The Oba of Benin, Oba Erediauwa
yesterday honoured some Benin indigenes for their outstanding
performance in their various fields.
Prof. Osato Giwa-Osagie of the College of Medicine, University of
Lagos was commended for his outstanding performance in the health sector
especially in the area of obstetric and gynaecology. Prof. Osayuki
Oshodin, Vice- Chancellor, University of Benin was honoured for his
academic excellence.
Chief Osayuki Obaseki, the Ohe of Benin kingdom honoured as sports
administrator of the year, Sam Loco Efe was given post-humous award for
his outstanding performance in the entertainment sector.
Soni Irabor was also honoured as a media icon, while Chief Joseph
Alufa Igbinovia was honoured for his great master piece sculptor works
the IDIA MASK- FESTAC 77.
The Oba of Benin said the reason for the award is to encourage son
and daughters of Benin origin to do well in their various fields.
TheNation
Sunday 30 December 2012
Newtown Lawsuit: Lawyer For School Shooting Survivor Says $100 Million Claim Is About Security
By BRIDGET MURPHY
Lawyer Irving Pinsky wants to sue the State of Connecticut
for $100 million on behalf of a 6-year-old survivor of the Sandy Hook
Elementary School shooting.
"It's about living in a world that's safe," New Haven attorney Irving Pinsky told The Associated Press on Saturday. "The answer is about protecting the kids."
Pinsky asked this week to sue the state, which has immunity against most lawsuits unless it gives a party permission to go forward with a claim. Connecticut's claims commissioner couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.
Pinksy's client, whom he calls "Jill Doe" in the claim, sustained "emotional and psychological trauma and injury" on Dec. 14 after gunman Adam Lanza forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and gunned down 20 children and six adults inside in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
The child heard "conversations, gunfire and screaming" over Sandy Hook's intercom after someone in the office apparently switched on the system, according to the claim. Pinsky said Saturday he didn't know whether his client saw anyone die.
The state Board of Education, Department of Education and state education commissioner failed to protect the child "from foreseeable harm," including by failing to provide a safe school setting, the filing said.
It also said the parties failed to review and carefully scrutinize annual strategic school profile reports from the local school district and Sandy Hook Elementary as well as "other submissions with respect to student safety and emergency response planning and protocol."
It says the parties also failed to require the school and local Board of Education to formulate and implement an effective student safety emergency response plan.
Pinsky said Saturday he didn't want to reveal more about the 6-year-old or details about her experience during the shooting because of privacy concerns.
The attorney said he hasn't gotten a reply from the state yet. The Hartford Courant first reported the filing.
HuffingtonPost
Raiders of the Federal Republic (RFR)
At some point, it looked like we were going under, like this is a hopeless nation. But you kept us. What broke others made us stronger. So we bring thanks in spite of our many struggles. We are glad to be here, on the threshold of another brand new year. It has been a long year, a year of ups and downs. This is year you exposed the rump of many chickens and demystified those we thought were infallible. You preserved the masses even when they were served poisons right from January 1.
You encouraged flood victims when those who were supposed to give them succour stole from them. You gave them strength when those who were well arrayed left them in the cold. You kept this nation together in spite of every threat and prediction of breakup. For these and many blessings we are grateful. However, we need to report ourselves to you before our leaders make their new year resolutions. Considering what they did to us this year, we need to hand them over to you before they make new plans and execute us. Yes, execute us. Dear Lord, you really have to help us out here.
We are poor, needy and in distress but we are many. We can pray. We can shout louder than our oppressors and you said if your people that are called by your name return to you, you will heal their land. You said you are our present help in time of distress. What is more, our leaders have everything, great mansions, sleek jets and bullet-proof automobiles. We have nothing but our distress. Please don’t let them rob us blind in 2013. With everything that makes you God, stop them whichever way you can from making our lives miserable in the coming year. We cannot take their comforts from them but you can.
If they dip their hands in our tiny pockets to further stuff their overflowing ones, take away their comforts. We know you are a merciful God, forgive their past sins if you want, but don’t let them get away with fresh thieving. These leaders, not all of them are leading. Many are raiders. Bless those who bless us and curse those who are causing us to live like a cursed nation. Those who wake up every day determined to make money to further impoverish us, let them see the side of you that makes you the Terrible One and Lord of hosts.
