Femi Fani Kayode wades into Obasanjo/Jonathan war

Obasanjo recently wrote a provocative 18-page letter to President Jonathan and former minister of Aviation Femi Fani Kayode thinks the former president will sink the current president. See what he wrote on his Facebook page and tell us what you think...

Photos from Seyi Law's surprise birthday party for his wife

Top comedian Seyi Law threw a surprise birthday party for his wife, Ebere, last night at Jade Palace Restaurant in Victoria Island. Tiwa Savage and Teebillz, Banky W, AY comedian and wife, Emeka Smith, family and friends attended the intimate event. See more photos after the cut...

CHAN: Amokachi laments players’ exodus

Daniel Amokachi moaned about the negative impact players movement abroad has had on Nigeria’s preparation for the African Nations Championship (Chan).

The Super Eagles assistant coach decried the fact that most of players that qualified Nigeria for a maiden appearance in the competition are no longer available for selection, as they have moved abroad in search of greener pastures.

Amokachi

While hailing the competitiveness of the players in camp, Amokachi lamented the fact that the team has had to undergo a major overhauling within a short period of time.

“About 80 per cent of the players we started with if not more have gone,” Amokachi lamented.

“But these new sets are giving us hope that Nigeria is always blessed with talented footballers.”

Amokachi has been in charge of the team in the absence of coach Stephen Keshi who is expected to arrive later today.

Police tear-gas Rivers lawmakers, barricade House of Asembly

HEAVILY armed Policemen, yesterday, barricaded the two ends of Moscow Road leading to the state House of Assembly, thus preventing the pro-Governor Chibuike Amaechi lawmakers from reconvening the House.

It would be recalled that a Federal High Court, Abuja, Wednesday, declared as illegal, the take-over of the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly by the House of Representatives.

Following the court ruling, the 22 pro-Governor Amaechi’s lawmakers, therefore, gathered at the House of Assembly to resume sitting. But as early as 8.30 a.m. Police patrol vehicles were used to block the two ends of the road leading to the Assembly.

Staff of the NNPC and other establishments whose offices were in the area were only allowed into their offices after their identities were confirmed by fierced looking anti-riot Policemen.

Police Barricade Rivers House of Assembly Entrance 11 Lawmakers and supporters running away from tear gas shot by the Police yesterday to scare them away. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke

An Armoured Personnel Career, APC, and two Police patrol vehicles were also used to block the entry and exit gates of the state House of Assembly complex.  Nobody was allowed into the complex. Journalists who were able to sneak through the gate of the Assembly complex were ordered to go back.

At about 9.30 a.m, the Police suddenly stopped even workers from entering the Moscow Road as some of the Policemen were seen clutching their walk-talkie to their ears, apparently taking and dishing out instructions.

At about 9.55 a.m, a Coaster bus conveying the pro-Amaechi lawmakers were stopped by the Police at the Port Harcourt City Council end of the road. The Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Mr Tony Okocha and Commissioner for Works, Mr Victor Giadom were among those stopped by the Police from proceeding beyond the Port HarcourtCity council end of the road.

Pleas by the lawmakers to be allowed beyond this point or to the state House of Assembly fell on deaf ears. The Policemen kept saying they were acting on instructions not to allow anyone go beyond the point or into the Assembly complex.

Mock sitting

When it became clear that the Police would not allow them into the complex, the pro-Amaechi lawmakers, who were about 22, suddenly commenced a mock sitting on the Moscow Road with the Deputy Speaker, Leyii Kwanee presiding.

White plastic chairs were fetched for them from the Port HarcourtCity council local government secretariat. They took turns to denounce the action of the Police.

Teargas

Mid way into their deliberations, the Police started firing teargas, a development that made the lawmakers and onlookers to scamper for safety.

A Man Injured while ruining from the scene of the crisis Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke

Police kept firing canisters of teargas to ensure they did not regroup in the area. Some youths who had also turned up early to witness the sitting of the Assembly started hurling stones from a distance. It was not clear if their targets were the Policemen but their action triggered the Police to fire more canisters of teargas.

Contacted, leader of the anti-Amaechi lawmakers, Hon. Evans Bipi, said he was the Speaker of the House, adding that when he was ready to reconvene the House he would let Rivers people know.

Be professional, Chief of Staff tellsPolice

Meanwhile, the Chief of Staff, Rivers State Government House, Port Harcourt, Mr. Tony Okocha, has called on the Police in the  state to be professional while discharging their duties.

Condemning the refusal of the Police to allow the pro-Amaechi lawmakers access to the state Assembly complex to resume legislative functions, Okocha said it was sad that the security body resorted to firing canisters of teargas at the lawmakers who were merely responding to a court judgment which restored the functions of the Assembly to the state lawmakers.

Obuah’s faction lauds Police

However, the Felix Obuah’s faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state has lauded the Police for aborting a sitting of the pro-Amaechi lawmakers.

Chairman of the party, Mr. Felix Obuah, who spoke through his media aide, Mr. Jerry Needam, said the action of the Police, yesterday, saved the state another round of chaos.

The statement which addressed Evans Bipi as Speaker of the House urged the Police to continue to maintain peace in the assembly complex.

APC vows to resist any unconstitutional action

On its part, the All Progressives Congress (APC)warned against any reliance on Wednesday’s judgment of a Federal High Court, to perpetrate mayhem or unconstitutional acts in RiversState.

