at Abia State Polytechnic, we have paid for the venue and obtained police permit but suddenly Governor Orji ordered that it should not be held on the soil of Abia”.
Saturday Sun gathered that the sudden cancellation of the birthday reception by Abia State governor might not be unconnected with the strained relationship between the duo.
It was equally learnt Governor Orji also instructed the police not to permit any gathering in the state in whatever guise as long as it has to do with the Imo State governor.
When contacted the deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Chinedu Offor, said that they were not aware why the reception was stopped, adding that it was not a political rally but a religious affair.
According to him, “our brothers and other progressive minded people in Abia State felt that since the governor had been hosted in the South West, they felt they also should felicitate with him, so I don’t see anything wrong with that”.
However efforts to reach the Chief Press Secretary to Abia State Governor, proved abortive, as his phone was not responding

Nigeria - A country so corrupt

Nigeria is not quite the most corrupt country on earth. But according to Transparency International, which monitors international financial corruption, it is not far off — coming a shameful 172nd worst among the 215 nations surveyed.

Only countries as dysfunctional, derelict and downright dangerous as Haiti or the Congo are more corrupt.
In theory, Nigeria’s 170 million-strong population should be prospering in a country that in recent years has launched four satellites into space and now has a burgeoning space programme.

Frankly, we might as well flush our cash away or burn it for all the good it's doing for ordinary Nigerians

Moreover, Nigeria is sitting on crude oil reserves estimated at 35 billion barrels (enough to fuel the entire world for more than a year), not to mention 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
It also manages to pay its legislators the highest salaries in the world, with a basic wage of £122,000, nearly double what British MPs earn and many hundreds of times that of the country’s ordinary citizens.

The oil industry is highly corrupt, with 136 million barrels of crude oil worth $11¿billion (£7.79 billion) were illegally siphoned off in just two years from 2009 to 2011

No wonder the ruling elite can afford luxury homes in London or Paris, and top-end cars that, across West Africa, have led to the sobriquet ‘Wabenzi’, or people of the Mercedes-Benz.
Yet 70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line of £1.29 a day, struggling with a failing infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages because of a lack of petrol refining capacity, even though their country produces more crude oil than Texas.
And that poverty is not for want of assistance from the wider world.

70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line of £1.29 a day, struggling with a failing infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages

Since gaining its independence in 1960, Nigeria has received  $400 billion (£257 billion) in aid —  six times what the U.S. pumped into reconstructing the whole of Western Europe after World War II.
Nigeria suffers from what economists call the ‘resource curse’ — the paradox that developing countries with an abundance of natural reserves tend to enjoy worse economic growth than countries without minerals and fuels.
The huge flow of oil wealth means the government does not rely on taxpayers for its income, so does not have to answer to the people — a situation that fosters rampant corruption and economic sclerosis because there is no investment in infrastructure as the country’s leaders cream off its wealth.

Nigerian police can often be easily bribed to look the other way in a country where corruption in Nigeria is endemic

Corruption in Nigeria is endemic — from parents bribing teachers to get hold of exam papers for their children through clerks handed ‘dash’ money to get round the country’s stifling bureaucracy to policemen taking money for turning a blind eye.
It is at its most blatant, perhaps, in the oil industry, where 136 million barrels of crude oil worth $11 billion (£7.79 billion) were illegally siphoned off in just two years from 2009 to 2011, while hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies were given to fuel merchants to deliver petrol that never materialised.
Whether the country is ruled by civilians or soldiers, who invariably proclaim their burning desire to eradicate civilian corruption, it makes absolutely no difference.

The huge flow of oil wealth means the government does not rely on taxpayers for its income, so does not have to answer to the people

The military ruled Nigeria between 1966 and 1979 and from 1983 to 1999, but if anything, corruption was worse when they were in charge since they had a habit of killing anyone threatening to expose them.
It is estimated that since 1960, about $380 billion  (£245 billion) of government money has been stolen — almost the total sum Nigeria has received in foreign aid.
And that even when successive governments attempt to recover the stolen money, much of this is looted again.

President Sani Abacha, a military dictator who ruled in the Nineties, had accrued a staggering $4¿billion (£2.58¿billion) fortune by the time he died

In essence, 80 per cent of the country’s substantial oil revenues go to the government, which disburses cash to  individual governors and hundreds of their cronies, so  effectively these huge sums  remain in the hands of a  mere 1 per cent of the Nigerian population.