We know you know all of them, including those who pretend to be on our side. Those who take money meant for our roads and pocket them and those who see them doing it and turn their eyes away. Those who profit from untimely death of helpless Nigerians. Those who bring in outdated, dead hospital equipment just because they can afford treatment abroad. Those who occupy critical offices in critical sectors of the economy but watch the nation go to waste, you know them. They are the eaters of our flesh and the drinkers of our blood.
You know what you promised to do to such people. Hear the voices, the groans of millions of youths in Nigeria who have no jobs because the raiders have eaten both profit and capital of this project called Nigeria. For 430 years, the Israelites were under their task masters in Egypt, labouring under heavy yokes until you heard their groaning and decided to do something about their tears. In the new year, shame the Pharaohs and deliver us from bondage.
I know you know that Pharaoh and his horses and their riders all perished in the sea. We, all 150 million Nigerians minus the raiders, are asking with faith that you show up as the Mighty Man in Battle. Because Lord, we are really at the shore of the Red Sea and we do not know how to cross to safety. We are desperate. We are afraid. We have no weapons. Our raiders have everything. We can’t even sue them successfully. You need to show up, let them know that you made the foundations of the world.
I can tell you this, these people are drinking champagne and cognac straight from the bottle and are so drunk they are beginning to think they created themselves. Will you let them get away with thinking that you, God, does not exist? Will you? We know that taking what belongs to us has become second nature to our raiders. They probably can’t stop stealing but we need them to increase ‘our allocation’. We know they will want to buy more jets, more houses while more roads fall apart and our children fail more examinations. Touch their hearts to do what is right otherwise you can smite them on the cheeks…
We have suffered great losses this year. We have had many burials. Both young and old trees have fallen. We cannot query you. We can only beg you to grant them eternal rest. Our fathers also taught us to thank you in every situation. So, we thank you. Now,dear Raiders of the Federal Republic (RFR), you need to repent now, before the arrival of the seven plagues of Egypt at your doorsteps. For the avoidance of confusion, these are the qualities of RFR. They profit while the nation looses. They make money off the sweat on the bent backs of the masses. They take money meant for improving education.
They celebrate their wealth at every available opportunity. They are the reasons there is daily carnage on our roads. They deploy bureaucracy to ensure the lives of Nigerians are difficult. They take bribes to deliver judgement. They hoard PHCN metres. They hide files in Ministries. They cook the books and share unspent funds from their budgets between 27th and midnight of December 31 every year. They inflate budgets and spend money meant for healthcare on travel allowances. They let national robbers get away with national robbery.
They make Nigeria unliveable, our lives unbearable.RFR join hands and conspire to make us all live in poverty surrounded by wealth. They make carrying a green passport a shame. They make us a laughing stock while they stack up wealth for their unborn great grand children.
May I remind them that nothing lasts forever and that no matter what they think; they WILL reap what they have sown, in 2013. Happy New Year.
TheSun
Jonathan, Cleric Differ on Corruption, Infrastructure Decay
President Goodluck Jonathan
Segun James in Yenagoa
President Goodluck Jonathan saturday disagreed with a cleric over
assertions that poor infrastructural development under his
administration, a situation which led to the need for frequent travels
by air, is the cause of so many plane crashes in recent times.
Speaking in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, at the burial service
for his former National Security Adviser Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi
(rtd), Jonathan disagreed with the Bishop of the Bomadi Apostle
Vicarage,Most Rev.Dr. Hyancith Egbedo, that the bad condition of the
East-West road and the poor condition of the aviation industry are the
causes of frequent plane crashes in the country. Egbebo, had in his
homily during the ceremony held at the Peace Park, Yenagoa, described
the recent cases of road accidents and air crashes as a pathetic show of
shame and called on the President to spare the lives of the people by
ensuring that good roads are constructed, including the East-West road.
Egbebo, who said he was nearly killed along the East-West road, told
the gathering that there is the need to crush corrupt practices among
political office holders and focus on the construction of good roads.