In a statement in Osogbo, yesterday, by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also warned the police and other security agencies not to provide cover for renegades to engage in any illegality, saying their role must be to ensure the safety and security of all legislators if and when the House decides to sit.

It said there is no doubt that the six legislators opposed to Gov. Amaechi will try to hide under the cover of the judgment to convene the Assembly with the sole purpose of removing the Speaker as a prelude to impeaching the state governor, but warned that any such act will constitute an illegality and trigger a cataclysmic reaction, the end result of which no one can predict.

APC said: “The six legislators opposed to Gov. Amaechi do not and cannot form a quorum (nine members) that will even allow the House to convene legally, not to talk of at least 20 members— representing two third majority — that can constitutionally impeach the Speaker.

‘’We are, therefore, constrained to warn, in the strongest possible terms, that we in the APC will take any impunity in Rivers as an impunity to all, and will vehemently resist such with a spontaneous explosion of people power not only in states under our control but across the country.”

….Advises Jonathan

To President Goodluck Jonathan, APC said he must not allow personal and partisan considerations to blot his responsibility as the father of the nation and put in jeopardy his constitutional role of ensuring the country’s unity.

It said: “We are aware of the letter to President Jonathan by former President Olusegun Obasanjo virtually accusing the President of destroying the same nation he was elected to preside over and uplift. We hope he will not allow Obasanjo’s prognosis about him to come true so soon by backing any move that can plunge Nigeria into chaos.

“This is because we in the APC have resolved never to sit by and allow anyone, no matter how highly placed, to engage in actions that will make our country a laughing stock and a pariah in the comity of nations. Therefore, there will be no peace anywhere in the country if this Federal Government supports the perpetration of impunity in Rivers. This is not a threat, but the sure consequences of any act of impunity.”

Court ruling bizarre

Meanwhile, the party has described the court ruling as bizarre and alarming, against the background of the massive mayhem that was unleashed in the Rivers House of Assembly last July.

It wondered why the court will say there were no facts that the House of Assembly could not carry out its functions, with the Mace as well as several heads broken and the hallowed chambers desecrated by a free-for-all that was watched all around the world.

“What else must occur before the stipulated conditions can prevail for the National Assembly to take over the functions of the Rivers House of Assembly? Is it when MPs are slaughtered like rams that such a condition will be deemed to have prevailed?

‘’We are astonished and concerned by this court ruling, especially coming shortly after we warned the judiciary not to allow itself to be used by unscrupulous people to reverse the gains that have been recorded under the present Chief Justice of Nigeria, who has embarked on determined and sincere efforts to clean up the judiciary,’’ APC said.

6 cultists gang rape 16-yr-old girl

SIX boys suspected to be members of a cult known as Blue Angel, have allegedly gang raped a 16-year-old secondary school student in Akure, Ondo State capital.

As 24-year-old school dropout, Yusuf Lawal, was yesterday remanded in Kirikiri Prison custody by a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, for allegedly being in possession of a gun, which was later discovered to be a toy gun.

The boys, who reportedly recorded the act with their mobile phone, while taking their turns on the girl, threatened to upload it on the Internet if she dares to report them to her parents or the Police.
However, two of the alleged rapists have been arrested by officials of the state command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, while four others are on the run.

The victim (names withheld) said that the six boys blindfolded her and threatened to rip her open with knife if she failed to cooperate.
Those arrested include Banjo Olasehinde, 25, A.K.A. Obanje Babalowo Sherry and Adewale Fadunsi, 28, a fashion designer.
Those on the run include Tope Oluwole; Tope, A.K.A Jigan and Muyideen, a.k.a. Gbem.
Spokesman of NSCDC in the state, Kayode Balogun, said one of the suspects, Banjo Olasehinde, has confessed to the crime and the fact that they belong to a cult group known as Blue Angel.
According to Balogun, the suspect said they saw the girl on her way from school when one of them invited her for a chat and the six of them raped her.

24-yr-old in prison custody over toy gun

LAGOS— A 24-year-old school dropout, Yusuf Lawal, was yesterday remanded in Kirikiri Prison custody by a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, for allegedly being in possession of a gun, which was later discovered to be a toy gun.

The defendant, who is standing trial before Justice Kudirat Jose, is facing a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, robbery and unlawful possession of firearms, preferred against him.
The prosecuting counsel Adejumo Kester, said that the defendant and others at large on August 14, 2011 at Raji Oba in Alimosho, area of Lagos, conspired among themselves to commit, robbery.

My Wife is a Wonderful Person – OJB

Popular music producer,  OJB  Jezreel ,  who just returned to the country after a successful kidney transplant surgery in India, is showering praises on his first wife, Mama J, for being there for him and donating one of her kidneys to save his life. While speaking recently after his arrival, OJB revealed that despite discouragement from family and friends, his wife still made the crucial donation to save him, even at the risk of her life.

