Charles Albert Poland, Jr., Killed Alabama Bus Driver, Hailed As Hero For Trying To Save Kindergarten Boy

  By Eleanor Goldberg

An Alabama community is mourning the loss of a heroic bus driver who was shot and killed after refusing to let a child get off his vehicle.
A 6-year-old autistic boy is currently being held in an underground bunker after a gunman boarded a stopped school bus on Tuesday in Midland City, Ala., and snatched the kindergartener, the Associated Press reports. But before the shooter got away with the child, the brave bus driver, Charles Albert Poland, Jr., 66, stood up to the gunman, but was shot multiple times and killed.
"We are mourning a hero, 66 year-old Charles Poland, who gave his life to protect twenty-one students who are now home safely with their families,” Dale County Schools Superintendent Donny Bynum, said in a statement, according to WCTV.
Authorities have identified the suspect as Jimmy Lee Dykes, whom they described as "paranoid and combative," the Associated Press reported. The child's name has not yet been released.
According to WCTV, the standoff went through the night and authorities have been communicating with the child through a pvc pipe in the bunker. He has reportedly been given his medication since being taken hostage.
While the distraught community hopes for the safe return of the kidnapped child, they’re mourning the loss of the courageous bus driver who spent four years working for the school system.
“Mr. Poland was well-loved by all of us here at Dale County Schools,” Bynum said in a statement. “And we will forever remember him for the bravery he showed yesterday.”
HuffingtonPost

For Wrecking Woman's Marriage; Nike Oshinowo Ordered to Pay N5m

It's interesting how the chickens have finally come home to roast:

To those sexy single ladies out there who are working hard to snatch a married man from his wife and wreck an innocent woman's marriage, there is news for you all. Nothing goes for nothing! 

As you read this, Olufamous.com gathered that a Lagos High Court has ordered ex-beauty queen, Nike Oshinowo to pay N5million compensation to Dr (Mrs) Funmilayo Soleye, the innocent woman from whom she stole Dr. Tunde Soleye.

Olufamous.com also gathered that Dr Tunde Soleye himself was ordered to pay his ex-wife, Dr (Mrs) Funmilayo about N45million as divorce settlement. He was also directed to relinquish his house in London to the mother of his three children.

Recall that Dr (Mrs) Funmilayo filed for divorce after Dr Soleye, her husband of 28 years, abandoned her and got married to Nike Oshinowo.

Funny enough, Nike Oshinowo and Dr Soleye are having problems at the moment. The love birds have since parted ways, as they now live separately.

Olufamous.com

Kenechi Uzochukwu: Men can do nothing against rape

inShare

Rapists are normal people you see every day. They are your cousins and husbands and neighbours and classmates and priests.

