20 "Yahoo-Yahoo" Boys in EFCC Net.

Twenty suspected internet fraudsters also known as Yahoo-Yahoo boys in local parlance have been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC) in Benin, the Edo State capital. The arrest was carried out in a joint operation with officers of the 4th Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Benin, following intelligence report on their activities a statement from the agency's acting Media and Publicity head,Wilson Uwujaren, said. The suspects were nabbed in a surprise raid on their Cyber office tucked in an old building located on Siluko Road, Benin City. According to Uwujaren, at the point of arrest, the fraudsters had in their possession forty five (45) laptops of different make, 28 telephone sets, eight internet mobile modems and one Nissan car with registration number USL 375 AG. The suspected fraudsters who are mostly in their twenties includes: Idehen Obabueki, Adesa Lucky, Usuagu Uche, Eloghosa Olikiabor, Larry Edomwonyi, Amowie Maike, Francis Ezegbede, Itua Samuel and Endurance John Egbeifo. Others are Amego Ovenseri, Iyen Ighodaro, Philip Agbodori, Lucky Robinson, Nnadi Obinna, Osabuohien Osahon, Chinenu Eze, Peter Sunday, Solomon Ogu, Niyi Femi and Osagie Aghedo. The suspects have made useful statements. Most of them confessed to be engaged in online dating of foreigners particularly widows. They also confessed to using different pseudo names and faces to deceive their prospective victims. They will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded. Recently, the US government said that money lost by United States citizens from advance fee fraud otherwise known as 419 in Nigeria has decreased astronomically from $487m (N73b) in 2001 to $50.4 (N7.5b) in 2011 and that Americans lose over N855,000 ($5,700) per hour to Nigerian scammers and about 15 complaints hit the Internet Crime Complaint Centre per day from Americans who fall victims. The “success rate" of the scammers is also hard to gauge, since many are operating illegally and not keeping track of specific numbers. One individual estimated that he sent 500 emails per day and received about seven replies, citing that when he received a reply, he was 70 percent certain that he would get the money.

Boniface Mwangi: From Street Photography to the World Stage.

Boniface Mwangi, a self-taught Kenyan photographer who risked his life to capture shocking images of Nairobi’s post-election violence in 2007-2008, has been honored with the prestigious Prince Claus Foundation award. Mwangi started making a name for his social-political activism under the banner, Kenya Ni Kwetu (Kenya is our Home) and is popular for his stunning images on the post-election violence that hit Kenya in 2007-2008. He is also the founder of Picha Mtaani.

Born on July 10, 1983, Mwangi, then 17, reviewed his life and decided he had to change his ways if he was to survive the vicissitudes of life when his mother died in 2000.

He joined a Bible school and secured a diploma in Bible Studies. It was while at the school that he would discover he had an interest in photography. One of his teachers, having noticed Mwangi’s interest in photography, gave him two texts that would alter the direction of his life. These were the biographies of Mohamed Amin, the Kenyan photographer hailed as one of the greatest photojournalists of the 20th century.

Mwangi joined the East African School of Journalism, he was studying in the morning while rushing back to the streets to sell books in the streets at night so that he could pay his fees. The school had no cameras to train students and the photography class was a mere two hours of theory class twice a week. He hired a camera and started practicing what he learned in class. He focused his work on the poverty and the deprivation in Kenyan slums, the resilience of the vendors on the streets, the brutality of policemen and women on ordinary citizens.

Mwangi started contributing to The Standard newspaper on a freelance level before he eventually secured employment at the newspaper, which is the oldest newspaper in Kenya.

The next few years were productive for Mwangi; he tracked a police crackdown on the unlawful gang, Mungiki, winning his first, and Kenya’s CNN African Photojournalist of the Year Award in 2008. In the event, the Mungiki pictures proved to be only a dress rehearsal for the chaos that followed in the aftermath of the disputed Kenyan presidential election, 2007. Gang warfare in the slums, as well as their clashes with the police – with innocent Kenyans caught in the crossfire – transformed the impoverished hamlets into rivers of blood. Mwangi captured the horrific scenes on film, as well as the pogrom in other restive parts caught in post-poll mayhem.

The images shocked and troubled the world, from Europe to North America, where leading media houses splashed Mwangi’s images. Mwangi’s own newspaper used his images selectively, a form of self-censorship that motivated Mwangi’s next course of action. Mwangi has won several awards including the prestigious CNN Multichoice African Journalist Awards for Photography on two occasions.

