#Dasukigate: Diamond Bank Staff Explained How He Gave Obanikoro N1.2b

An official of Diamond Bank, Damola Otuyalo, has told officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that he personally handed over N1.2bn to a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, and his son, Gbolahan. The entire exercise was said to have been captured on a Closed Circuit Television.

According to the EFCC, the N1.2bn was part of the N4.7bn paid into the company account of Obanikoro’s sons by the Office of the National Security Adviser during the build-up to the Ekiti and Osun states governorship election in 2014. Otuyalo, who is the Head of Cash-in-Transit Services, told detectives that his duty was to evacuate excess cash from bank’s branches and move it to locations where money was needed.

The bank official told investigators that on June 16, 2014, he received a call from the Head of Operations and Technology, Mr. Premier Oiwoh, to arrange N1.2bn and pay six beneficiaries.

He said he was asked to pay the following persons: Saturaki Bello N200m; Yusuf Bulama N120m; Chimenum Njoku N250m; Franklin Tolani N150m; Josiah Moses  N280; and Abubakar Sadiq Zanna N200m. Otuyalo, however, explained that he was unable to pay them the money and that his director then instructed him to move the N1.2bn to the private wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos on June 17.

The bank official was quoted to have said, “The beneficiaries were not available to be paid as I did not see them and I was later directed by Mr. Premier Oiwoh to move the money to the airport where I will be given further instruction.

“We moved the cash to the airport through the Cash-In-Transit vendor, Bankers Warehouse Limited. I contacted the vendor who made the bullion van available for movement. I personally supervised the loading of the money into the bullion van and escorted them to the airport.”

Otuyalo said on getting to the airport around 7am, he was not allowed into the private wing because he and the security detail did not have a gate pass. He said a few minutes later, Obanikoro’s son came to the main gate and asked the security to let the bullion van in. The bank official further stated, “When Gbolahan got to the gate, he cleared us and we drove in. My boss, Mr. Premier Oiwoh, called me on the telephone and confirmed to me that Obanikoro was the beneficiary of the money. “I handed my phone over to Gbolahan and he spoke to my boss. Obanikoro came to meet us at the private wing with two policemen and some friends. I recognised Obanikoro very well because he is popular.”

Otuyalo told detectives that due to the large amount of money involved, it took them several hours to offload the cash unto the aeroplane. He explained that it took three aeroplanes to carry all the money.

Otuyalo added, “We loaded the first aircraft with money and Obanikoro flew with his friends on the first flight. The second aircraft was loaded with money but it could not carry all the cash due to the size of the aircraft and the weight it could carry. “I recall that another aircraft was also used to move the final batch of the money from the bullion van. The second and third movements were supervised by Gbolahan after Obanikoro had left with the first flight. “The operation took several hours because we got to the airport around 7am and left around 4pm. The cash was bagged in cash bags totalling about 65 and everything was offloaded from the bullion van after which I reported to my boss, Mr. Oiwoh.”

Detectives told our correspondent that the N1.2bn was flown to Akure Airport and Obanikoro allegedly handed over the money to an associate of Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, Mr. Abiodun Agbele, who had since been detained by the EFCC. He added that Officials of Zenith Bank arrived at the Akure Airport tarmac in a bullion van to convey all the cash to the bank’s vault located at 13, Alagbaka Estate, Akure. He also said that the detective, who presented bank tellers, added that Agbele gave the bank instructions at different times to pay in money into Fayose’s Zenith Bank account even after the elections.

He added, “Agbele directed the bank to pay N137m into the account of Ayodele Fayose with number 1003126654 and Bank Verification Number 22338867502. The bank teller dated June 26, 2014, was filled by Agbele with teller number 0556814. “Agbele directed the bank to transfer N118, 760, 000 to the same account and paid in N50m cash into Fayose’s account. “On April 7, 2015, several months later, Fayose personally moved N300m to his fixed deposit account at Zenith Bank with number 9013074033 with his same BVN. The account is domiciled at 15 Olusola Abiona Street, Estate, Alapere, Ketu, Lagos.”

The source added that on the instruction of Fayose, Agbele deposited N100m to the account of Spotless Investment Limited, a hotel which is owned by Fayose and his wife.

Fayose allegedly used part of the money to buy houses in Abuja and Lagos. The houses had since been seized while his bank account with a balance of N380m was frozen.

Both Fayose and Obanikoro have denied the allegations levelled against them.

When contacted, Head, Media Relations/Corporate Communications of Diamond Bank, Mr. Mike Omeife, told one of our correspondents that he could not confirm the report.

He said, “I have not been able to confirm from the unit what he (Otuyalo) said. I need to get the information from the unit; I need to get clarifications, and will then, get back to you.

