I-G Restates Committment To Tackling Violent Crimes In 2013

The Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, on Tuesday promised that the police would work tirelessly in the New Year to tackle violent crimes.
Abubakar, who made the pledge in his New Year message to Nigerians in Abuja, therefore, charged officers and men to re-dedicate themselves to the service of their fatherland. He also enjoined them to exhibit the highest level of patriotism and selflessness while carrying out their duties.
Abubakar while thanking President Goodluck Jonathan for his passion for the nation and resolve to tackle the country’s security challenges, also commended the 36 states governors, FCT Minister, and Local Government Chairmen across the country for supporting the police with logistics and other crime-fighting equipment in 2012.
Abubakar also thanked Nigerians for their vigilance and support without which policing during the period would have been near impossible and urged them not to relent. He said the police management team was committed to the vision of reforming and professionalising the force and bequeathing a truly peoples-friendly police to the nation.
Abubakar said such police would be effective, efficient, and intelligence-driven to respect the fundamental rights of the citizens and adequately positioned to tackle the dynamic challenges of crime prevention.
InformationNigeria

Suntai Discharged From Hospital, Undergoing Therapy – Taraba Govt

The Taraba State government on Wedbesday, announced that the state governor, Mr Danbaba Suntai, who has been receiving treatment in a German hospital as a result of injuries sustained in a plane crash last October, has been discharged from the hospital.
The state government, which also debunked allegations that the picture of the governor with his wife, Hauwa and their twins widely published in the media during the week was doctored, added that Suntai since his discharge from the hospital, has been undergoing physiotherapy.
This information was disclosed by the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Emmanuel Bello, who also refuted reports that Suntai is brain dead, said the governor spoke with some of his aides during the Christmas break.
According to him, Suntai is recuperating well and would soon return to his duty post. He said: “The governor has been discharged from the hospital and he is currently undergoing physiotherapy. It is not true that the governor is brain dead. He spoke to some of his aides, including me on Christmas Day. He is in his right senses and during his discussion with us, it did not suggest in any way of someone whose brain has been damaged.
“The pictures that you saw in the newspapers are pictures of a real event. The pictures were never stage-managed. They are pictures of a real event that took place with the wife of the governor.”
On the subterranean move to remove Suntai because of alleged incapacitation, Bello said: “My response is that people should familiarise themselves with the provisions of the constitution, especially as it relates to this Taraba incident.
“There is no vacancy in this case; the deputy governor who is now the acting governor is discharging his constitutional duties and there is no inhibition whatsoever. He is loyal to the governor and has not in any way suggested in any manner that he wants to replace the governor,” he said.
InformationNigeria

Brain-Injured Suntai: Photo Op Done To Stop Hand Over Of Power In Taraba

Hauwa Suntai, Gov. Suntai, and Tita Mbalam

Recently released photos of the seriously injured Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State are part of a scheme by members of his inner circle to temporarily halt the hand-over of power to the state’s deputy governor, several sources have told SaharaReporters.
In the last few days, Mr. Suntai’s propagandists have flooded Nigerian dailies with photos of the governor who is hospitalized in Hanover, Germany. “The idea is to leave the impression that Governor Danbaba Suntai’s return to Nigeria is imminent,” said one source, a PDP official. The photo depicts Mr. Suntai sitting on a special support chair and showing no emotion. His friend, also in the picture, is seen smiling in the direction of a baby delivered by Mr. Suntai's wife. The baby was put in Mr. Suntai’s hands for the staged photo op.

But the source and several others in Taraba were emphatic that the governor is stilling suffering from a brain injury. Mr. Suntai sustained his serious brain and other injuries when a small plane he was piloting crashed near Yola Airport in Adamawa State. There were five other passengers in the plane at the time of the crash.
In addition to being unaware of his environment and unable to recognize people, our sources also described Mr. Suntai as partially paralyzed. “The truth is that his wife and political aides have been hoping for a miracle to cure the governor of the severe injuries that have kept him in the hospital for several months in Germany,” said one of our sources.
Mr. Suntai is currently at the Medical University of Hannover Hospital Carl-Neuberg St 1 30625 Hannover, Germany. Tel: 00495115320
MH Hanover is a world-renowned center for trauma management.
“The hurried release of the photo was done to slow down the complete take-over of the state by the new deputy governor,” said a source who had visited Mr. Suntai. The ailing governor handpicked his deputy shortly before the Yola plane crash that incapacitated him.
Saharareporters contacted the German hospital for an official update on Mr. Suntai, but hospital officials refused to disclose the status of Mr. Suntai's condition, stating that the governor had requested that all access to his records be blocked.
A People's Democratic Party (PDP) source told SaharaReporters that the party was aware that efforts were in top gear to replace the ailing governor. He confirmed that the party had no information to the effect that Mr. Suntai was “discharged from the hospital or coming home anytime soon.”
Several government officials including the Senate president had visited Mr. Suntai in Germany and privately confided in several people that the governor did not recognize them. A few weeks ago, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State told a church congregation that Mr. Suntai was in bad shape. Mr. Suswam insinuated at the time that Christian governors were being targeted for elimination.
Saharareporters

Quit politics, leave Jonathan alone, Okpozo tells Obasanjo, Anenih

By SIMON EBEGBULEM BENIN — Senator Francis Okpozo has described as senseless and greedy, the appointment of Chief Tony Anenih as chairman of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, and called on Chief Anenih and former President Olusegun Obasanjo to quit politics for the younger generation.
Okpozo, who accused the duo of distracting President Goodluck Jonathan with their political activities and what he described as “selfish interests,” lamented that despite calls in some quarters that they should allow the younger generation take over the leadership of the nation, “they have continued to stay put and manipulate the system.