The prize Prince Claus Foundation award was delivered to Boniface Mwangi along with 10 other prizewinners in Amsterdam, Netherlands this week.

PDP loyalists mob Shekarau in Kano

The immediate past governor of Kano state, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, escaped being lynched by a mob yesterday when his motorcade was attacked in Garko, the headquarters of Garko local government area of the state leaving over 20 vehicles destroyed and several people injured. Also,an Islamic centre, built by Shekarau when he was governor, and ANPP offices in the town were burnt during the attack. Shekarau, who was together with several other leaders of the All Nigeria Party (ANPP), had led top chieftains of his political party and thousands of their supporters to Garko town for a campaign rally for the February 2 bye-election into two vacant seats in the state House of Assembly. In the convoy of the former governor, who is also the Sardaunan Kano, were Hon. Kawu Sumaila, Alhaji Salisu Sagir Takai, Senator Kabiru Gaya, Alhaji Ghali Sadik, and thousands of women supporters of ANPP from Kano and Garko. An eye witness told Blueprint that on Monday, when leaders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) went to Gaya town, a stronghold of the opposition ANPP, they were ambushed, several of their vehicles were destroyed and their party offices and several houses of their supporters were destroyed or burnt. What happened in Garko, a stronghold of the PDP, is regarded by pundits in Kano as a reprisal attack. The former governor later invited reporters to his house in Kano to brief them over the incident, but after he held a meeting with the state commissioner of police he cancelled the briefing and postponed it to 12:00 noon today. Some ANPP chieftains warned that if the state police command did not provide adequate security on Saturday, then the by-election is going to be bloody, as tension is already high in Garko and Gaya. It would be recalled that members of the state House of Assembly representing Gaya and Garko, Danladi Kademi and Abba Garko respectively, were killed recently by unknown gunmen. This is also coming on the heels of an attack on the convoy of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, in which six people were killed and several others injured.

If I am killed today, I will die a fulfilled man---Omoyele Sowore (Sahara Reporters)

If there is any media organization that has been a torn-in-the-flesh of several governments in Nigeria, it is certainly the Sahara Reporters. With their insightful breaking news, expository stories on corruption and corrupt officials coupled with their investigative prowess, Sahara Reporters is today the most widely read website for news about Nigeria. Situated 5000 miles away on the Seventh floor office in West 29th Street in Manhattan, New York, OMOYELE SOWORE transmits both Sahara Reporters and Sahara TV and feeds Nigerians and the whole world with breaking news that are as shocking and revealing. Goodnameafrica’s, AHAOMA KANU, was at the Sahara Reporters Head office in New York and had this interview with the man behind this citizen journalism movement.