The cleric said “if the roads are done (rehabilitated), the people will
need less helicopters,” adding ” We need good roads to avoid the rising
cases of deaths along our road including the death of high
personalities.”
But Jonathan said though corruption exists in the country, the
attribution of corruption as the reason for the failure in certain
sectors of the economy, including aviation and road construction was
wrong.
“We talk about corruption as if it is the cause of our problem. There
is no doubt that we have corruption in this country but the government
has also been fighting corruption,” the president said.
He pointed out that from 2007 when he served as vice president and now,
the country has had more agencies dealing with corruption and has
witnessed three heads of anti-corruption agencies such as the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) within the period.
According to Jonathan, “We have discovered that most of the issues called corruption are not corruption. I remember the last meeting we had with the Chief Justice of Nigeria. This was when I tried to bring the heads of the three arms of government together to see how we will collectively suppress corruption.
According to Jonathan, “We have discovered that most of the issues called corruption are not corruption. I remember the last meeting we had with the Chief Justice of Nigeria. This was when I tried to bring the heads of the three arms of government together to see how we will collectively suppress corruption.
“And of course, we analysed the cases in court and discovered that
about 80 per cent of them were not corruption cases. Sometimes, the way
we mention corruption makes it looks like when indigenes of some
villages in the Niger Delta blame the death of a person on the
activities of witches or spirits. If we do things properly and change
our attitude as Nigerians, most of these issues that we blame on
corruption will not come.”
Jonathan cited the instances of his meeting with the Corps Marshal of
the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and was briefed that in spite of
the high incidence of road accidents, most of them occurred along good
roads.
“Things happen. Why should accidents happen on good roads and not the
bad ones. It is the attitude of the drivers that needs to change,”
Jonathan said.
ThisDay
Merger talks tear CPC apart
By Jide Ajani
The proposed merger of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and
two other political parties is brewing tension in the camp of the former
and is threatening to stall activities pursuant to accomplishing the
merger objective – the two other parties in the merger talks are the All
Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.
This is because a section of the leadership of CPC is not happy with the choice of the former deputy governor of Bauchi State, Garuba Ghadi, as Chairman of the CPC Negotiating Team to the Joint Negotiating Committee on the merger.
Indeed, Ghadi’s choice by General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), national leader and presidential candidate of the party, is not going down well with the likes of Alhaji Buba Galadima, Secretary General of the party; Mustapha Saliu Bello, Deputy National Chairman; Sule Yahaya Hamma (Dr), General Buhari’s Advisor; and Murtala Usman Aliyu.
The quartet, Sunday Vanguard learnt, held a meeting on Wednesday in Abuja where their concerns were tabled.
At the meeting, each lamented the developments in the party regarding the proposed merger with the consensus that the choice of Ghadi would not do the CPC any good because he was not particularly suitable.
Interestingly, it was also observed that “of all those who started on this political journey with Buhari since 2002, only Hamma and Galadima” remain in the leadership cadre of the presidential candidate’s associates.
In fact, Galadima, who is one of the hardliners in the CPC, lamented that the Bola Tinubu-led ACN that have since hijacked the proposed merger succeeded in blackmailing Buhari into believing that without a merger, he can not become president of Nigeria.
At some point during the meeting, Galadima himself was blamed for the current turn of events in the CPC.
One of the participants insisted that Galadima’s fishing expenditure for membership brought in all manner of characters “who have now turned their backs on him”.
On the merger talks, it was disclosed at the meeting that “the planned political merger has rather and, unfortunately, brought them more crisis in the party and that the CPC is consequently divided”.
Sunday Vanguard discovered that whereas Buhari and Prince Tony Momoh are on one side of the divide, the likes of Galadima, Bello, and Hamma are on the other side.
Galadima reportedly told the gathering that the planned Joint Negotiating Committee meetings of the three concerned opposition political parties would not immediately be on the issue of political merger as is being envisaged in some quarters.
According to him, the three parties would rather be discussing and concerned with the underlisted issues:
*Political power structure and sharing;
*Harmonization of the constitution and the manifesto of the parties involved; and
*Programmes and development plans while the concerned political parties would be in power.