While describing his wife for the voluntary donation, OJB had this to say; “She is a wonderful person because it is one thing if God is telling you to do something but another to do it. It takes a lot of courage to actually do it. Just as Jesus had made the water for Peter to walk on, Peter needed a lot of courage to take that step and that was what she did at that dying minute. Even when the doctors came to tell her that they would have to cut her all the way to the back and would have to remove a rib so they could have access to the kidney, she still agreed to go through it. It takes courage to go through with it, so, I will say she is a courageous woman.”
D’Banj, Tuface, others to hold concert for Mandela
Come Wednesday,    December 18, 2013, some celebrities in Nigeria will gather for ‘Legacy Concert’ in honour of late anti-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela, who died on Thursday, December 5, 2013 at the age of 95. Top Nigerian musical artistes D’Banj, 2Face Idibia, Darey Art-Alade, Burna Boy, Ikechukwu, Eldee the Don, Zaina, Mo Easy, Engage and Chioma have been pencilled down to perform at the tribute concert.

Others are DJ Babus, Timi Dakolo, Waje, Julius Agwu, Mike Aremu, J-Martins, Niyola, Omawumi, Tiwa Savage, Rocksteady, amongst others.

The event holds at The Oceanview Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos. Going by what the organisers of the event said, it promises to be a very befitting and groundbreaking honour in memory of the extraordinary life and unselfish contributions of one of the greatest beacons of hope, inspiration and freedom to ever walk the surface of this earth.

Jonathan, student of Obasanjo— FALANA

In an 18-page letter dated December 2, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo accused President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration of incompetence,  abuse of office, corruption and gross mismanagement of the resources of the nation.

Apart from accusing the regime of celebrating criminality, including drug trafficking, Chief Obasanjo has blamed the regime for the rising wave of  impunity, terrorism and ethno-religious strife in the country.
No doubt, the allegations which lacerated the controversial letter are weighty. Instead of dismissing the contents of the letter the Presidency should respond to the allegations raised therein seriatim. In particular, the allegation that the Federal Government is setting up a Presidential Strike Force to carry out terrorist attacks on political opponents should not be swept under the carpet.

However, it is pertinent to point out that President Jonathan is a faithful student of the Olusegun Obasanjo School of Politics. While President Jonathan has been accused by General Obasanjo of diverting $7 billion from the Federation Account he (President Obasanjo) is yet to account for the over $20 billion which he diverted from the same account.
The 36 state governments sued the Federal Government over the illegal diversion of such huge public fund by President Obasanjo and the case is currently pending at the Supreme Court.
The Senate recently indicted Presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan for mismanaging the Federation Account to the tune of N1.5 trillion. The Senate has recommended the revocation of the fraudulent privatisation of public assets carried out by President Obasanjo.

The Transcorp Hotel was bought by a sitting President through “blind trust” while the House of Representatives indicted the Obasanjo regime for spending $16 billion to generate darkness.
Does President Obasanjo know any President who used public funds to establish a private university and a presidential library through extortion of funds from government agencies and contractors?
On disloyalty to the ruling party President Obasanjo defied the Supreme Court when it pronounced Senator Ararume as the gubernatorial candidate of PDP for Imo State during the “do-or-die” general election of 2007. The imperial presidency directed PDP members to vote for the candidate of the PPA who “won” the election.
In his book, Accidental Public Servant, Mr. Nasir el-Rufai gave a vivid account of how President wanted General Buhari of ANPP to nominate Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as his Vice-Presidential candidate as a precondition for ditching the presidential candidate of the PDP, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan during the 2011 general election.

With respect to reliance on ethnic jingoists President Obasanjo deployed the likes of late Lamidi Adedibu to terrorise and intimidate innocent people in Oyo State. President Obasanjo equally entered into an alliance with  the Afenifere group to facilitate the capture of the South-West region during 2003 general election.
When there was a threat to impeach President Obasanjo by the House of Representatives, the Presidency mobilised a faction of the Oodua Peoples Congress to threaten  a break up the country. Was Anambra State not made ungovernable by Chris Uba with presidential support? Did Obasanjo not know of governors who had killer squads? Why were the members of  the Abacha Strike Force never demobilised and disarmed by President Obasanjo?
On the presidential involvement in the case of the fellow who was recently acquitted in the charge of murder on technical grounds by the Court of Appeal in Lagos, it is on record that President Obasanjo also wanted him freed for political reasons while he was in power.

Indeed, he pressured the Lagos State Government, in vain, to file nolle prosequi with a view to terminating the case on the eve of the 2003 general elections. Did General Obasanjo not take part in another celebration of criminality in Lagos the other day when a PDP chieftain completed his jail term. Did the General not turn round to say that he was misled into believing that it was a “family reunion”?
Does President Obasanjo have the moral right to advise President Jonathan on how to convene a national conference? It is public knowledge that President Obasanjo too was vehemently opposed to the convocation of a national conference until he needed it for dubious political objectives.
The Political Reform Conference which he eventually convened collapsed due to the refusal of the delegates to endorse the satanic third term agenda of the President. Like the report of the Chukwudifu Oputa Commission of Enquiry on human rights abuse the report of the Political Reform Conference never saw the light of day.

In the aforesaid 18-page letter President Obasanjo did not challenge the neo-colonial economic agenda of the Jonathan administration, which has continued to pauperise the masses. Hence the letter is silent on the crises of unemployment, illiteracy, ignorance, hunger, infrastructural decay, etc.It is an intra-class feud which cannot enhance democracy in the country.
President Obasanjo has a penchant for writing letters and granting interviews on regimes which he and other power mongers had installed. He dismissed the regimes of President Shehu Shagari, Generals Buhari, Abacha and Babangida and President Yar’Adua once they fell out with him.