Police Detectives Discover The Financiers Of Bola Ige’s Killers

A reliable source the police investigative team has made headway in efforts at bringing killers of former Minister of Justice Bola Ige to justice. One of the breakthroughs in their investigation includes the discovery of the financier of the murder.

It was gathered from some police detectives that the leads they had in the files were followed and some of the key suspects are already in police custody. Following thorough questioning, one of the suspects has reportedly named a politician as one of their financiers, “a politician, who was based in Abuja at the time.”

According to police sources, it is not clear yet if there are other financiers but the arrested suspect allegedly confessed that their ‘chief’ alluded to a source of funds from the nation’s capital, where he always returned to get their ‘rewards.’

Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris recently ordered the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department to dust the files, with a view to unmasking those responsible for the killing of a sitting Attorney General of the Federation, late Bola Ige.

Ige was killed on December 2001 in his house in Ibadan. While a number of arrests were made at the time, investigation conducted and suspects taken to court, after some months nothing was heard about the issue. A judge in the case was allegedly fired, while the principal suspects mentioned were released.

The source said, “The assumption for now is that it was either the handiwork of political opponents or some contractors, who must have had a brush with the Chief, who was said did not have time for corrupt people.”

“The investigation would be reasonably completed with the arrest of the Abuja financiers. We are looking for him now, immediately he’s arrested, probably in the coming week, we’ll take the next necessary step. Then we will begin the process of prosecution,”.

We keep our fingers cross and wait for the next update from the police detective, hoping they could see the case to a logical conclusion.

Dambazzau And Others Spent NNPC, NAPIMS Funds Without Accountability

Fresh evidence of industrial-scale corruption in the military uncovered shows that huge sums of money from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the National Petroleum Investment Services (NAPIMS) were funneled into military/security operations in the restive Niger Delta in the past 13 years, with none of it accounted for.

A document dated  April, ​30 2010, exclusively obtained and signed by Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who was at the time Petroleum Resources Minister, shows that eye-watering amounts went to each of the armed forces and the police under the scheme;  Entitled "Payments On Behalf Of Federal Government Re: Logistics Support For Security Operations In The Niger Delta From 2003 To Date," It was addressed by the Minister to Mr. Goodluck Jonathan who was at the time of the document Nigeria’s Acting president.

"We wish to apprise Your Excellency that between 2006 and 2007, the sum of $745million was approved for the Arms of Services and the Nigerian Police Force for funding of security expenses in the Niger Delta," states the document in its opening line. The approved sum, she stated, was sourced from NAPIMS JV Cash Call budget and Federal Government dividends from NLNG, and was utilised. She proceeded to give a breakdown of how much was given to each arm of service and the police.

According to the document: $220million was approved for the Army; $185million was approved for the Nigerian Air Force; $160million was approved for the Nigerian Navy and $180million for the Nigeria Police Force For the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years, a total of $400million from the NAPIMS JV Cash Call budgets was also appropriated for security in the Niger Delta. The document revealed that a total of $221.171 million was expended on security in the oil-bearing region, as follows: $46.8million to the Defence Intelligence Agency for logistics for security; $158.7million to the Navy for patrol boats; and $11.1million to the Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Security and Safety (PICOMSS).  That committee was eventually scrapped.

This, revealed the document, left a balance of $178.83million appropriated in 2008 and 2009. Despite the huge cash splash, Alison-Madueke went on to make additional requests totaling $154.11million, and yet another, of $35.75million. The additional requests, said the Minister in the document, were already with the NNPC awaiting Jonathan's approval for payment.

Broken down the Army made an additional request of $48.75million; the Nigeria Police Force, $15.70million; and PICOMSS, $86.66million.  Of the $35.75million also requested by the Minister, and captured as "commitments from the Arms of Service", $5.34million was to go to the Army, 0.07 million to the Police, $7.29million to the Navy and $23.05million to the Police.

Before former president Jonathan was voted out of office last year, there were loud calls for an investigation into defence and security spending, with some of those making the calls asking for an extension of the demanded probe to the time of his predecessor, former president Umaru Yar'Adua.

The widespread belief was that there was grand theft while Yar'Adua, who later died, was incapacitated by ill-health. Under Yar'Adua, the Chief of Army Staff was General Abdurahaman Bello Dambazzau, who is currently the country's Interior Minister. Dambazzau, who was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari last August, has had his name mentioned in connection with the financial malfeasance that has dogged the military over the years. Bizarrely, his name and that of General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, current Chief of Army Staff, are missing from the list of those affected by the Federal Government probe into defence spending, prompting critics to accuse Buhari of favouritism.