While these preliminary arrangements are on, a new political party would be registered, after which CPC, ACN and the ANPP would eventually abandon their respective parties to join the newly registered party that would emerge, after which leaders and followers would align.
Vanguard
This is because a section of the leadership of CPC is not happy with the choice of the former deputy governor of Bauchi State, Garuba Ghadi, as Chairman of the CPC Negotiating Team to the Joint Negotiating Committee on the merger.
Indeed, Ghadi’s choice by General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), national leader and presidential candidate of the party, is not going down well with the likes of Alhaji Buba Galadima, Secretary General of the party; Mustapha Saliu Bello, Deputy National Chairman; Sule Yahaya Hamma (Dr), General Buhari’s Advisor; and Murtala Usman Aliyu.
The quartet, Sunday Vanguard learnt, held a meeting on Wednesday in Abuja where their concerns were tabled.
At the meeting, each lamented the developments in the party regarding the proposed merger with the consensus that the choice of Ghadi would not do the CPC any good because he was not particularly suitable.
Interestingly, it was also observed that “of all those who started on this political journey with Buhari since 2002, only Hamma and Galadima” remain in the leadership cadre of the presidential candidate’s associates.
In fact, Galadima, who is one of the hardliners in the CPC, lamented that the Bola Tinubu-led ACN that have since hijacked the proposed merger succeeded in blackmailing Buhari into believing that without a merger, he can not become president of Nigeria.
At some point during the meeting, Galadima himself was blamed for the current turn of events in the CPC.
One of the participants insisted that Galadima’s fishing expenditure for membership brought in all manner of characters “who have now turned their backs on him”.
On the merger talks, it was disclosed at the meeting that “the planned political merger has rather and, unfortunately, brought them more crisis in the party and that the CPC is consequently divided”.
Sunday Vanguard discovered that whereas Buhari and Prince Tony Momoh are on one side of the divide, the likes of Galadima, Bello, and Hamma are on the other side.
Galadima reportedly told the gathering that the planned Joint Negotiating Committee meetings of the three concerned opposition political parties would not immediately be on the issue of political merger as is being envisaged in some quarters.
According to him, the three parties would rather be discussing and concerned with the underlisted issues:
*Political power structure and sharing;
*Harmonization of the constitution and the manifesto of the parties involved; and
*Programmes and development plans while the concerned political parties would be in power.
While these preliminary arrangements are on, a new political party would be registered, after which CPC, ACN and the ANPP would eventually abandon their respective parties to join the newly registered party that would emerge, after which leaders and followers would align.
Vanguard
Yet Another Ritual of Wishes and Prayers
Best wishess
In the spirit of the season, everyone is wishing Nigeria well,
but how many people are truly concerned about turning those wishes to
reality by doing things right? Vincent Obia writes
Nigeria is reeling and celebrating. In the wee small hour of Tuesday,
as the world readied to mark the birth of Jesus Christ, whose coming
Christians celebrate as a turning point from wickedness to love and
humility, a terror gang opened fire on worshippers at a Christmas Eve
service at Jiri, in Yobe State. They killed the pastor of the church and
five others among the congregation. It wasn’t a one-off incident. It
has been a common tragedy for Christians and other innocent Nigerians.
On the day before Christmas, pirates kidnapped four crew members on an
Italian vessel off Nigeria’s coast, about 40 nautical miles from Bayelsa
State. Piracy and kidnapping in oil-producing Delta is said to be
second only to the waters off Somali.
Atop the crisis of insecurity, there is the misery of abject poverty in
the midst of plenty. Infrastructure decay and lack have almost become
synonymous with Nigeria. Youth unemployment across the country is on an
alarming rise while corruption has become the most popular religion of
the elite.
Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, recently said corruption in the
country was being elevated to a “national lifestyle” and “a status
symbol… instead of treating the cankerworm with total disgust.”
He said, “Corruption does not have tribal, ethnic or religious
differences. It is a language understood by everyone in Nigeria today.”
Yet at the Christmas season, everyone is preaching hope, wishing the country well, and emphasising the lessons of Yuletide. Those on whose shoulders blame for the bulk of the country’s woes rests are among the most vocal preachers.