File photo: Obasanjo and President Jonathan at a PDP convention.

“If Obasanjo and Anenih, who have been in the politics of this nation for long, are still coming today to take over from these small boys, who are supposed to take charge politically today, it means they are not serious. The only meaning that can be attached to their action is selfishness, greed, and it is time for them to quit politics because of their age.
“They have made money, they have tasted power, they are old now like me, they have children, they have so many investments. Why are they not contented and leave politics for the younger generations? Greed destroys a man and I advise both of them to stay clear from President Jonathan. They should not play politics with Jonathan.”
On the 2015 presidency, Senator Okpozo insisted that President Jonathan has the constitutional right to seek re-election, warning, however that “before he does that, he must pacify the people of the South South, who supported him during the election.”
Vanguard

Sister Accidentally Shoots Brother Dead While Posing For Facebook Picture

SAVANNAH RAMIREZ, RIGHT, SHOT HER BROTHER MANUEL, LEFT, ACCIDENTALLY IN THE HEAD ON NEW YEAR’S EVE WHEN POSING FOR A PICTURE WITH A GUN FOR FACEBOOK

In what friends have called a terrible accident, 19-year old Savannah Ramirez, has shot and killed her brother, Manuel Ortiz while posing with a handgun for Facebook photos on New Year’s eve.
Police said 22-year-old Ortiz and his sister Savannah came back to the home they shared on New Year’s Eve after spending the night drinking. Reports say she was posing and playing around with the weapon when it went off striking Ortiz in the head.
While it remains unclear who owns the gun, it is also not known if the duo knew it was loaded but Savannah has been questioned and released pending further investigation in the case.
However, the victim’s sister would likely be charged with manslaughter if tests conclude she had alcohol in her system at the time of the shooting.
On both Manuel and his sister’s Facebook pages there are numerous shots of them posing with guns and making gang symbols.
InformationNigeria

If Not For Divine Intervention… OBJ Narrates Fire Incident In Abeokuta Home

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday, while receiving a delegation of executive members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), from the Lagos State chapter, at his Ibara GRA hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Ogun state, recounted what transpired during the fire incident that gutted a section of his palatial building last week, saying he would have died in the inferno.
According to Obasanjo, if not for providence that made the fire to occur in the daylight and not by night, he would have been suffocated to death and become history.
A boisterous and grateful Obasanjo who was full of praises to God for sparing his life and for the opportunity to witness a new year, recalled that many documents and consumables were destroyed in the fire.
He said: “The fire, which occurred in the office of my Private Secretary, resulted in thick smoke, which pervaded my bedroom.
“If it had happened at night, I would have been a dead person by now.
“I want to thank all, and all those who called me on phone both within and outside the country.
“Let us appreciate the mercy and kindness of God.
“There are many, we started last year together, but no more today.
“We are not mocking them, but to extol God.
“In fact, that I am able to stand erect is God’s blessing.
“Many of my age group cannot stand well.
“I am not mocking them, but I am thanking God.”
The former president while aslo disclosing that he was inundated with telephone calls from within and outside the country over the incident, prayed that the New Year would be a glorious one for the country.
InformationNigeria

Pastor’s 17-year-old son drowns at Lekki Beach

Pastor Owulo Obu of the Latter House of God church, Pero bus stop, Agege, is presently in a mourning state, following the tragic loss of his son who was swept away by Ocean waves at Lekki beach, Lagos on Sunday.
Reports say 17-year old Samuel got drowned at Lekki Beach, Lagos, where he and others went for the New Year celebration. He was in company of a female member of his father’s church, Comfort Adikpe, 30, her boyfriend, Busayo and her younger brother, Godwin.
The church member, Comfort Adikpe tearfully disclosed that “Samuel got drowned at the beach when he and my brother, Godwin, went to play in the Atlantic sea waves. When the wave swept him away, we begged the divers to rescue Samuel and after some efforts they retreated when the wave was about sweeping them away also.”
According to Comfort, who is a recharge card seller “Samuel and my brother Godwin were drummers in the church…when Pastor Obu was told the bad news at 7.35pm on Sunday, he reported the matter to the police and I was detained till the following morning.”
Pastor Obu and his family are yet to get over the incident.
“we are still confused about what happened to my first child.” Late Samuel’s mum said.
DailyPost