The exclusion of Dambazzau and Buratai from the list has fuelled criticisms of the probe.  Notable among the critics is Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, who has challenged Nigerians to demand the release of the authentic report of the Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in the Nigerian Armed Forces. He described the Federal Government's claim that the probe panel only looked into procurement and contracts awarded by the military between 2011-2015 because documents related to procurement from 2007 to 2010 were unavailable as a clear indication of Buhari's support for corruption.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Lere Olayinka, the governor said, “There are many petitions relating to defence from 2007 that are been discarded, the question is why? “Buhari’s’ Minister of Interior, Major General Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) was Chief of Army Staff between 2008 and 2010 and the current Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) Major General Tukur Buratai, served as Director of Procurement, Defence Headquarters, from 2012 till May 2015.

“It is a fact that the committee in its terms of reference said it queried all procurement from 2007 to 2015. "Even the press release issued was titled "Third Interim Report of the Presidential Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement from 2007 to 2015," Fayose sneered. The governor also pointed out that the first paragraph of the committee report indicated that it used 2007-2015 as a reference, stressing that the committee "analysed procurement contracts awarded by or for the Nigerian Army between 2007 and 2015."

COAS Buratai was recently exposed as the owner of two luxury apartments, worth $1.5million, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  He claimed to have bought them from “personal savings.”

Following strident nationwide criticism, the Federal Government then announced its approval of further investigations into the purchase of military hardware and weaponry from 2007. Among the subjects of a further probe, disclosed the panel handling the investigation, are two former Chiefs of Army Staff, Generals Anthony Ihiejirika and KTJ Minimah; former Foreign Affairs Minister Nurudeed Mohammed; and three former Defence Ministry permanent secretaries.

Learn To Be AllHeartsAlways From Kids

I came across the heart warming story and video below and it tugged at my heart. Ollie Chambers is an 11-year old boy with Down's Syndrome, who loves to race. Every year, Ollie raced with his classmates on sports day and always came last but not this year. 

His fantastic and #AllHeartsAlways classmates decided to let Ollie win the race this year so, with permission from their teacher and without the knowledge of Ollie or his parents, they linked hands together at the beginning of the race and let Ollie win, after which they celebrated him proudly at the finish line.

This video gave me hope and restored my faith in humanity all over again. Now, if only adults can be less selfish and more selfless towards each other............

Dino Melaye: The thug With A Presidential Ambition.

Anyone who is conversant with the history and career of ‘Senator’ Dino Melaye would not be shocked by the reports that he threatened to beat up and ‘’impregnate’’ a female colleague during a closed door session of the Nigerian senate on Tuesday. The act, outrageous as it sounds, is in character. Dino has always been the quintessence of a street thug. His personal and public lives show a symmetrical penchant for hysterics, bullying and violence.

Dino truncated his two attempts at marriage with his own hands. He battered his wives beyond the ‘normal threshold’ of a black eye. He inflicted life-threatening injuries on them with such meanness and frequency that the victims cottoned up to the fact that this husband meant to perpetrate murder in installments. Only a couple of months ago, Dino threatened to assault Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South) in an executive session of the senate. Manager’s heinous crime was that he advised that the Senate risks tarnishing its image as an institution if it does not extricate itself from ‘Senate President’ Bukola Saraki’s trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Dino charged at the older Manager in a move to attack him.

Dino's ex-wife after he allegedly battered her.

In his earlier incarnation as a member of the National Assembly, Dino fought on the floor of the House of Representatives. The majority of the legislators were angling for the resignation of the scandal-tainted Speaker Patricia Etteh. Dino tried to save her by starting a fight. He was beaten and stripped half-naked. He walked out in rags.

When Dino hectored Senator Oluremi Tinubu and hurtled towards her so that his alarmed colleagues rushed to save him from himself – by arresting, pacifying and taming him –it was the force of habit at work. He had been beating up women by rote. But since his two wives walked out, he had been suffering the deprivation of existing without a woman to abuse.

Dino’s fifteen minutes of madness boils down to forced withdrawal symptoms. He had not had the fix of woman-beating for a long time. He clearly desperately wanted to be a ‘wife beater’ again. Even if he had to do it to another man’s wife. Even if he had to do it in the chambers of the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!

His threat to beat up and ‘’impregnate’’ Mrs Tinubu in one breath is not a thoughtless indulgence in non sequitur or mixed metaphors. It was an externalization of a perverse sexual orientation that seeks pleasure in the harm and pains of a woman. It was the coming out of a closet revelation of a sadomasochist! A normal man cannot conceive of the intimate act of ‘’impregnating’’ a woman as an improvement on the horror of beating her. It takes a sick, demented man to scream at the top of his voice that he would beat up a woman and escalate her woes by mounting her. It takes a Dino Melaye to lech after a married woman and to expressly ventilate it in a language that pretends to be anything but a promise to rape!