Sahara Reporters and Sahara TV have become so huge in followership, readers and viewers that I want to ask if it is becoming a corporation. I am uncomfortable describing what we are doing here as a corporation because it will look like we are part of a conspiracy to take away people’s power by way of making profit. No, it is not a corporation but a compact platform for citizen reporters’ movement; I will love to call this a media movement as supposed to being a corporation, that’s the way I see it. I don’t know if it’s huge yet but I think it’s an idea whose time has come in the sense that Nigerian citizens and by extension, African citizens, have found a way to voice their opinions not around the mainstream media. This is what I love to call the main street media as supposed to mainstream media. Another word that I love to use in branding people that this is disruptive media; it disrupts the official formal means of mass communication and gives power back to ordinary citizens to decide how their news is written, presented and told. And also, because of its interactive nature, people have a way of determining how the final news reaches the final consumers. So we find ourselves in a situation where people who otherwise are consumers of news have become producers of news. I followed your progress when you were contributing articles in the Nigeria Village Square (NVS) website until Sahara Reporters (SR) started. What really inspired what you are doing? Again, I will like to say that the time of this particular idea has come and it’s just the timing first and foremost. I also don’t want to ignore the fact that people made a lot of sacrifices and contributions. I said in a recent conference that part of the reason why SR was successful it because, even in Nigeria that is a bad place for governance, there are a lot of people in government who actually prefer better governance than they have. It is from these kinds of people we get information that are later processed and re-transmitted to the ordinary citizens and they take it and run. I hate when I read news and I see this all the time, the person who committed a crime is unnamed, the victim of the crime is unnamed because your news was written by lawyers. No, I want specifics; I am not afraid. In a lot of times, the issue of news reporting in a continent like Africa is not about law; it’s about justice. And sometimes, in some cases, reporting news in a justifiable way will have to go beyond the boundaries of law. So, the motivation is this, I come from an activism background; I used to be a student activist in the 90s and I always wished that newspapers could do more. And when newspapers went out of business in my opinion, digital media came in. (Cuts in) Which year did that happen in your opinion? I don’t know exactly but I will love to say that newspapers have gone to the museum and it’s the best place it should be. Can you specific? I think in the mid 2000s newspapers began to fade out and I say this because I know statistically today that even the best newspaper don’t have more than 120,000 people subscribing to them. But if we publish a breaking news story that affects a lot of people, an investigative piece that reveals government secrets, within an hour of our publication, we can get up to 200,000 people viewing that particular story. It makes it possible for us to get up to 8 million page viewing in a month. You read Geography as a first degree, when did the transformation to journalism occur? Yes I read Geography at the University of Lagos and I will tell you that my interest was on Ground water Hydrology; if anything in this world interests me it is how to provide water to ordinary people on a regional basis. That was what I wanted to do when I graduated from the University of Lagos. When I came to the United States, I actually went to Columbia University School of International to study Public Administration; my interest was to protect the interest of ordinary people by using public policy but I have never practiced any of those things. I developed interest in the media when I found out that every person can actually publish and, you didn’t mention it, my first trial was with Elendu Reporters. I had this guy that I had never met before, Jonathan Elendu and we started publishing. What we were doing around the world was going around the world looking for properties owned by Nigerian officials, taking the pictures of those properties and extracting from public information outlets and publish them. In fact, the person that made me popular was Orji Kalu the former Governor of Abia State then. He granted me an interview saying that Olusegun Obasanjo was very corrupt and a killer and I published it through the Guardian. The moment news became popular, he (Orji Kalu) denied it; he said he never talked to Sowore, he is a strange element. That was how I started. The real coming to light to this brand of journalism was when I was travelling to Nigeria by way of way of an underground travel through Benin Republic and I met Olugbenga Obasanjo. The reason we met was that he was travelling to avoid publicity in Benin Republic while I was travelling to avoid arrest; we met at the border. I had been arrested by the Customs but they did not really know who I was; they wanted to collect bribe from me for the goods that they thought was contraband. He met me and asked the Custom officers to release me. When we were discussing and I mentioned who I was, he was shocked and said, “I know you. You write those crazy things about my dad.” I did not deny it. He said he loved one thing you guys did, “when you were writing your news about my brother buying a house at Brooklyn, you said it wasn’t me but the Nigeria media said it was Gbenga Obasanjo and I think you did a good job on that.” That was how we kind of merged together and he took me in his car and for four hours we talked and I published everything he told me and that changed the process in Nigeria as of 2005. By February 2006, we started publishing SR because by then, my colleague, Jonathan Elendu, had decided on a different trajectory; he wanted to become a consultant for politicians which was to me a no.

Let’s look at the ideology behind SR, many are of the opinion that SR focuses more on the negatives in Nigeria then the positives, do you agree with that? No, I disagree with that. I think that it is an excuse for mis-governance for people to talk about the negatives and positives. One thing I have always told people is that if governance is positive, you cannot make a negative version of it but if governance is negative, you cannot make a positive of it. A lot of people fallen into the baloney that you can just put Nigeria as the giant of Africa in this fake place where you can say we are doing so well but we have no roads; we are doing so well and we have no hospitals; we are doing so well and we have no schools; w are doing so well and there is no hope, there is no infant mortality care; we can’t take care of our pregnant women; we are doing so well and we have no electricity, no water. Even if you combine all these scenarios that I have just mentioned, you have to be a magician to present Nigeria in a positive way. But some few elitist young people feel that you have to present the fake and fallacious Nigeria. I am saying that that doesn’t last for five seconds. One of the things that I ask for and we practice here is if somebody is going to talk about Nigeria being a fake state, a failed nation, I want it to be from a Nigerian; I don’t want it to be a CNN reporter; I don’t want it to be an Al-Jazeera reporter. Let it come from the mouth of Nigerians and say look we prefer and deserve a better nation and not to say that when the desirable is not available, the available becomes the desirable. When you started this movement called SR, did you think it will get this far? I didn’t know; I was surprised. I started SR to see if I could have a platform to catch up with the rest of the world and it turned out to be the thing the rest of the world is trying to catch up with because I found our news to be headline news on CNN, BBC and you know, think about all the mainstream media; they cashed up on our breaking news. You know we had the UN building bombing of August 26th 2011 and everybody used our pictures when the reporters couldn’t get there. We had the Nigerian underwear bomber, Abdumutallab and nobody knew who he was until we published his picture. Talking about that particular incident, the underwear bomber, how did you feel seeing CNN use the picture you published of that young man?