After the election of the late Bashorun MKO Abiola as President did General Obasanjo not say that he was not a messiah?
For goodness sake when did General Obasanjo discover that President Jonathan is incompetent?

Finally, instead of celebrating the hypocrisy of frustrated power mongers, the Nigerian people should take advantage of the intra-class war going on in the ruling party to get organised and take their political destiny in their own hands.
The time has come to put an end to the opportunism of discredited rulers who are in the habit of exploiting the frustrations and disenchantment of the people to become emergency heroes. Enough is enough!

Jonathan deserves kudos for revolutionising leadership in Nigeria – Maku

The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, said President Goodluck Jonathan had revolutionised leadership in Nigeria and as such deserved commendation from Nigerians especially party loyalists.

Maku said this in Abuja on Thursday when he received members of the Organising Committee for the first PDP National Youth Football Championship.

The minister said members of PDP across the country should be proud of the achievements of the administration in key sectors of the economy, especially in sports.

Labaran Maku

He added that the PDP-led federal administration had done what most past leaders of the party and country could not achieve in past years.

He said Nigerian youths should not be deceived and dragged into politics of tribalism, sectionalism or religion.

“In terms of development, the PDP is doing much better under President Goodluck Jonathan.

“PDP, today, should be beating its chest, if it didn’t do well under past leaderships; it is performing creditably well today.

“The reality is clear, there is a new generation of leadership in this country led by Jonathan who believes in civility because leadership is not about noise making or intimidation and making threats’’, he said.

The minister stressed that Jonathan had revolutionised leadership in Nigeria.

Recounting the achievements of the administration in sports, Maku attributed them to deliberate planning and policy implementation led by the president.

He said that in the wake of the country’s poor outing at the 2012 London Olympic Games, Jonathan gave the sports ministry marching order to reposition the sector which had begun to yield results.

He described Jonathan as the most successful president in Nigeria’s sporting history.

He said the president pushed for reforms in the sector that had produced unprecedented results in the past two years.

According to the minister, the achievements of the administration in sports are verifiable and challenged those in doubt to a national debate.

“This president is faced with a lot of challenges, but has produced good results in a record time of two years.

“I want to challenge anyone to a national debate, let him or her come up with facts that can counter what this president has achieved in the past two years’’, he said.

On the planned PDP National Youth Football Championship, Maku said that the ministry, through its agencies, would provide publicity support for it.

The PDP National Youth Leader, Mr Abdullahi Mai-Basira, said the delegation was in the ministry to solicit support for the championship.

He said the National Working Committee of the party had endorsed the initiative and recommended the game to all state governments for support.

Mai-Basira said the tournament was scheduled to kick off in Kaduna on Nov. 14 but was shifted in honour of late Chief Solomon Lar, pioneer Chairman of the PDP.

The Coordinator of the championship, Christian Chukwu, said the football event would engage about 10,000 youths across the country.

He said the event would not be held in PDP controlled states alone, noting that football had a unifying element and would be used to unite Nigerians irrespective of their divide (NAN)

Jonathan free to run his govt without interference, but.. – Atiku

Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan: Atiku urges IBB, Abdulsalami, Ekwueme, Danjuma, others to speak up

By Henry Umoru

ABUJA- FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged former Military President Ibrahim Babangida, former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, ex- Vice President Alex Ekwueme and others whom former President Olusegun Obasanjo copied his letter to President Goodluck Jonathan to speak up.

According to Atiku Abubakar, although he was not competent to speak on the letter because he was not privy to the communication, he however said that General Theophilous Danjuma and others leaders who were consulted by the former President before the publication of the letter shouul intervene and reduce what he termed, the tension created by former President Obasanjo’s weighty allegations.

Atiku and Jonathan

In a statement issued by his media office in Abuja, former Vice President Abubakar said like every other Nigerian, he was nervous about the allegations made by the former President and that those elders mentioned by Obasanjo had a moral duty to add their voices to the issue.

According to the former Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the allegations were too disturbing to be treated with apathy by any political stakeholder like him, adding that at a moment of national anxiety or uncertainty, leaders across the country should rise to the occasion and reassure fellow Nigerians about the future.

He explained that at a time the rest of the world was looking at Nigeria as a beacon of hope for stability, the content of Obasanjo’s letter should be urgently addressed by former leaders and elders.

According to Atiku Abubakar, with the attention of Nigerians focused on the 2015 elections, there was the urgent need to reassure Nigerians, adding, “Our priorities for Nigeria are forging lasting solutions to our chronic unemployment, providing safety and security for all, and vastly improving our failing education systems. President Jonathan’s government has consistently failed to address these critical concerns.

“That said, it is on record that I have firmly fought for a democracy where the voters choose their future leaders, not political party bosses. If the incumbent President insists on continuing to destroy his own party with vindictive internal wars and thinks his record of rising youth unemployment, never-ending violence, corruption and scandals is worthy of another term, then he is welcome to run. We are confident Nigerians will exercise their democratic right to choose new leadership in 2015.”

Former Vice President Abubakar said with the attention of Nigerians focused on the 2015 elections, there was the urgent need to reassure Nigerians, adding that the President was free to run his government without interference, but said sometimes even sitting Presidents needed outside constructive interventions to move the country forward.

Lar died as a poor man – Daughter

Late Chief Solomon Lar, the pioneer National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and former Governor of Plateau, died as a poor man, his daughter, Dr. Chalya Lar said on Thursday.