Dino is a misogynist. He doesn’t believe in the personhood of the female human. He was the senator who derailed a reasonable debate on the necessity of promoting the patronage of made in Nigeria goods by educating the senate that there is such a thing as ‘’made in Nigeria women.’’

Dino was the senator who stood up during a debate on a bill prohibiting sexual harassment of students by lecturers in tertiary institutions and suggested that sexual predation happens when ladies wearing ‘’seductive and provocative dresses enter the offices of lecturers who have no anointing to resist sexual temptation.’’

Dino threatened to beat up and ‘’impregnate’’ Mrs. Tinubu in order to shame her for her gender. To remind her that whoever she was, he was the superior sex. She was a mere woman, easy to be conquered, prostrated and violated right into her most private space.

The threat to ‘’impregnate’’ by force escaped from a phalocentric mindset that regards sex as a weapon of war. In Dino's world, sex is the ultimate victory lap. Sex is what you do to a woman to trivialize her femininity. It’s what you do to impose on her an acute sense of her inferiority. The story says that when the echo of his voice returned to him, he walked back the impracticable threat in a manner only Dino could. He said he wouldn’t bother to fulfill the threat on Mrs. Tinubu. The former first lady of Lagos State was a dry fish. He would rather do it to ‘’a more robust and beautiful woman like Stella Oduah.’’ That’s the rarity of senator of a country declaring his sexual fantasy and grading his female colleagues based on how close their physique came to matching his specifications of an ideal bedmate! Dino told his auditors he was “a responsible Nigerian.'' ''A role model.’’ '' A champion of anti-corruption.'' The report that he threatened to assault and ‘’impregnate’’ the lady senator was a lie. He had never and would never conduct himself in a manner unworthy of the people of his constituency and their culture. In no time, who the liar was became clear. Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s husband, Bola Tinubu confirmed the reports. Dino had truly made the threat to beat up and to ‘’impregnate.’’ He had even boasted that he had immunity. He would commit the abuse and ‘’nothing will happen.’’

Mr. Tinubu called Dino a ‘’disgrace’’ to the Nigerian senate. Okun Parapo, the socio-cultural group of the Yoruba-speaking people of Kogi state, his own extended family, disowned him, calling him a son of reproach. It goes without saying that Dino cannot be properly characterized. He cannot be characterized because he has no character. Whatever you say of his vulgarism, his barbarism and his love for products of civilization and loath for the power of civilization proves an understatement of the baseness of the man. When you venture to frame his uncouthness, your resultant point-by-point takedown of the figure doesn’t do due justice. It, instead, reads like a stunted compliment.

Dino vanquishes you in the outer court of understanding. A man’s idiosyncrasies have to make relatable sense to you before you can be in a position to assay him and choose words that meaningfully approximate to his quality. He doesn’t lend himself to comprehensibility. He is a compulsive buffoon that keeps evolving in complexity. A fool that keeps waxing stupid in sophistication.

The problem with Dino, though, is not that he is a fool. The problem with Dino is that he is a fool that loves to perform in the spotlight. He is an erratic fool that goes out of his way to impress you. He is the fool that keeps pushing the boundaries of idiocy. He is the fool that demolishes impossibilities. He is the fool’s fool!

After a disastrous time in the lower house and his punitive banishment to political wilderness by his constituents, you would have thought that when next he appears on the national stage, he would be a different person from the avatar of nuisance you used to know. He would have rehabilitated himself in private. Or the passage of years would have mellowed him.

But Dino hasn’t changed for the better. He is still the star actor of shame. He has even become a more audacious miscreant. A narcissistic  insurgent that makes an exhibition of his own nakedness. Dino is not the only devious person in the Nigerian senate. The Nigerian senate is a menagerie of pedophiles, drug barons and thieves. These crooks generally blend in the woodwork. They keep a low profile and take care not do further damage to their name.

Dino’s distinction is that he has as much appetite for scandals as he relishes villainy. He loves to be the issue of the day. He loves the mockery, the ridicule, the constant mention of his name. Dino claims to have earned six degrees. He doesn’t reflect any token of the briefest flirtation with education. In his elements, he comes across as a deranged English-speaking ventriloquist.

Dino recalls that he checked into the university from some motor park where he was a bus conductor. He is still the bus conductor. Nothing in his pattern of behavior suggests that he transitioned.