I didn’t know until I started getting calls that we were on CNN and BBC. How did you get that picture so fast when even big media organizations in the U.S could not get it? It’s very simple and I will reveal it for the first time to you today. It was a difficult but strategic decision. We have citizen reporters that we communicate with and we said to them on that day, “there is a guy who is Nigerian and has been accused of trying to bomb an airline, do you know him?” And we sent out emails to all our supporters. Someone got back and said, I went to school with him in Togo. And before we knew it, five minutes later, we got a class photograph were he appeared. We cropped out his face and put it on. Five minutes later, it was on CNN and because CNN referenced us, our website shut down because it was being accessed by so many people. So that was how it started. But don’t forget that before the underwear bomber, we also had pictures of Yar Adua’s son holding a gun in Aso Rock. You have stepped on so many toes with your expository stories on corruption and corrupt government officials, are you not afraid for your life considering that some of these persons being exposed are influential and may put a prize on your head to get you assassinated even here in New York? I have said this before, if you are ever afraid of death or assassination or threat to your life, you should never go after powerful people. I have said to myself, we have been at the receiving end of fear, intimidation, threats and danger; it is time we turn that around. And we have had a simple tool of technology, digital technology to turn that around and that’s what I did. It is time that the people who are the actually the consummate criminals start being afraid of the people who are being robbed, being deprived and denigrated. And that’s what the tool is about for me and to turn the engine of fear on the perpetrators of fear, perpetrators of corruption and perpetrators of corruption and fraud. And that’s why I do this. If I were to be killed today, I will be a happy man. As a reporter that covers crime investigations, I know the essence of security, it was so easy to walk into your office here in New York; there were no guards, security doors and all that, how careful are you with your security?

I am happy you said you said you are a crime reporter and you investigate crime even in Nigeria. Now tell me how many bodyguards you have to protect yourself against the people you investigate? Perhaps nothing; you came here without a bodyguard too. My best bodyguard is my conscience and I have said it before, if you want to fight power, you can’t afford to invest too much on bodyguards because when the chips are down bodyguards would disappear even bulletproof vest would not work. So I will say again that if they are to catch up with me, I will be a happy man that has lived a life of fulfillment. When Martin Luther King Jnr was killed, they found the heart of a 60 year old in a 39 year old body. So many people back in Nigeria believe that you are kind of involved in some spiritual protection schemes courtesy of what you wear, do you patronize such? No. Everything you see me wear is African Pride. Somebody asked me one day why I wear all these things and I said because it’s cheap. If I were to be wearing a golden necklace, nobody would ever ask me that; if these were gold, I would earn respect and adulations for wearing golden cowries. If I were to wear six golden cowries, everybody would love to just have a handshake with me; if my tooth were to be made of gold, people will love me. But I am saying this is made in Africa; poor people make these on the streets and I patronize them, I love them. If anybody thinks that any of these things can save you, that person is not only stupid but unscientific. I also wear a cross by the way which was given to me by a friend and the reason why I wear a cross is not because I am religious. How religious are you? I have no religious inclination. Are you a Christian? No. I was born a Christian but I do not believe in organized religion. Why? It is because Christianity has become part of the corporate structure of the world. What challenges do you have running SR? Our biggest challenge is finding funding but we are in existence because we believed that once this works, it will take care of itself. But we have been lucky to have some U.S foundations supporting our work. That has made it possible for us to expand in our influence and existence. But it is not about that, the reason we are what we are today is not because we have any form of funding but because we have legitimacy, acceptance and integrity. Do you get any kind of support from Nigeria for your operations and talking about getting support from U.S foundations, are you not afraid they might want to influence what you do?