It seems rape, as a topic, is enjoying some measure of attention at the moment. It is all very good for rape, a bit discouraging for rapists and hell for the victims. It does nothing at all for the provokers. Yes, rape is provoked. All crimes are triggered or provoked.
Most believe rapists are insane or depraved persons. This would mean that most men are insane and suffering from one depravity or the other, because all men alive have one time or the other been tempted and have attempted to have sexual relations with an unwilling partner. Rapists are normal people you see every day. They are your cousins and husbands and neighbours and classmates and priests.
So long as sex exists, and hormones and anatomy remain, rape will endure. Men must rape something. If not a woman or child, they will rape themselves. But as women are the major victims, it is left to the womenfolk to reduce the occurrence of this crime. Men in the matter of rape are unreliable. Men do not know and will never know what it really means to be raped. Because if a young man takes a dark, lonely side street on his way back from work and two ladies jump out and proceed to rape him, he most certainly would be taking that road the very next day for a repeat performance.
One hopeful way rape can be reduced is when women cease to attack men through indecent dressing. It has been said before; it has been given as excuse and justification and yes, as a cause. But indecent dressing as provocation for rape bears repeating.
For certain men, raping is simply a defence. For when such men have their sensibilities attacked by the female weapons exposed through indecent dressing and body language, these men will respond to the attack.  Every provocation must be assuaged.
But there are unintended casualties and collateral damages to this sexual confrontation. It is the way of the world that the innocent and children always fall victims to events they know nothing about. Those that start fires do not always get burned. How does the dressing of a toddler provoke rape? How does a decent, well covered woman provoke rape? Many times rape victims did not in any way provoke or encourage it, but someone else did. The very indecently dressed lady passing through a side street might be lucky not to be raped, but she has aroused a man standing in the area, the next female passing through same street might not be so lucky. In an area where provocative dressing is prevalent, such as a university campus, sexual tensions are high, and a lot of children in that area are not safe. A sexually aroused man is a time bomb waiting for an opportunity.
Women dressing to kill should bear in mind that they are putting innocent children and other decent women in danger.
But can men exercise self control? Can men look away? Throughout human history how many men have been able to exercise this much chanted self control?
Women know this, although some men deny it: there is very little by way of control any healthy man can have when sex is in the vicinity. As powerful as the devil is, The Bible said, “RESIST him and he will flee”, but of sex, the Holy Book said “FLEE”. We are assuming those who wrote that book knew a thing or two.
Rape must be reduced, but heaping hope on men being able to exercise self control over sex is a waste of time. It has never worked and men will not help. Because the truth is that rape, for now, is a woman’s palaver.
This does not mean that men should not be held responsible and punished for the crime; it does not mean that rape is always a fault of the woman. But does it really matter whose fault it is? If dressing decently can reduce rape, it would be far easier to stage a campaign to encourage decent dressing in women than to expect men to exercise self control.
YNaija.com

Keshi dismisses Cote d’Ivoire

by Orkula Shaagee, Rustenburg

Super Eagles Head Coach Stephen Keshi has dismissed fears that Nigeria will be bundled out of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa in the quarter-final by West African neighbours Cote d’Ivoire.

Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire will square up in the quarter-final match of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg here on Sunday, with pundits tipping the Ivorians to overrun Nigeria for the semi-final ticket.

But Keshi at a post match briefing on Tuesday evening, dismissed the fears, saying both teams have equal opportunities of either advancing or crashing out of the biennial soccer fiesta.

The former Super Eagles, who praised his young squad for reaching the last eight at the continental soccer championship, said his target is not the Nations Cup trophy alone, but to produce for Nigeria a strong team that would last for years.

“We are trying to introduce young players that Yobo and Mikel will guide them on the field of play and give them more support to play better, because we are not only looking at the Nations Cup alone, we are trying to see how we can build a strong team for Nigeria in the next five years.

“We are looking forward for the game against Cote d’Ivoire. We are aware that both Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire will not have the second chance if any of them loses in the quarter-final.

“So, there is no problem here”, said Keshi.