She made the statement during her testimony at the service of songs for the late Lar at the Church of Christ In Nations (COCIN) headquarters in Jos.

“Baba has only one car at the time he died; I am not even sure he has up to N1 million in his account before he died,” she said.

Solomon Lar

The daughter said that she had cause to have a one-on-one discussion with her father as they travelled abroad on his medical trip.

She said that she asked the late politician why he did not amass wealth and build houses like other politicians but that the reply she got from him was on how he was educated on other people’s sweat.

“They contributed their sweat to send me to school; I cannot forget that,” she quoted Lar as saying to her.

She said that rather than telling her why he remained poor, the deceased stressed the need for his children to strive for good name.

According to her testimony, the late politician said: “A good name will always open doors for you.”

She said that her father was also a very good Christian and a lover of the people even at the point of his demise.

“He never ceased expressing faith in God and his love for the people while on his sick bed, even when he knew his end had come,” she said.

A former Personal Assistant to Lar, Mr Nanven Nimsel, in his testimony, described his former boss as a good Christian and a generous politician.

He said that late Lar practices self denial to a fault, adding that “this robbed his people of Langtang some good opportunities when he was governor of the state”.

He said that at a time when Lar appointed administrators for the then 14 local governments, he left out Langtang, claiming that as a governor he had represented them.

Nimsel said that was the reason Langtang did not have the presence of any higher institution of learning till date.

He said that at the time Lar, as governor, gave other parts of the state institutions of higher learning, Langtang had no commissioner to represent it and so did not benefit alongside with others.

“He kept telling us to be patient, while he was pleasing others; he only left us with a legacy of patience,” he said.

Gov. Jonah Jang, represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Shedrack Best, described Lar’s death as a loss to the state.(NAN)

Jonathan, Obasanjo in fruitful meeting

Despite the uproar generated by the open letter by President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan, Vanguard learnt that the  two leaders met  privately for a closed door meeting on Thursday in Nairobi.

Talks between the current and former presidents were held at the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi where Jonathan is lodged to attend Kenya’s 50th independence celebrations.

Jonathan and Obasanjo had on Tuesday attended the memorial held to honor the life of Nelson “Madiba” Madela, South Africa’s great man of history and world’s single most significant statesman of the last 100 years.

Jonathan and Obasanjo were said to have had a “fruitful discussion” after emerging from the meeting beaming with smiles and sharing a warm handshake in a move to paper over cracks in their continually strained relationship and sway watchers that there was no acrimony between the two, the source said.

The Nairobi talks follows Obasanjo’s sanctimonious attack on Jonathan in an 18 page December 2 note to the President titled “Before It Is Too Late”.

Need for more dams in Nigeria

Many lives were lost and property worth billions of naira destroyed in 2012 due to the combined effects of flood waters from Lagdo Dam in the Republic Cameroon and heavy rainfall recorded that year.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said that Nigeria lost N2.6 trillion to floods that year which could have been averted if the government had constructed buffer dams to hold flood waters.

At a recent National Water Conference in Calabar, experts advocated for the construction of dams at strategic locations to check flooding.

They said with about 13 dams spread across the six geo-political zones of the country, more dams were still needed in the country.

Mr Otis Anyaeji, an expert, stressed that Nigeria still required more dams especially in Lokoja and Onitsha to control floods.

Anyaeji, who is the Vice President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), urged the Federal Government to construct more dams, and properly fund its water agencies.

He noted that the construction of more dams would not only avert flood disasters, but provide water for irrigation.

Prof. Paul Marley, Managing Director, Upper Niger River Basin Development Authority, said Nigeria loses 200 billion cubic metres of water to the Atlantic Ocean annually.

He said that the nation was able to store 34 billion cubic metres of water, adding that effort need to be made and sustained to impound more water through dam construction.

“If these waters were not impounded during its passage and allowed to get to the ocean, it would become salt water and no longer fresh; which is not healthy.

“In the year 2030, population would increase to 258 million and the demand for water will increase 17 times than it is now,” he said.

Stakeholders want the government to commence the construction work on the proposed Dasin Hausa Dam in Adamawa.

The federal government was expected to have constructed the dam when its Cameroonian counterpart built the Lagdo Dam in 1982.

The two dams would have acted as safety valves to control flooding and impound water for irrigation, hydropower generation and fishery, among others.

The Dasin Hausa Dam, was also expected to serve as a buffer dam to curtail any water released from Ladgo Dam.

Dr Emmanuel Adanu, Director Dams and Reservoir Operations, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, said plans were on ground to commence work on the dam, adding that the procurement department had already commenced work on the project.

According to him, the ministry had written to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), adding, “they are responding positively because they believe the dam will curb flooding in the country’’.

Adanu also said there were proposals before the federal government on the construction of more dams in the country, pointing out that the dams would effectively check the recurrence of floods.

Available records show that over 30 dams are currently being constructed, while some of them had already been completed and ready for inauguration.

The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe, in her 2013 mid -term report said that the water sector recorded 422 million cubic metres increase in the volume of stored water in the nation’s reservoirs following the completion of nine dams.