 

 Political power is universally regarded as a chance to reap  the fortunes of office by the ruling elite and its families and tribes.

The most egregious example was President Sani Abacha, a military dictator who ruled in the Nineties and accrued a staggering $4 billion (£2.58 billion) fortune by the time he died of a heart attack while in bed with two Indian prostitutes at his palace in the nation’s capital, Abuja, in 1998. Abacha’s business associates did nicely, too — one of them deposited £122 million in a Jersey offshore account after selling Nigerian army trucks for five times their worth.
Public office is so lucrative that people will kill to get it. Nigeria has 36 state governors, 31 of whom are under federal investigation for corruption.
In one of the smallest states, a candidate for the governorship occupied by one Ayo Fayose received texts signed by the ‘Fayose M Squad’ — and it was clear the ‘M’ was for ‘Murder’ when they stabbed and bludgeoned a third candidate to death in his own bed.
By the end of its term of office, the British Government will have handed over £1 billion in aid to Nigeria.
Given the appalling levels of  corruption in that nation, this largesse is utterly sickening — for the money will only  be recycled into bank accounts in the Channel Islands or Switzerland.
Frankly, we might as well flush our cash away or burn it for all the good it’s doing for ordinary Nigerians.

How Obasanjo received and reacted to rumoured involvement of son, Gbenga

Fears on Thursday gripped many residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital following rumours of the involvement of Gbenga, the first son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the crash of the Associated Airline plane in Lagos.

The news which was first circulated through the social media filled many residents of the state capital with fears and apprehension as many started mourning with the Obasanjo family over the tragedy.

Obasanjo himself received the news during a photo session with primary school pupils who had come for a leadership training programme at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.

The rumour of the involvement of his first son in the plane crash came to his father as a rude shock.

Obasanjo had just finished addressing over 400 head boys and head girls of primary schools from Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states who had converged at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta for the workshop tagged “Leadership Training for Young Leaders” when a caller informed him on the phone about the rumoured involvement of his son in the crash.

The ex-President was already seated in front of the auditorium along with other dignitaries, including the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Centre for Human Security, Prof. Akin Mabogunje; the director of the centre, Prof. Peter Okebukula; and the participating pupils for a photo session when his phone rang and the caller at the other end informed him of his son’s involvement in the plane crash.

Our correspondent who was at the event heard Obasanjo shouting on top of his voice to the caller at the other end in Yoruba, saying, “Gbenga wo! O wa ni Abuja!” meaning “which Gbenga, he’s in Abuja.”

The former President, whose countenance immediately changed, ended the call and became uncomfortable throughout the few minutes that the photo session lasted.

Immediately the photo session was over, Obasanjo grabbed Mabogunje’s hand and started moving to the left side of the OOPL with Okebukola and other dignitaries and his security aides in tow.

They went into one of the chalets at the end of the library complex where they spent about 40 minutes and later drove off to an unknown destination.

The programme however continued as many of the workshop participants who apparently were not aware of the tragedy returned to the main hall.

When our correspondent later visited Obasanjo’s Hilltop mansion, security operatives at the entrance were seen going about their normal duty, an indication that nothing had gone wrong with the family.

PLANE CRASH, DOULBLE TRAGEDY AND THE INHERENT LESSONS

My heart and prayers goes to all the people that lost their loved and the wounded in yesterday's plane crash in Lagos. May the soul of the deperted REST IN PEACE. Amen! 

I ALSO WANT TO STATE HERE THAT THIS IS A WARNING TO ALL THE NIGERIAN POLITICIANS WHO ARE MORE INTERESTED IN FILLING THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS AND THAT OF THEIR CHILDREN, GRAND CHILDREN AND RELATIVES WITH PUBLIC FUND THAT THE END WILL BE DISASTROUS TO SUCH FAMILIES.

THE RIOT OF GOD IS NOW UPON CORRUPT NIGERIAN LEADERS.

Don't forget that Dr Shegun AGAGU was once an aviation minister, did nothing but kept embezzling, he brought this embezzling style to Ondo state and didn't even do one gutter, i can remember him telling the Ondo people when he was rigged in the second term before the court threw him out that they are in trouble, he made sure he didnt pay them salary on time and a lot of hard times for those masses, but trust the people of Ondo state everyday was a cursing day for him and his family, just look at his death circumstances, he slumped after going to America to spend their looted wealth, curses droped him from the sky at 200 ft, alot of people that are superstitious would say it is because the plane carried his corpse, plane carries corpses all the time after all remember barrister Ayinde was brought in with one, but when you have made a lot of people cry and get rich everything would work against you and your family. Many will criticise me for saying this, remember, Don't forget that it was during the time of Gov Agagu that all women in the state both young and old went to his office half naked, raining all sort of causes due to what he did to them. TRUTH IS BITTER!