Yet at the Christmas season, everyone is preaching hope, wishing the country well, and emphasising the lessons of Yuletide. Those on whose shoulders blame for the bulk of the country’s woes rests are among the most vocal preachers.
“Christmas and the lessons of Jesus Christ’s mission on earth have
great significance for us as a people and there can be no doubt that we
all, irrespective of our religious beliefs, can draw immense strength
and inspiration from the Messiah’s enduring personification of
selflessness, dedication to duty, and commitment to the well-being of
others,” President Goodluck Jonathan stated in his Christmas message to
the country.
He preached the virtues of peace, tolerance, faithfulness, honesty,
justice, fairness, wisdom, knowledge and understanding, which Christ
taught and exemplified. But these are virtues that have remained the
rarest features of leadership in Nigeria since the last Yuletide, when a
similar festival of sermons was marked at the various power centres
across the country.
As a usual ritual each time an event of religious significance is being
celebrated, leaders from the political, religious, and traditional
institutions fall over themselves to issue statements of hope. They pray
the best for the country, yet make little effort to ensure the
realisation of their wishes and prayers.
This Christmas time has seen a lot of good wishes and prayers for
Nigeria. The Pope, too, has prayed for the country, just like he did
during last year’s Christmas.
Every Nigerian leader is telling the citizens to keep faith with
Nigeria, but the same leaders are hardly doing anything to make the
country a place that the citizens can be proud of.
Senate President David Mark, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Kola Ologbondiyan, urged Nigerians to embrace peace, love and harmony.
Senate President David Mark, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Kola Ologbondiyan, urged Nigerians to embrace peace, love and harmony.
Mark said, “Christmas is a season to give and expect little in return.
It’s a time to preach peace and exemplify it in line with the coming of
Christ.”
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party, in a goodwill message signed by
its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metu, said, “The lesson, Christ,
though the Messiah, was born humble and humbly served and saved mankind
should guide and further fire our zeal to place the people first.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal called for
renewed faith in Nigeria, commitment and hard work, saying, “The
Christmas period is a time for deep reflection on the teachings of
Christianity and what Jesus Christ stood for.”
Despite the lofty prayers, the leaders have maintained a system that
encourages indolence, poverty, and the growth of a lazy and weak
bourgeoisie whose survival is almost entirely predicated on a
patron/client relationship with the government. The system favours the
elite, who enjoy a politics of sharing. The worst hit is the masses,
those without access to the treasury or effortless wealth.
But the masses remain the most gullible in a fraudulent power game that
reinforces economic rent from crude oil and discourages production.
This is unlikely to change any time soon. But change is possible if only
the country’s leaders can pause and reflect deeply on their own
messages.ThisDay
Orkar coup pranks that deceived us — Turner Ogboru
by Anna Okon
ThePunch
If
you remember the Colonel Gideon Orkar coup, then the name Turner Ogboru
should ring a bell to you. Turner would not forget April 22, 1990 in a
hurry. That was the day everything about him took a dramatic change.
“Turner Ogboru’s life was well ordered,” he begins
his story. Recalling his walk to wealth, he says fortune smiled on him
through his brother, Great Ogboru.
“My elder brother was a faithful salesman and at a
point in our lives, his salesmanship paid off. An Israeli who wanted to
transact stockfish business, was referred to Great, who was then, a
salesman at Exchange Fisheries. My brother told him that the fish could
be sold as frozen fish and the profit would be more. My brother sold the
whole fish, made more profit than he had envisaged and returned all the
profit, including the excess to the white man.
“Impressed by his transparency, the white man handed
over the entire business to him. In the process, we had the Bulgarian,
Russian and the United Kingdom connections and the empire became bigger!
Then, we registered the company at the Corporate Affairs Commission for
N5m. Then, we signed a joint venture with the Russian government to
fish in the whole African waters when Perestroika started.”
However, suddenly, the joy of good fortune took a
back seat. It came as a nightmare in the wake of the Gideon Orkar coup
of 1990, against the General Ibrahim Babangida regime.