The completed dams, according to her, are Ibiono Ibom Dam, in Akwa Ibom; Sulma Dam, Katsina; Mgbowo Dam, Enugu; Owena Dam Treatment Plant, Ondo; Dutsi Dam in Katsina; Inyishi Dam in Imo; Mashi Dam in Katsina; Amauzari Dam, Imo; and Galma Multipurpose Dam in Kaduna.

Observers have noted that since the importance of dams are well known, government should fast-track the completion of the remaining dam projects across the country. (NANFeatures)

By y Kate Obande, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

How presidency frustrated peace talks with Boko Haram— Shehu Sani

Human rights activist and President of Civil Rights Congress, CRC, Mr. Shehu Sani, yesterday, alleged that it was President Goodluck Jonathan that scuttled an initial effort to constructively engage key members of the Boko Haram Islamist sect with a view to convincing them to end the blood-letting insurgency in the northern part of the country.

Sani, who spoke at a seminar for judges and journalists, organised by Konrad-Adenaver-Stitung, KAS, a German non-governmental organisation, gave an account of some underground moves that were made by some elder statesmen, including former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

Sani, who presented a paper on The Difficulties of Political Cases in Justice Delivery, recalled how he persuaded Obasanjo to visit the family of the slain leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, in Maiduguri on a peace mission.
It will be recalled that the representative of Mohammed Yusufs’ family, Babakura Fugu, who hosted Obasanjo in Maiduguri, was killed shortly after the meeting.

However, Sani said he opted out of the presidential committee because he was convinced that it would not achieve anything given his earlier experience with the Presidency on the matter.

Obasanjo intervenes
He said: “I independently reached out to leaders of Boko Haram and offered myself to mediate on behalf of the Federal Government.
“When they were ready to talk, and because I do not have the telephone numbers of President Goodluck Jonathan, I decided to reach out to Obasanjo.
“I narrated my encounter with members of Boko Haram to Obasanjo and he said ‘are you really sure of this?’ I said yes and invited him to Maiduguri.
“Thereafter, I told the leaders of the sect that I was coming with former President, Obasanjo. They agreed and gave us conditions that the meeting should take place in Maiduguri with no security men and journalists involved.
“At the meeting, they came out with photographs and some documents and presented them to Obasanjo, who assured them that he was going to take their grievances to the Federal Government after appealing to them to stop the killings.
“Obasanjo took those documents to the Villa. Since then nothing was done. But Obasanjo told me that he has done his best.

Delay at the Villa
“I made a second attempt by involving Dr. Dati Ahmed, who was a teacher to the founder of Boko Haram, late Mohammed Yusuf. We brought him to Abuja to mediate with the Federal Government on behalf of the sect.
“We went to see the then National Security Adviser, NSA, to the President, late General Owoye Azazi. He kept us waiting in his office for over three hours only to tell us that after consulting with security chiefs, he was told that the Boko Haram members have run out of weapons.
“Therefore, the sect can be overrun by the Federal Government and so there was no need to meet with them. At the end of the day, Dr. Ahmed was frustrated and we all left Abuja.

… opting out of amnesty c’ttee
“We have done this twice and was frustrated, only for me to wake up one day to hear that my name was among the 26-member Presidential Committee on Amnesty for Boko Haram members.
“So when I turned it down, some people called me names and said many things about me, including the fact that I am not a patriotic Nigerian.
“I cannot think of any patriotism other than the efforts I have made. It took me three months to make contact with leaders of Boko Haram.
“It is not an easy thing because you are dealing with a killer group that even goes after their members.
“When you give a committee two weeks, it is not going to work. I have done my best and I know the committee will not achieve anything.

Key Witness in Murder Case Stabbed To Death By Cult Members In Lagos

There was tension in the Yaba and Bariga areas of Lagos State on Tuesday after the murder of a 
36-year-old man, Segun Ogbere, who was killed by members of a gang known as Downtown Boys.
PUNCH Metro reports that Ogbere, who went by the pseudonym, Shaggy, was also alleged to be the leader of a gang known as Shaggy Boys.
According to Police sources, the victim is the key witness in a murder case against a former leader of the Ilajes in the state.
It was said that Ogbere was trailed from the Ebute Meta Magistrate’s court by Downtown Boys led by one Balogun, aka Small Jaypron, and hacked to death.
A police source said, “The former leader is facing a murder charge at the Ebute Meta Magistrate’s court for the death of one James Areomiye, who was slain last year. Ogbere was our only witness in the case.

“We were told that as Ogbere was about leaving the court, he saw some Downtown Boys around the court so he sneaked out of the premises, entered a commercial tricycle and fled. The hoodlums saw him and chased him.

“Ogbere saw his friend driving a tipper so he alighted from the tricycle, entered the passenger seat of the tipper, thinking the thugs were no longer on his trail. However, the assailants soon caught up with him.”
It was learnt that around 3pm, Small Jaypron, in company with three others in a vehicle, crossed the tipper around Adeshina Street, off University Road, Abule Oja, and dragged Ogbere out of the vehicle.
Eyewitnesses account has it that the hoodlums, who were wielding guns and knives, stabbed the deceased many times before fleeing.
“About four guys alighted from a red Volkswagen Gulf car and dragged the guy (Ogbere) out of the passenger seat and started stabbing the guy repeatedly and ripped out his intestines.
“Probably because this is a residential area and it’s always quiet, the guys did not fire a shot so as not to attract the attention of men of the Rapid Response Squad who are stationed on University Road.”