No, if we don’t tell you who our supporting foundations are you won’t even know because we make it clear to even the foundations that you cannot tell us what to do and it is based on that agreement that we exist today. So nobody tells us what to do. But for your information, we also have some Nigerian corporations and businesses that are advertising on our website and supporting our work. And we are the only one, in my view, that can tell an advertiser what is possible. For example, if anybody is advertising, we make it clear just as Fela would do in those days, your advert money has no power over our editorial policy. Some media organizations in Nigeria somehow lost the flame of their vibrancy following the elapsing of military regimes, what will it take for SR to mellow down on its strong stories? We are not going to mellow down. People always say that maybe if we have an Eldorado we will mellow down and the question I ask is, the U.S democracy has been around for many years and people are still protesting in 2012. People still go to the World Trade Organizations to occupy. So this is what it is about; governments can never be perfect and you need a media that is always scrutinizing the government for them to do the right thing. It is my hope for as long as I am alive that SR, Sahara TV or any other platform that is created from this concern continues to hold the feet of government to fire. Looking at what you do, you should have a big library of archives, how big is that? I don’t know but everything is online and searchable. There have been times SR website has been attacked and hacked; does it affect your materials? Every time we upload a story, it is duplicated in several places that it is sheer waste of time to hack the main site; we keep them in different places. We have them in hard drives, soft drives and even if the attack is coming, it is temporary. How often do these attacks come? It has reduced in frequency by the way because it has become a waste of time for people who attack us but the most important thing for us is to keep the spirit, lethal and electronic life of SR alive and this is by pre-duplication of every story. So even if you attack us, by the time we are back online, everything is intact and that’s what’s important. You have had a couple of lawsuits and have gotten out and evaded all the suits, how has these happened? It is not by way of evasion; all the lawsuits we had have somehow come from the Nigerian government. The first person to sue us is now the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Dr Paul Orhii. He actually got that job because he promised the Yar Adua government that he could shut us down. We got legal support and overcame him but he is having a good life in Nigeria stealing money as the rest of them. And we went on and got sued by another individual, Emeka Ugwuonye who helped the Nigerian government sell some real estate in Washington D.C and Maryland; that case is still in play. But the interesting thing is that the Nigerian government turned against him and now they are fighting themselves. But it was originally a lawsuit initiated by the Yar Adua government. The third person that sued us was actually pushed and supported by the Nigerian Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Prof. Joy Ogwu. He got indicted by the FBI in a different case and he abandoned the case he had with us. I am just giving you all these information so you can understand that all the legal issues we have are somehow been inspired and sponsored by the Nigeria government except that of Emeka Ugwuonye who is now caught up in this complex fight against the Nigerian government and the judge has not ruled finally. It is expected that when you fight power, it fights back and we are not an exception and we expect more of these will happen. Again, we are lucky in the sense that they are coming after us with lawsuits and assassinations but I know we will get there. You must have probably read from Boko Haram when they mentioned that they would come after us but none of these will deter us because it is not about our persons; it is not about our businesses; it is not about our corporate existence, it is about an idea whose time has come. Even if they kill all of us, another set of people will emerge.(The case was struck off few days after this interview) Just mentioning Boko Haram, after the group mentioned SR in one of their broadcasts, it now seems that SR has become a kind of mouthpiece for Boko Haram. Is SR reporting of Boko Haram activities promotional of the group? No, I think people misconceive our position; we have always been accused of promoting Boko Haram from the government side. The first time the government went and killed the leaders of Boko Haram extra judiciously, we were the first to procure the video where they killed the leader of Boko Haram and said that this is extra judicial killing and it was going to come back and bite Nigeria. So we have always said it that human rights is a separate issue from law enforcement especially extra judicial law enforcement. So we have always been accused of supporting Boko Haram, in fact we were accused of supporting Buhari but those are small, little ways of blackmailing media houses and we understand it. And then, when Boko Haram was going overboard, for us it was a human rights issue and we did take on Boko Haram as an informal or extra governmental body perpetrating human rights abuses and that’s why Boko Haram came after us. So what that tells you is that even if it is between government and Boko Haram, we will take on anybody that violates human rights. If not reporting the activities of Boko Haram helps in a way to curtail their activities, will you toe that line of thought? No, I think reporting all sides is very important because the government has tried to do it; they tried to prevent people from reporting Boko Haram as a way of stopping their activities but it has been over one year after that line of thought prevailed in Nigeria and Boko Haram has gotten stronger. In fact, we are known to be the only people who can say this is what Boko Haram is going to do. But don’t forget , it’s not just Boko Haram; when MEND was the problem, we were also known to be reporting MEND because we were in touch with these guys. As a matter of fact, on the day the Independence bombing was going to take place, we were aware of it and reported that MEND said they were going to attack. So for us, it is about alerting government to its responsibilities; it is about alerting everybody that needs to know what is happening. That is more important than those jargons about patriotism and several styles of keeping the media quiet. How do you get your sources of news as some of the breaking news you have published come on few minutes after they occur for example the plane crash involving the Taraba State governor, how do you access these sources within seconds while you are here in New York? That is part of what I was telling you earlier; as much as you may want to think of Nigeria as a hopeless situation, there are people who want a better government; people in official circles who want a better Nigeria and somehow, they align with us and we don’t know them. Sometimes some of the best reports we get comes from anonymous sources but we have a duty to verify. As you mentioned, the Taraba State governor, there are people still harassing us that we said that the man died but he didn’t die but the question we asked them is, how many times in Nigeria do plane crashes and people survive? And the guys who saw them said they were dead and helpless. In fact, it was our news story that led several government organizations to go after them to try and save them. But most importantly, the question I asked one guy is, have you heard from the Taraba State governor? Has he spoken? Is he alive? Is it normal? It is almost three weeks now and we have not heard from him. Because it was the same kind of scrutiny we were subjected to when Jonathan’s wife was taken to the hospital; nobody in Nigeria knew that she was even in the hospital until we mentioned it. Even when we reported it, they came back to say she was on vacation but when she sauntered into Nigeria she said, God gave me a second chance and nobody took notice of that and I will ask her what happened to your first chance? Coming to the Yar Adua issues, I got from sources that you were in Nigeria when the late president was on admission in a hospital in Saudi Arabia and that you were in Katsina with a member of the family acting as courier for you, how true is that?