DailyTrust

Justice Mohammed Talba’s sentence causes national uproar for its absurdity

Police pension thief

Corruption pays and the higher the magnitude of the malfeasance, the better for the perpetrator. This seems to be the maxim Justice Talba of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sought to propound last Monday in a ruling that has stirred indignation nationwide.
In sentencing Mr. John Yakubu Yusuf, the deputy director in the Police Pension Office who was found guilty of colluding with others to steal over N27 billion, Justice Talba chose the most lenient of options. He sentenced Yusuf to two years imprisonment with an option of N750,000.00 fine. He is also to forfeit 32 houses in the FCT and Gombe as well as N325million that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said were proceeds from the crime. The convict, according to newspaper reports, briskly paid the fine from the booth of his car and went home a free man.
Apparently discomfited by the public outrage that trailed what is clearly judicial impunity, the culprit was re-arrested by the EFCC. According to the agency, he is being arraigned over non-declaration of all his assets and liability, particularly his negligence to note his interest in a company known as SY-A Global Services Limited.
The perfidy of the light sentence handed to Yusuf by Justice Talba was brought to the fore by a similar sentencing the following day (Tuesday) at the Oyo State High Court where Justice Mashood Abass sentenced the Provost of the Federal Co-operative College, Ibadan, Mrs. Ruth Aweto and the bursar, Mr. Adekanye Komolafe to four years imprisonment each, without the option of fine.
Their offence: they were found guilty of deceiving the Federal Government by presenting 41 casual staff as permanent staff of the college, with annual emolument of about N7million instead of N3.6million. In essence, they made a dubious gain of only N3.4 million over one year.
Justice Talba’s action must have set a precedent, albeit a pernicious one, in the annals of convictions in Nigeria’s pension scam. Understandably, sentencing is at the discretion of the judge but the rule of the thumb is to match a sentence against the gravity of an offence. It is therefore, a sheer parody of justice to ask a convict who has admitted to stealing billions of naira to pay just a token fine and go home. It is particularly worrisome when the stolen money is the life-time savings and toil of workers who are denied the enjoyment of such savings in their old age.
It is common knowledge that in recent years, many aged and ailing pensioners die on verification queues across the country in the bid to get their pensions while many go for years without any pay. It is because of unscrupulous people like Yusuf who would rather covet the pooled funds that the pension system has been dysfunctional and murky. One would expect the justice to have handed down a punishment almost commensurate with the offence of the felon to serve as a deterrent to others. To have allowed Yusuf to go home almost unscathed, Justice Talba leaves all right-thinking people suspicious that there must be much more to the judgment.
How come Justice Talba gave no thought to the import of his pronouncement on the society? His sentencing endorses corruption at its most bizarre level. His message: steal big enough, get light sentence. It is salutary that the EFCC has re-arraigned this callous felon; we hope that he would get his just dessert at the end of the day. The Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC) should immediately review the ruling to save the face of Nigeria’s judiciary.
NaijaCenter

[OPINION] Tolu Obamuroh: CAN: What is all these nonsense all about?

By ileowo kikiowo 

A few days ago, I tweeted: "I am a Christian but I am not a member of CAN and CAN does not represent or speak for me in any way". You must have thought I crucified our Jesus Christ from the manner in which some "pastors" jumped on my Twitter timeline as well as mobile to denounce what they called "youthful exuberance". Why did I say that, those who are more intuitively endowed will ask before jumping into the ignominy of name-calling without the slightest understanding of my basis for my position. I made that statement because of the reaction of CAN to the well-reasoned withdrawal of the Catholic Church from the organization that has proven to be intricately woven into the corrupt fabric of the worst civilian administration in the history of independent Nigeria.
CAN is simply (or has become) a political pressure group. There is nothing bad in Christians forming a political pressure group but it is the height of hypocrisy to call it a Christian body (denoting spirituality) when in every sense and most especially judging by the careless utterances of its leaders, it is nothing but a political group and I dare to say, a department of religious affairs of President Jonathan's administration. So, to those who feel alarmed at what CAN has become, you need not despair, membership of CAN is not a requirement for going to heaven – to God be the glory!

That brings me to the trust of this article, an apparently innocent tweet from Ogunyemi Bukola (@zeebook) to the effect that: "if Jesus Christ should criticize President Goodluck Jonathan, his aides would accuse Him of sleeping with Mary Magdalene". This tweet was re-tweeted by Mallam El-Rufai with the addition of LWKMD. I wasn't surprised that it made Thisday Newspaper's headline; that is what the spin-master publisher of Thisday does best, it is all about 2015. Exploiting religious sentiments for political gain, after all they used it well against General Buhari in previous elections but that is for another day.

To those who see clearly and whose minds are not clouded by sheer religiosity, there is nothing insulting about this tweet. However, those who are ignorant need enlightenment and therefore, I dare to explain that the strength of that tweet rested on the perfection of Jesus. The tweet apparently held as a universal truth that our Lord Jesus Christ is beyond reproach and incapable of sinning. The writer of the tweet believes as his tweet suggest to the discerning that it would be inconceivable to even begin to imagine that Jesus could sin and it was in that light that he made the analogy. My question is this, how has that insulted the holy grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Does English language mean anything in this part of the world or are we so blinded by religion that we can't even read clearly and place facts in context – what is all these deliberate and mischievous nonsense all about? No wonder Karl Marx said religion is the opium of the people.

I read with shock the reaction of CAN through its General Secretary General Secretary, wherein the supposedly religiously body went ballistic attacking Mallam El-Rufai for attempting to inflame religious tension between Christians and Muslims. Hear them:

"if he persists in such matters and making such divisive commentaries, he must prepare himself for a very forceful and vigorous reaction from the Church and the Christian community in Nigeria".