Laughable! As Isaiah saw the glory of God in the year that king Uziah died, so the people of this dead man's home are having both their church and major roads rehabilitated in order to give him a "befitting farewell" When will all this nonesense stop in this country ? Why did their state Government wait for the death of a dignitary before doing those jobs ? This obtains in most of our states too. This implies that someone must die before the masses will enjoy a bit of the booty. A VERY BIG SHAME ON OUR SO CALLED LEADERS MOST OF WHO ARE MOSTLY CONCERNED WITH THEIR SELFISH INTERESTS AND HAVE NO REGARD FOR THE NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE THEY ARE LEADING.

Let the politicians learn from this tragedy. Vanity upon vanity is vanity. Also to the living fighting for 2015 be informed that you do not own tomorrow, who knows what will happen next minute?

Pastor, church member in rape duel

Members of Christ Shepherd Church in Kubwa, the biggest satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, are in disarray over the allegation of one of them against their pastor.

A nursing mother and member of the church and her pastor are at loggerheads, as the woman accuses the pastor of rape attempts at her. However, the pastor claims the woman is out to blackmail him because he could not afford N400,000 lifeline she demanded. He said even the police have exonerated him of the claims of rape.

According to the victim of the alleged rape, her pastor’s first attempt to rape her was in 2012 when she was five months pregnant. She recounted how the pastor dipped his hands into her bra and grabbed her breasts. She revealed that she managed to escape but couldn’t tell her husband whom she suspected might attack the pastor. She narrated further that the clergyman of 13 years made other immoral attempts at her.

The mother and church member told Abuja Metro how her pastor told her God had revealed to him that she would be his second wife and help him fullfil his vision. She also alleged that the pastor prophesied how her husband would die by 2015. “He told me that my husband would die and that I would become his second wife.”

She said the pastor insisted that his sperm and blood must be exchanged with hers, and it took her enough courage to finally tell her husband, who couldn’t believe her story either. Determined to prove how randy the pastor was, she decided to record the next conversation with him. A copy of the recorded conversation has been obtained by Abuja Metro.

The last act that spilled the secret finally came. Unfortunately for the pastor, his target of sexual harassment used her mobile phone to record the conversation, as she narrated. On day of the recording, she alleged that the pastor made some success of his intent by reaching and grabbing her pants but she escaped unhurt. What she said was the pant the pastor tore was exhibited for Abuja Metro to see.

The pastor has, however, denied any involvement in all of these. In a chat with Abuja Metro, he rather accused the woman and her family of deliberately acting to ruin his reputation through blackmail. He said the real issue that made him the target of the woman and her family was his refusal to afford them N400,000 they demanded to pay their house rent. The cleric asserted that his clean moral standing was known to the entire church and no other member ever accused him of rape attempt.

When questioned about the recorded conversation where he allegedly apologised to the woman, the pastor said such evidence was false since there was no video image to back the claim. He said he had been cleared of any wrongdoing by the police that handled the matter and, therefore, he is free.

Police compromise

Meanwhile, the accuser and alleged victim of rape has fired at the police for deliberate plans to sabotage effort to prosecute the pastor. She alleged that rather than investigate to verify her claims, officers that handled the complaint and a deputy commissioner of Police in Abuja are harassing and intimidating her family. She said the police have turned around to accuse her husband of plans to assassinate the pastor, thereby abandoning the investigation of attempts to rape her and possible prosecution of the cleric.

She said she was scared that the safety of her family members could no longer be guaranteed, as they had been receiving calls from members of the church, who were threatening fire if she refused to drop the case.

Woman’s story

When I was pregnant, I always swept the church, but I didn’t know the pastor had plans against me. He made three attempts to rape me. There were several times he wanted to pray for me and touched me in funny ways. Then he would say God gave him the approval to touch me. But what I can’t understand is why the church members are against me for complaining of wrong done to me. I don’t know if they expected me to keep my mouth shut in the face of maltreatment.