WEIRD: A-21-Year Old Girl Claims She's Pregnant For A Ghost

The bizarre story of 20-year-old  Taiyelolu Abdulrahman may be tagged as strange but true, as she narrated 
to the Nigerian Tribune how she was raised with her twin brother Kehinde by a man whom she called her father.
Abdulrahman, married with three children now expecting the fourth, to her dismay found out that her father and husband were ghosts who were said to have died more over 20 years ago.

Abulrahman claimed she lost everything she had as soon as she learnt the true identities of her husband and father, she is calling on assistance from the government to survive this ordeal which has befallen her.

Read her story below
The 25-minute journey on a motorcycle from Akoda junction to Odeomu to Gaga to Odansidi to Omodeere to Olodan to Abese to Ayetoro and finally to Tonkere village, all in Ayedaade Local Government Area of Osun State was uneventful. Members of the sleepy and rustic communities, from their homestead, waved at Saturday Tribune’s TAIWO OLANREWAJU  and OLUWOLE IGE while some who met them on the way greeted them expectantly and some currency exchanged hands.  They were on the trail of a woman found to have been sired by a ghost and married to a ghost.Before now, chilling stories had been told of individuals who continued to experience life even after their clear deaths. The Yoruba call them Akudaaya. To the Hausa, they are Satalwa. Time after time, there were stories of how the dead, who were supposed to be six feet under the ground, would still stick around on the surface of the earth and lead lives as normal, regular human beings albeit in faraway places where their chances of bumping into either families or acquaintances who had previously bade them goodbye from this world are virtually zero.Many have dismissed such stories as fictions, hallucinations or fabrications, but the recent experience of a 20-year-old Taiyelolu Abdulrahman, whose father, who died almost 20 years ago, nurtured till she was married to another dead or “ghost” husband, is lending credence to such weird developments.It was a Herculean task getting Taiyelolu to grant Saturday Tribune an interview because, according to her, she had already spoken at length with a popular Yoruba magazine which she claimed only used her story for economic reasons. “Where is the assistance they promised would come my way as a result of the interview I granted them?”Her father-in-law, Mr Raufu Gbadamosi, also was not favourably disposed to Taiyelolu granting another press interview. He showed disapproval when he shook his head, disappeared into his room and then reappeared with a cap and just exited the house.When she finally opened up, it turned out that nothing could be more bizarre than Taiyelolu’s story. She and her twin brother, Kehinde, grew up with their father in a flat at the Ajah area of Lagos. They led a relatively comfortable life in the house where they only depended on generator as the only source of electricity. Although their father was not engaged in any kind of work, he provided for them.“My father was not working. He never left the house except on a few occasions at night. But if I asked for N50, 000, he gave it to me. We had no visitors and we visited nobody,” she said.All they had to do were sleep, eat and watch home videos.Asked about her mother, she said she and her twin brother grew up to know only their father. They did not see any woman with him. To go out of the house, their father gave the twins a small gourd each which they simply clasped to their palms and then they burst out on the road and board vehicles to the market to purchase food items like wheat, semovita, macaroni, spaghetti and rice. They never consumed amala (yam flour meal).On a particular day, however, Taiyelolu forgot to take her gourd and as she stepped out of the house, what confronted her was a cemetery with a lot of vaults and a bushy environment.She screamed and dashed back inside. Then, her father told her to pick the gourd, atona (guide) as it was called. As she clasped the object to her palm and then ventured out, this time, she found herself on a busy tarred road.Another incident which frightened her happened in the night. “My father went out whenever he wanted but it was always around 10.00 or 11.00 p.m. He would not take anyone along with him. But there was a day I begged him to take me out to where he usually went and he obliged. When we got there, something strange and fearful happened. It was like a canteen and there, I saw a small cooking stand with a big pot on it without firewood or fire and the food was boiling. I asked my father how it was possible for food to cook without firewood and fire and the woman selling the food became angry and slapped me. She asked my father who I was; that I was not part of them but only wanted to expose their secrets. My father begged her and we left the place,” she remarked.After the incident, her father refused to take her out again so that she would not be privy to the secrets and circumstances surrounding their true identities. Since then, she refused to take food from her father, but only cooked her own food.By the time Taiyelolu came of age, her father did not allow her the choice of a husband, but asked her to marry someone identified as Abdulazeez. The man moved in with them and behaved like her father.Soon, she got pregnant. And when she eventually went into labour, she said her father went out, brought back a particular kind of leaf which he applied on her navel and she was delivered of a baby boy without any complication. Her father, who acted as the midwife, took care of the placenta. She bore her two other boys in the same manner. Her children were named Abdul Qayum (now eight years old), ‘Rokeeb (four) and Jamiu (two and a half).But what revealed the true identities of her father and husband? She disclosed that all the jealously guarded secrets began to come to the open when Kehinde declined to marry a lady recommended by their father.They continued their routine life until their father considered Kehinde mature enough to get married and brought a lady home for him. But Kehinde was said to have refused outright to marry “one of them.” Taiyelolu said she asked him what he meant by “one of them” but he told her not to bother as she was only a woman who was oblivious of what was happening.
 “One day, Kehinde was eating and he suddenly coughed, slumped and died. My father did not feel any sorrow as a result of this. He buried my brother in an unknown place. When I asked him about where he buried him, he said some Muslim clerics had come to pray over his body and he had buried it. Not convinced by his response, I said to him: “When I had my babies, no clerics came for the naming, but they came for the burial of my brother?’”Disturbed by the shocking death of her brother, Taiyelolu confronted her father that she wanted to know his family. That decision marked the beginning of her journey into a new world.