They are not done yet:
"Had it not been for the maturity, fortitude, patience, decency, forgiving nature and deep sense of restraint that the majority of Christians have in our country, El-Rufai would not have been safe anywhere in Nigeria today after cracking such an expensive joke."

First of all, CAN must possess the power of clairvoyance to know as their press release suggests that Bukola's tweet was the handiwork of and prompted by Mallam El-Rufai. Bukola is an adult and educated too and that is why he can read between the lines and has been demanding accountability from this directionless and careless government.

I consider it an extreme insult and misrepresentation of facts for CAN to think they speak for all Christians in Nigeria. I am a Nigerian and by the grace of God, a Christian but I am not a member of CAN because I don't believe in their ideals and I can't follow their examples. Apostle Paul in said 1Corinthians 11:1 that we should follow him as he followed Christ – which of the reactions of CAN, whether to the withdrawal of Catholic Church or to the innocuous tweet of Bukola can I sincerely follow as a Christian? I dare say none!

I don't think these jesus (I deliberately used a small cap because CAN's reaction does not represent the character of our Lord Jesus Christ – they must be speaking and fighting for another jesus) voltrons read their Bibles, they would have easily seen that they are the ones misrepresenting Christianity. The book of Isaiah 53v7 prophesying of Jesus' crucifixion says "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not is mouth".

The book of John 18 tells the story of the arrest of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Mathew's version of the same incident as recorded in Mathew 26V51-54, one of Jesus' disciple behaved like one of these voltrons and drew out his sword cutting off the ear of the high priest's servants for daring to arrest Jesus Christ. Jesus rebuked him for such "unsolicited help". Christians don't fight for their God, their God fight for them! As a matter of fact, there is only one fight that Christians have been called to fight – the good fight of faith as written in 1Timothy 6:12. And it is a personal fight because the end-point of the fight is to lay-hold of eternal life. We are not to fight the unbelieving, we are to preach the gospel to them, we are not called to fight the devil, Jesus defeated him.

Assuming without conceding that these jesus voltrons are right and the tweet is in fact blasphemous of our Lord Jesus Christ, where is it written in the Bible that Christians can issue threats to fellow citizen as they have done to Mallam El-Rufai, can CAN leaders in all honesty go and preach the gospel to him now or they have sat in judgment over him and decided that he is not worthy of the faith which they profess? Our sole mandate is to love. I urge everyone to read Jesus' admonition to the Scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of His day in Mathew 23:13 and think circumspectly of our own limitations. In what is known as the Beattitudes as contained in Mathew 5, Jesus taught us as Christians the attitude required of us in our relationship with others especially non Christians, we are not to avenge ourselves. Jesus said pointedly in verse 39 of that scripture that if they smite us on the right cheek, that we should turn the left – our faith requires of us to leave those calls and judgments to God – Paul said we shouldn't avenge ourselves that we should leave all vengeance to God who will repay all men – Romans 12v18.
PSN

Eagles to get $15,000 each for Cote d’Ivoire match

Super Eagles’ players will each receive $15,000 if they beat Cote d’Ivoire and qualify for the semi-final of the 2013 African Cup of Nations on Sunday.
A top Nigeria Football Federation official reconfirmed an MTNFootball.com exclusive of several weeks ago when he also disclosed each player will be $20,000 richer if they triumph in the semi-final.
For victory in the championship game on February 10 inside the National Stadium in Johannesburg, each player will pocket another $30,000.
Each player received $30,000 a day after the team qualified for the quarterfinal on Tuesday.
Team sponsor Guinness has also made a financial commitment for goals scored at the AFCON, while the Eagles are expecting billionaire Aliko Dangote to splash more cash after they reached the last eight.
Each player was paid about $80,000 when Nigeria finished third at the 2010 Nations Cup in Angola.
On Sunday afternoon in Rustenburg, the team will face 1992 champions Cote d’Ivoire.
The winners of this match-up will clash with the winners of the quarterfinal between hosts South Africa and Mali.
NaijaCenter