I have been going through psychological problems since the incident. It was when I knew he could not stop his harassment that I decided to record his discussions with me so that people will believe my story and that would make me free from him. The first time the pastor tried it, I told a member of the church who advised me not to say anything. The member said it could damage the image of the church and the pastor. That was why I didn’t tell my husband then. When I finally told my husband, he asked them why this had to happen. The threats and many lies from the pastor were just alarming. My husband thought I was lying when I told him the very first time.

The last incident

It thing got so bad when the pastor started saying that he needed to have his sperm in me. He said also that he needs his blood to mix with mine. At the last incident, he was so daring that he tore my pants. He always said he got prophecies that I was his wife and he would add my five children to his own because God told him my husband would die in 2015 so he could have me as wife.

Call for justice

The pastor had been boasting that I cannot get justice, and still threaten to deal with me the more. Some members of the church are also threatening me. They said I don’t know how to shut my mouth, so they will help shut it up. And lately the police have been part of our problem and threats.

I couldn’t reconcile why the man who preaches to the church from the pulpit could be the same person that made several attempts to rape me and still the one threatening my life. I am not the only woman in that church that has gone through this before. I think the only problem I have before the church is that I am the only one that mustered the boldness to raise the issue.

After listening to the allegations of the woman against the pastor, Abuja Metro got the pastor’s response through phone call and he narrated his side of the tale.

AM: Sir, this is a reporter from The Sun Newspapers

Pastor: My brother, I am afraid to answer any call. Last week, they almost killed me and my wife. I don’t know who is calling so, I am afraid. Last week, somebody called and said he was from the Vanguard Newspapers.

AM: Are you aware of a rape allegation against you by one Mrs….?

Pastor: My brother, anybody can take up your name and say anything. Did she show you any video of me trying to rape her? I want to ask you. If somebody wants to rape you, do you record everything that happened, and the video cassette will be there? Or would the person being raped shout so that people will hear?

AM: Are you saying you are innocent then?

Pastor: My brother, I have been proven innocent by the police. They even took me to Zone 7 Police station in Abuja. I was proven innocent. All the members of the church know about it. They know that she is lying.

I lent her N50,000 because she said she wanted to go to America.

AM: Let us stick to the issue sir. According to her, your first attempt to rape her was when she was five months pregnant. Is that also false?

Pastor: That is a lie. The church members know how she nearly destroyed my home. She nearly fought my wife. My wife knows that she needed help. The Lord said we should give help to the poor. There are many ladies in my church and nobody has accused me of raping her before. God knows how I bear the burden of this woman. After helping her, she turned against me. I fear God and cannot act against Him.

AM: What exactly are you saying about the accusations?

Pastor: When she was about to give birth, she didn’t have money to go to the hospital. I gave her N8,000. The same woman came to my office crying for help several times. At one of such occasions, she said she needed money to train in computer operation and needed my assistance because the husband couldn’t afford that.

Members of Christ Shepherd Church in Kubwa, the biggest satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, are in disarray over the allegation of one of them against their pastor.

A nursing mother and member of the church and her pastor are at loggerheads, as the woman accuses the pastor of rape attempts at her. However, the pastor claims the woman is out to blackmail him because he could not afford N400,000 lifeline she demanded. He said even the police have exonerated him of the claims of rape.

According to the victim of the alleged rape, her pastor’s first attempt to rape her was in 2012 when she was five months pregnant. She recounted how the pastor dipped his hands into her bra and grabbed her breasts. She revealed that she managed to escape but couldn’t tell her husband whom she suspected might attack the pastor. She narrated further that the clergyman of 13 years made other immoral attempts at her.

The mother and church member told Abuja Metro how her pastor told her God had revealed to him that she would be his second wife and help him fullfil his vision. She also alleged that the pastor prophesied how her husband would die by 2015. “He told me that my husband would die and that I would become his second wife.”

She said the pastor insisted that his sperm and blood must be exchanged with hers, and it took her enough courage to finally tell her husband, who couldn’t believe her story either. Determined to prove how randy the pastor was, she decided to record the next conversation with him. A copy of the recorded conversation has been obtained by Abuja Metro.

The last act that spilled the secret finally came. Unfortunately for the pastor, his target of sexual harassment used her mobile phone to record the conversation, as she narrated. On day of the recording, she alleged that the pastor made some success of his intent by reaching and grabbing her pants but she escaped unhurt. What she said was the pant the pastor tore was exhibited for Abuja Metro to see.