The way to explain the irony of his abundance of degrees and his abject poverty of decorum is that he probably collected them the same way he collects things that he imagines would enhance his social standing. He bought them like his exotic cars and his 22 of chieftaincy titles! Dino Melaye recently announced it that he would soon be the president of Nigeria. He repeated ‘the dream’ in his rebuttal of the current story –in the same speech in which he editorialized on a woman’s menopause! Dino is a vulgarian and a thug. His presidential dream represents a threat to  Nigeria, which am not sure that it can come to reality if he continue like this. And on the part of the victim, she has not make any public pronouncement on maybe or not she will prosecute him for such disgraceful act.

Article Written by: Beke Olajide

Are PDP Governors Wasting Their Time And Money On Edo State Election?

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors recently stormed Edo State and ended up complicating matters for their own party by unwittingly giving the impression that they were out to coerce and compel the good people of the state into making Osagie Ize-Iyamu Governor against their will. It was rather pathetic seeing them vainly trying to con the electorate of Edo into buying an unmarketable candidate from an unsellable platform.

They had also made much ado about the fact that Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomole, had thrown his weight behind Godwin Obaseki, the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate for the coming governorship poll. One has to wonder what Oshiomole supporting Obaseki amounts to that could possibly be different from Ronald Reagan supporting George Bush Senior back in 1988 or Barack Obama supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016?

Oshiomole, is on the verge of exiting the scene with what amounts to a robustly enviable legacy and that legacy needs to be jealously guarded for posterity and generations yet unborn. As for Obaseki, if ever anyone was most eminently qualified to be Governor, it is surely this gentleman. Amiable, approachable, down to earth and not in any way desperate to rule, the fact of his sterling credentials, readiness, preparedness and capacity to be governor all add up to the makeup of just the right person Edo State requires at this moment in history for the gains of the Oshiomole-years not to be frittered away by the political gamblers and practitioners of stomach infrastructure in the PDP. Simply put, Edo is blessed to have in Obaseki, just the right man to sustain, build upon, and, indeed, even surpass the legacy of Oshiomole, rather than for the Comrade-Governor’s awe-inspiring achievements to be handed over to political vandals in an era as precarious as we now live in.

To be sincere the PDP, lacking either credibility or marketability, has taking refuge in mudslinging, name-calling and tale-bearing. Not even for a nanosecond should the dastardly lies the PDP has been peddling against Obaseki be given even as much as a fleeting thought. The PDP is notoriously a platform of rumourmongers and conscienceless slanderers of the reputations of their moral and intellectual betters. None of these PDP cranks currently propagating these infernal lies against Obaseki are nearly as clean as the gentleman or in any way in a position to give either Obaseki or the Edo electorate any lectures on uprightness or moral discipline. Oshiomole is, for me, a lesson on how democracy can be deepened in this country. Performance is the key. Any other paradigm for retaining political power is as illegitimate as it is not sustainable. Oshiomhole is a man who managed by the grace of God to survive in the midst of vultures who will always hate him for re-energizing Edo into a living state from the dying carcass they were used to cannibalising. Oshiomhole is thus a hero across the entire South-South as he remains the first man to liberate a Niger Delta state from the visceral grip of the PDP. By that singular feat, he succeeded in giving hope to scores of his fellow Niger Deltans that all is not lost and that with time, other states will be liberated from the avaricious stranglehold of the PDP, a party with a knack for taking away everything, without offering anything in return. 

One just has to wonder what the PDP deludes itself about its image that could possibly recommend it to the electorate of Edo State? What is its selling point other than deceit, non-performance, and complete failure? Does it intend to market itself on the basis of its prowess for corruption, ineptitude, failure to deliver and inability to perform? Is lack of capacity an electoral credential? It is already more than sufficiently unfortunate that its candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu is not in any way marketable against the consistency and dependability of someone of the pedigree of Obaseki. Even more embarrassing is the fact that Ize-Iyamu’s godfather, former Governor Lucky Igbinedion, has retreated, having apparently been found by his own PDP, not to be in a position to come out openly to campaign for his godson and right-hand man. Knowing full well that as a party, they simply absolutely lack any legacy to point to, what do they honestly envisage the Edo electorate doing other than voting in Obaseki, just the sort of man they had all along been waiting for to succeed Oshiomhole?

In spite of PDP governors pumping in money which they should be using to pay salaries in their own states into Edo for the purpose of reaping where their party did not sow, I remain unshakably confident that Edo State will end up voting APC and making Obaseki its Governor. The likes of Okowa can keep prancing about the state but I know that no matter how much money PDP deploys in Edo, this election can neither be bought nor can it be rigged. Edo is not and will never be for sale. When the election is over and the results are in, even the greatest doubting Thomases will be forced to agree: “If not Obaseki, then who?” All we need is time to truly know who among them the people of Edo state desire to rule them for the next four year dispensation.