“Eventually, my father agreed to take me and the children to his hometown, Offa, Kwara State. He said he was from the imam’s family. When we almost got to his family house, he said he wanted to check on someone close by and pointed the house to us. He asked us to ask for Alhaji Hussein Salmoni, his uncle. When we met his uncle and explained ourselves to him, he was taken aback. He eventually showed us his grave. He said my father died over 20 years ago,” she said.

Amid bewilderment, Taiyelolu left for the only place she knew as home, Ajah, Lagos, but could not locate their house again. What worsened her situation was the mysterious disappearance of the gourd which her father had given her and could have guided her back to the house.
She went to Ilorin in an effort to locate her mother’s family house which her father told her was Isale Koto. She managed to strike up conversations with some people who introduced her to a radio presenter who narrated her story on air. She also met a lady who she followed to Ede, Osun State, and stayed with for about a month. It was while in that city that she traced her husband’s parents.
She claimed that she was walking by the road one day when a car parked by her side and the driver told her that it was her birthday and in order to felicitate with her, gave her a handset with a SIM card. Taiyelolu is uncertain of her age, but assumed that she could be more than 20.
“It was when I got to ‘this world’ that I realised that I am too young to have given birth to three children with the fourth on the way. Also, I did not know that there is a place where people struggled to earn a living until I got here. It saddens me that I now wake up every day with no money.”

She said she never attended a school, but that her father had the knowledge of the Qur’an and had western education. According to her, her father was the one who taught her and her brother Arabic and a bit of western education,” she said. It is obvious that Taiyelolu is truly versed in the recitation of the Qur’an. Her children now attend a primary school in the village.

On how she got to Tonkere, she said she went to observe the evening prayer at a mosque in Ede when, after prayers, she was chatting with the imam and an old man appeared and told her in clear terms that she was suffering.

The man then asked her why she was obstinate about returning the children with her to Tonkere, her husband’s place of birth. The man said if she refused to do so within three days, something unpleasant would become of the children and the man disappeared.

Then she asked the imam if he saw the old man who just interrupted their conversation, but the imam said no. She then collected N200 from the cleric, fetched her children and the four of them, at about after 8.00 p.m., boarded a motorcycle to Akoda junction for N50.
At the junction, she asked another cyclist to take her to Tonkere but the man, because of the fact that it was late in the day, charged her N1000, whereas she only had N150. But it was necessary that the children got to Tonkere that night because their father, who was deceased, demanded that she took them to his people.

As she pleaded with the cyclist, a car parked by them and mediated in the matter. The driver asked the cyclist to convey the woman and her children to their destination for N500, which was the usual fare. The man gave the cyclist the N500, wrote down the motorcycle’s number and warned the cyclist to take the passengers to no place but the mosque at Tonkere.

As they alighted from the motocycle at Tonkere, Taiyelolu said her husband appeared to her physically.
She said he pointed to the shop opposite the mosque as his mother’s and the third building to the shop as his father’s house, saying “I should ask for his father, Pa Gbadamosi. As they conversed, her husband said a lady who was passing by, Tosin, was his sister and he called her.” Between the time Taiyelolu looked in the direction of the lady and looked back in her husband’s direction, he had disappeared.
The lady is with her husband’s people now, but they did not receive her with open arms because the aged parents of Abdulazeez were confused about how their first son, who died at a tender age, could have fathered three children. They are suspicious of their supposed daughter-in-law and are acting cautiously around her. But she dismissed any suspicious of band motives asking why she would want to lie herself into a poor home.
Also, Taiyelolu’s mother-in-law, the Iyalode of Tonkere, had been down with stroke and the father-in-law is a farmer. Financially, they are not capable of supporting Taiyelolu and her children.
The lady, who said the clothes she uses now were given to her, added that they were rags, compared to the ones she wore in her father’s house. What pointed to the fact that she could truly be from another world was the way she was lamenting openly about the treatment meted out to her by her in-laws. She said if she had made up her story, rather than bringing her children to the old mud house, she would have taken them to the governor’s house. The mud house, she said, did not compare with her father’s house in “the other world.” She said she only left her father’s house with a black bag and a Qur’an, which are still in her possession.

She also claimed to have dreamt of her father once, who was all tears, lamenting with his finger in his mouth that he warned his daughter not to embark on this journey. She said her husband pleaded with her in her dreams each time his people offended her. She said her husband said the reason he insisted she took his children to his parents was for his parents to have the joy of raising his children as they did not have such opportunity with him even as a first child.

The parents said they could not remember where they buried Abdulazeez.
The survival of heavily pregnant Taiyelolu and the future of her three children pose a challenge to her. She said the aged parents of her “ghost” husband could no longer work, hence, the fate of her children hung in the balance.
When she called our reporter last Monday, she said she was having signs that she would soon put to bed. She, therefore, appealed to the Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola; his wife, Alhaja Sherifat, other well-meaning Nigerians, including corporate organisations and non-governmental organisations to come to her aid by empowering her so that her future and that of her three children abandoned could be secure.
What about her husband? She says he these days appears only in her dreams.