The pastor has, however, denied any involvement in all of these. In a chat with Abuja Metro, he rather accused the woman and her family of deliberately acting to ruin his reputation through blackmail. He said the real issue that made him the target of the woman and her family was his refusal to afford them N400,000 they demanded to pay their house rent. The cleric asserted that his clean moral standing was known to the entire church and no other member ever accused him of rape attempt.

When questioned about the recorded conversation where he allegedly apologised to the woman, the pastor said such evidence was false since there was no video image to back the claim. He said he had been cleared of any wrongdoing by the police that handled the matter and, therefore, he is free.

Police compromise

Meanwhile, the accuser and alleged victim of rape has fired at the police for deliberate plans to sabotage effort to prosecute the pastor. She alleged that rather than investigate to verify her claims, officers that handled the complaint and a deputy commissioner of Police in Abuja are harassing and intimidating her family. She said the police have turned around to accuse her husband of plans to assassinate the pastor, thereby abandoning the investigation of attempts to rape her and possible prosecution of the cleric.

She said she was scared that the safety of her family members could no longer be guaranteed, as they had been receiving calls from members of the church, who were threatening fire if she refused to drop the case.

Woman’s story

When I was pregnant, I always swept the church, but I didn’t know the pastor had plans against me. He made three attempts to rape me. There were several times he wanted to pray for me and touched me in funny ways. Then he would say God gave him the approval to touch me. But what I can’t understand is why the church members are against me for complaining of wrong done to me. I don’t know if they expected me to keep my mouth shut in the face of maltreatment.

I have been going through psychological problems since the incident. It was when I knew he could not stop his harassment that I decided to record his discussions with me so that people will believe my story and that would make me free from him. The first time the pastor tried it, I told a member of the church who advised me not to say anything. The member said it could damage the image of the church and the pastor. That was why I didn’t tell my husband then. When I finally told my husband, he asked them why this had to happen. The threats and many lies from the pastor were just alarming. My husband thought I was lying when I told him the very first time.

The last incident

It thing got so bad when the pastor started saying that he needed to have his sperm in me. He said also that he needs his blood to mix with mine. At the last incident, he was so daring that he tore my pants. He always said he got prophecies that I was his wife and he would add my five children to his own because God told him my husband would die in 2015 so he could have me as wife.

Call for justice

The pastor had been boasting that I cannot get justice, and still threaten to deal with me the more. Some members of the church are also threatening me. They said I don’t know how to shut my mouth, so they will help shut it up. And lately the police have been part of our problem and threats.

I couldn’t reconcile why the man who preaches to the church from the pulpit could be the same person that made several attempts to rape me and still the one threatening my life. I am not the only woman in that church that has gone through this before. I think the only problem I have before the church is that I am the only one that mustered the boldness to raise the issue.

After listening to the allegations of the woman against the pastor, Abuja Metro got the pastor’s response through phone call and he narrated his side of the tale.

AM: Sir, this is a reporter from The Sun Newspapers

Pastor: My brother, I am afraid to answer any call. Last week, they almost killed me and my wife. I don’t know who is calling so, I am afraid. Last week, somebody called and said he was from the Vanguard Newspapers.

AM: Are you aware of a rape allegation against you by one Mrs….?

Pastor: My brother, anybody can take up your name and say anything. Did she show you any video of me trying to rape her? I want to ask you. If somebody wants to rape you, do you record everything that happened, and the video cassette will be there? Or would the person being raped shout so that people will hear?

AM: Are you saying you are innocent then?

Pastor: My brother, I have been proven innocent by the police. They even took me to Zone 7 Police station in Abuja. I was proven innocent. All the members of the church know about it. They know that she is lying.

I lent her N50,000 because she said she wanted to go to America.

AM: Let us stick to the issue sir. According to her, your first attempt to rape her was when she was five months pregnant. Is that also false?

Pastor: That is a lie. The church members know how she nearly destroyed my home. She nearly fought my wife. My wife knows that she needed help. The Lord said we should give help to the poor. There are many ladies in my church and nobody has accused me of raping her before. God knows how I bear the burden of this woman. After helping her, she turned against me. I fear God and cannot act against Him.

AM: What exactly are you saying about the accusations?

Pastor: When she was about to give birth, she didn’t have money to go to the hospital. I gave her N8,000. The same woman came to my office crying for help several times. At one of such occasions, she said she needed money to train in computer operation and needed my assistance because the husband couldn’t afford that.