Article By: Olajide Beke

Young Undergraduate Slumps And Dies In Unilag

A final year student of the University of Lagos, known as Odunsami Matthew has died shockingly after he collapsing at his hostel. It was learnt that Matthew, a student at the Estate Management Department, was playing football with some of his friends on Friday when he slumped. He was reportedly rushed to the school’s medical centre where he was confirmed dead on arrival. The remains of the student had been deposited at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba.

One of the residents confirmed that the incident happened around 4pm. He said, “He stayed in this hostel. Around 4pm, he decided to play football with some of his friends. He was not tackled neither was he with the ball when he collapsed. “Nobody understood what went wrong with him. He was rushed to the medical centre, but he died on the way. It’s really a shock to us.”

A colleague of the victim, at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, said Matthew cried that his head was stiff before he died. “Actually, he had stopped playing. He took time off to rest and sat on the sideline. Suddenly, he started crying that his head was stiff and he could not feel anything again. He slumped shortly after and died,” the colleague, who did not want to be named, said. A man, who claimed to be Matthew’s close friend, said he spoke with him on Friday, adding that he never had any premonition that he would die suddenly. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the friend said, “He was a nice guy. He was also hard working. He had a strong second class upper grade. I still cannot believe he’s gone. I am grieving and don’t want to say more than that.” 

However, the Deputy Registrar and Head of Information Unit, University of Lagos, Mr. Toyin Adebule, said Matthew was playing football at the university’s sports centre, where he slumped and was rushed to the medical centre. He said, “A student was brought from the sports centre to the medical centre. When he got there, he did not have any sign of life. The director of health centre and other workers there tried to resuscitate him to no avail. He was dead. “The dean of students’ affairs and other representatives of the school were there. We have reached the family and broken the news to them. Our prayers are with them that God will give them the fortitude to bear the loss.”

But the question remains whether the university medical centre had the required qualified personnel and equipment because the report of rushing people there and died at point of receiving them or giving excuses.

Christian Preacher Hacked To Death In Abuja

A 42-year-old mother of seven, Mrs. Eunice Elisha, was on Saturday morning murdered by unknown assailants while evangelizing around Gbazango-West area of Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory. Eunice, who was a Deaconess at the Divine Touch Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Old NEPA Road, Phase 4, Kubwa, was said to have been cut in the neck and also stabbed in the stomach. It was learnt that her killers left her in the pool of her blood with her Bible, megaphone, and cell phone.

Her remains were discovered by residents who alerted policemen who came to evacuate her to the police station where her husband went to identify her. Speaking at their residence, Eunice’ husband, Mr. Olawale Elisha, who is also a pastor at RCCG, said his wife had gone out to preach in the neighbourhood at about 5 am only for him to hear the report of her murder. Olawale, who expressed shock over the death of his wife, looked pensive and dejected as he spoke.

He said, “My wife always goes out early in the morning for ‘Morning Cry’ (evangelism). There was a particular day she went out, and she told me that there is a mosque at the back where they commented about what she said. So I just cautioned her.

“This morning (Saturday), she went around 5 am and I was still in bed because we did vigil which she participated in for a while because of the ‘Morning Cry’ she planned to undertake. Two of my boys are footballers, so they went to the field to play. And when they came back, they told me that they heard some footballers saying that some hoodlums had butchered a woman who was preaching early this morning.

“So, when I heard this, we trekked down in the shorts I was putting on, and we didn’t see anybody, but we saw blood on the ground. I asked a policeman around, and he said it is true but that they had taken her to Phase 4 Police Station.

“I went to the station with my children, and when we got there, I saw the lifeless body of my wife at the back of the police van and from there, she was taken to the mortuary. The incident happened between 5 am and 5:30 am because she usually goes out 5 am and comes back 6 am.”

Elisha, who said Eunice was born on July 23, 1974, said they got married in July 2000. “My wife was so committed to anything that is of God. She was a reckless giver to God’s work; she rarely missed any programs in the church. We have seven children,” he stated.

According to him, his wife had no quarrel with anyone that could have warranted her murder, describing her as a martyr. “I see her as a martyr, and she died for Christ. And whether the people are caught or not, they should forgive them; my prayer is that if they can accept Christ, that will be a gain to Christ,” the bereaved cleric said.

A lawyer and friend of the Elishas, David Ude-Chukwu, described Eunice’ murder as hate crime brought about by religious insensitivity, noting that the constitution allows every Nigerian to practise his chosen religion.

A senior police officer at the Kubwa Divisional Police Station confirmed the incident. At least six suspects have been arrested over the murder of Eunice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's a shame that we can't live and let live. It's a crying shame how we, as humans, selfishly and perpetually tend to impose our beliefs on others. It's a shame how little the human life matters these days.