Ogboru narrates that unfortunate incident. “The day
the coup happened, April 22, 1990, was a Sunday and we went to minister
in songs at a church in Surulere. By the time we finished, we heard that
there was a coup but it failed. I arrived home to learn that the coup
plotters had used our company facilities. Then, I knew that we were in
deep trouble! I remembered that they had deceived us into believing that
they wanted to host a party, requesting our facilities to stock cold
drinks. Normally, we refrigerated drinks in our cold rooms for people
who had parties— birthdays, funerals and marriages. My staff and even
others they had invited for the gathering were all in the dark about
their intention.
“The following day, they caught some members of my
staff and said they should come and fetch their boss. So, I went to meet
them at Ikeja Cantonment, where Ishaya Bamaiyi was the Brigade
commander. I told him that I was not a coup plotter but that our
facilities were dubiously used for the plot. He took me to see the then
Lagos State governor, Raji Rasaki, who ordered them to take me to Aliu
Tongo, the man in charge of security at the time. Tongo took a decision
to keep me in protective custody. I was there when one immigration
officer came to inform them that I escorted my brother, Great, to the
border when he was travelling out of the country.
“It was then argued that the borders were opened when
my brother travelled and there was no crime in a man escorting his
brother to the border. Then they further reasoned that, given my
educational background, I ought to have known that my brother was
involved in the coup. I was sentenced to life imprisonment.”
Wondering what happened during his incarceration which lasted eight and a half years?
“I met Vivienne, a qualified marriage counsellor, who was a prison nurse at the time,” he begins his romantic odyssey.
Though he married her, he recalls his attraction to
her: “She was extremely generous and nice while caring for the inmates.
She spent her salary buying drugs for inmates. A lot of people die in
prison because of lack of care.”
After eight years in jail, help came through Chief
Ernest Shonekan, who was then, Head, Interim National Government. There
was amnesty for all political prisoners. Turner was released from
prison.
Back to his prison memoirs. He recounts: “When I was
eventually released, she was not there and had been transferred to
another place. I invited Vivienne to my place. At that time, the family
of the girl I was engaged to marry had been in touch with Gen.
Babangida, so they stopped her from continuing the engagement.”
What effects did incarceration have on his life and business?
He responds, “The entire business was shut down. The
military decreed that all our things should be sold and all the fish in
our cold rooms were carted away. Property that were taken away at that
time were in excess of $42.7m. Great was 32 years old and I was just 30
at the time.”
For the Delta State-born, a process of recovery took
place. A graduate of Law from the University of Benin says amidst
smiles, “It was God’s grace. The business bounced back because the king
of Glory was the chairman of the Group. Great went abroad, started
buying ships (he bought five vessels) and employed Europeans to work. We
were then fishing in European waters, and he had over 300 Europeans
working for the company. It was when we came to African waters that the
African problems started affecting the business.
“I give God the glory. With hindsight, God made me go
through that imprisonment so that He can reveal Himself to me like He
did throughout the period. He was teaching me about the Holy Ghost and
the evidence of speaking in tongues, which I did not know about before
the incident. I never believed God could speak to people face to face as
I am speaking to you now. I experienced it in prison. Before then, even
as a full time Christian worshipping with the Household of God Church,
my business was moving well, I did not see any need to get involved in
ministry, I preferred to bring out money to support the work. But
sometimes in November, 2012, while I was driving down from the Third
Mainland Bridge, the Lord spoke to me to start my ministry on December,
24, 2012.”
Now heading for a full time ministry (it kicked off
December 24, 2012), does that stop him from being a businessman? “No,”
comes his response. “The business goes on. In the Bible, Apostle Paul
continued in his tent-making business. In my business now, I have more
than enough boys to work for me. The work of the ministry requires a lot
of funding and most of it would be self-financed.”
Fashion? Well, he retorts, “All my life I have been a
modest man. I am from a very humble beginnings. I ate rice with my
hands before I even started eating with spoon and the spoon was not even
silver spoon! The ministry that we are called into does not recommend
flamboyant dressing; I am brother Turner, a modest dresser.”
For him, there is no going back, even in the face of frustration. “I am living a borrowed life,” he says.
“The old Turner is dead; the Turner that I am now cannot be
frustrated and intimidated. God will always equip the people he has
called.”ThePunch
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