Catch 'Em Young

It's summer again!!!!!! Empower your artistic child with the gift of creative expression. CATCH ‘EM YOUNG script to screen film making summer camp for kids aged eight to thirteen (8-13).

This is an initiative of Remi Ibinola, a film maker (Distance Between, Growing up and Theo’s Dora) and the PRO of the National Association of Movie Producers.

Catch ‘em young was born from a need to keep my son gainfully occupied during the holiday. I wanted him to acquire life skills and at the same time have a fun experience. ~ Remi

Catch ‘em young is a three week summer day camp running every week day from 10am to 3pm from the 1st to the 19th of August. This is the maiden edition and there are limited spaces available. In this time from script to screen, the kids will learn film production from script workshop to designing your EPK (electronic press kit).

Each arm of production will be taught by the facilitator and a host of visiting Nollywood industry practitioners and surprise celebrity guests. At the end, the kids will produce their very own three minute short films which will eventually enter into children's film festivals across the globe.

The goal of Catch ‘me Young is to empower our participants, through creative expression. The effects of creative workshops like this, have a large impact on the participants and greatly improves life long experience in teamwork, confidence building and self-esteem and creativity. Our lucky Participants are guaranteed experiences of a life time. 

Venue: Afriville. 4, Eric Moore. Surulere Lagos

Contact: Remi 08033486866 

Email: catchemyoungng@gmail.com

The Day O.A.U Would Never Forget

I was reminded about the importance of this day by the article below written by an ex-classmate of mine in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), 17 years ago. I barely escaped this massacre with my life, thanks to my late cousin Muideen Akinola of blessed memory. Reading this article further saddened me that sadly and heartbreakingly, not that much has changed in this country.

May the souls of the departed continue to rest in perfect peace.

___________________________________________________________________

On this day July 10, 2016, it would be exactly 17 years since the young student of Law and former Secretary-General of Great Ife Students’ Union, George Akinyemi Iwilade (aka Afrika) was assassinated in cold blood by cult members on the campus of Obafemi Awolowo University.

The Obafemi Awolowo University massacre was a series of shootings and murders which took place against students of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria on Saturday, July 10, 1999. It resulted in the deaths of eight people and leaving 11 students injured. It was perpetrated by an organised death squad of 40 members of the Black Axe Confraternity branch at the university. They invaded the Awolowo Hall of the university at around 4:30 A.M., clad in black trousers and black T-shirts, their faces hidden by masks; they carried and made use of shotguns and hatchets against students.

A list of victims that died are:

George Akinyemi Iwilade, AFRIKA (Secretary-General of the students’ union and founder of the AFRIKA FORWARD MOVEMENT, AFORM; shot in the head on his bed, then smashed on the head by an axe wielded by one of the Black Axe members)

•Tunde Oke (a 21-year old student activist and member of Democratic Socialist Movement, DSM, the Nigerian section of CWI).

•Eviano Ekelemu

•Efe Godspower Ekpede

•Yemi Ajiteru

Injured

Several people were injured directly and indirectly from the ensuing confusion and stampede.

At around 4 p.m., Lanre Adeleke, the president of the students’ union, called an assembly of the students’ union members in Oduduwa Hall; he then demanded for Vice-Chancellor Wale Omole’s resignation due to Omole’s past impeding of the union’s anti-cult activities. A #10,000 reward was placed by the union for Omole’s capture, resulting in a student takeover of the entire campus and the kidnapping and ransoming of Omole’s wife, who was on her way to church on the following Sunday, July 11th.

Students also erected roadblocks at the university entrances, impounded vehicles and launched vigilante searches to flush out the killers. After raiding a local police station to regain a suspect that they had turned over to the police after fears of police leniency surfaced, a suspect named Frank Idahosa Efosa admitted that he had overheard Omole being referred to as the “patron” of the Black Axes and also overheard that Omole had offered a large bounty for the deaths of the student union leaders.

By July 14th, the Nigerian Universities Commission, headed by education minister Tunde Adeniran, recalled Omole from his position of Vice-Chancellor, and a multi-million naira investigation to uproot the confraternities was launched through the Nigerian university system; the Olusegun Obasanjo government, on the 15th, ordered police to patrol the university campuses.

The day before the funeral, Adeniran addressed a student union rally on the matter of the reinstatement of expelled students. Also, over #45,000 was raised by the student union, #30,000 of which went to the organization of the funeral.

Funeral

Four of the “July 10th martyrs” were buried on July 20th, 1999, at university cemetery. Around 20,000 people attended the funeral, including students from various institutions, workers, lecturers, parents, market women, and journalists from throughout Nigeria. A local woman donated the five coffins for the dead.

Article by: Otunba I. O. Sunmola

Music Is My Escape Route

Two members of my family got kidnapped yesterday. I cannot say much on it due to the ongoing investigations and stuff happening but I am glad for the support so far. I ask that you all keep supporting us with prayers until they are returned safely.

I could go on and on about how messed up Nigeria is, but I swear down, I don't even have the mental strength right now. This is so close to home and utterly devastating. How can we not feel safe in our homes, in our cities, in our country? Where else can we go to feel safe and secure?

All we have now are prayers and hope. This must end in praise.

Thank you.

Are The Avengers Truly Representing Their Regions?

The militant are daring the government by making unrealistic demands. Nigeria is a country that comprised of over 250 ethnic groups, so why should a region wanted to hold us to ransom? The Niger Delta Avengers claimed that their communities are not developed, the resources allocated to them are not judiciously utilize. But the question is; who is to blame? Is it the Federal, State or Local government?  Is there any region in the country is not underdeveloped? How will it look like if all of  the others pick up weapons against the government? 

The militants are fighting a just course in the wrongest of ways. The previous government had setup various mechanism and platform in which they can be liberated such as the Niger Delta ministry, NDDC, Amnesty programme and so on. Each of the States where oil is been produced get 13% oil revenue monthly, where then does the money go to? Have they challenge their immediate leaders like Councillors, Chairmen, House of Assembly Members, House of Representatives and the Senate? If all these channels of communication have been properly utilized with results, it would have be a different ball game. Or do they think they are more powerful and stronger than the government? 

All it takes is just an order which can destroy their entire generation. Where are their leaders amidst all these crisis? Where is the common sense man (Senator Ben Bruce)? Their silence means they are in support of the militants, but we must ask ourselves, will destruction of pipelines solve their problems or add to it? The called themselves Niger Delta Avengers! Are all the regions in support of there actions? 

Now that the government want to give them soft landing by negotiating with them, they are talking out of point by asking the Federal Government to withdraw the case against people like Dasuki and Tompolo! How is that going to add value to their lives? I do not see any correlation between their stance and their conditions to ceasefire. I will suggest they go back to their leaders and ask questions  on how money allocated to them so far has been spent, what they need to do more and how much will it cost so that it can be included in the government plan. I foresee problems if they over stress the patience of the Federal Government. They should all embrace peace for the interest of the nation and come up with a plan in which the government will key in to and if more funds are required then it will be added to it if their proposal is logical enough.

Article By: Olajde Beke & Buki O

Modern America; Still Scary.

I wrote the post below almost a year ago, on the 17th of July 2015 to be precise and it is rather disturbing to find out that things are still the same or worse even since a year ago , concerning the simple fact that #BlackLivesMatter in the United States of America.

I simply cosmonaut understand how people think it is OK to shoot in order to subdue, just like that. This week has been very traumatising to say the least, with the cold-blooded murders of #AltonSterling and #PhilandoCastile. I sincerely hope something gets done, and gets done FAST.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I came across the picture below on Facebook and to say I am appalled is to say the least. It feels like Blacks (in America) have been automatically programmed to fail at achieving anything with their lives, while the Whites have been programmed to see them as a threat always. Or why else would they use the picture of a young black male as GUN TARGET PRACTICE????

Imagine a young adult going for training everyday at such a range and shooting at such an image daily for weeks, in his mind he begins to see things and when he so much as perceives a threat, albeit nonexistence, he aims and shoots and thus hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter are born.

Remember the story of Eric Garner I wrote about here and here? Well, some justice was gotten from his case. I say some because, the city paid his family the sum of $5 million but they also cleared all the officers involved. It was so glaring in that video what happened yet the officers were cleared even though Eric gasped "I can't breathe" 11 times before he was choked to death.

There's a new case of a young lady, 28-years-old Sandra Bland, who went for a job interview, got the job, cheerfully stopped at a restaurant to enjoy a meal which she shared with her followers on instagram and then as she made her way home she was stopped by the police for a traffic offence and roughly taken into custody. I saw a video of her being rough handled by the police even as she protested that then police had slammed her head on the ground and hurt her while arresting her without batting an eyelid. Shortly after Sandra was taken into custody, it was reported that she had died by committing suicide in the cell. How is that even possible? What the hell is going on?  There are so many more cases like these almost on a weekly basis.  

If you go through Shaun King, a columnist's Twitter handle (@ShaunKing), you will feel your blood run cold at the height of Black deaths in the hands of police. 

Something needs to give and quickly too. 

By the way IALEFI stands for International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors. Sigh.

I know for a fact that no matter how such issues are set up to have certain effects, the choice to be better and not succumb to prejudices always lies with us. Make the right choice by making the most and best of your situation. Don't let anyone put you in a box, remember that you hold the power to make things right.