No, I wasn’t in Katsina but I was in Nigeria. We were right on point and knew what was happening on a daily basis. In fact, this made it possible for us to disprove Al-Jazeera when they reported that a cousin of Yar Adua was drinking tea with him. We said to Al-Jazeera that Yar Adua could not drink tea because he was brain dead and that was exactly what happened actually. Even when Oyedepo and the rst were made to see him from a distance, we were the only group that said that they lied and it turned out that few days after he died. Even if he was alive, they just kind of extended his life span on a thread so that it allows his wife, his family and his cronies to take care of business and we kept reporting this. It is the same thing with Mrs. Jonathan. I keep asking people where is she? How come she is no longer active these days even after she came back ceremoniously? Are you not mindful of the methods you use to expose some of the persons you write about like Yar Adua you just mentioned, you once published a caricature picture of him on his sick bed and you call government officials names on TV and so on, don’t you abide by media ethics? Does it matter to you? No. The truth is that the whole media ethics thing is a caricature itself; it’s meant to cover up the truth. Is it here in the West or back home? Even back home; have you ever seen the ethics of performance or operation by the media in Nigeria? Most likely you will never be shown one because one does not exist. Everybody just thinks esoterically of this media ethics but what does these media ethics help you do; it helps you to cover the truth. We take it a step further by ensuring that the truth is primary to us. Sometimes people don’t like it; people don’t want to hear it. What I tell people is that the fact that the news story is unbelievable doesn’t mean that’s its not true because sometimes, we write and publish stories people can’t believe and they assume that because they can’t believe it, it is not true. But in 95 per cent of the time, our stories have been true. The truth is that nobody is going to come back and tell me and tell me sorry for disbelieving you and we are not looking for sorry asses; we are looking for people who understand that the media has disappointed the populace and the media cannot be left in the hands of professionals anymore. Looking at the kind of news you publish which the Nigeria government will perceive as being harsh and considering the fact that you once held political office as a student at the university, do you have any political intentions? The Nigeria government doesn’t like us but we will be greatly disappointed if we are their favourite platform for news. But guess what, the Nigeria government also patronizes us; they send us their press releases and their pictures. We don’t advertise for government because we believe that once a government is good it needs no advertisement. We do not accept a government advert, that’s our position. Remember that there was a time the president was travelling and they sent us pictures that he was travelling and wasn’t travelling through Germany. We researched on the photos and discovered they were pictures taken in 2011 and they had no response to that. What it tells you is that in an attempt to understand how we operate they are part and parcel of our machinery. We get a lot of photos to their credits and they send us press releases which they were not doing in the past. But now they have accepted that the citizen journalism platform is part of governance reporting process and they are doing that. I answer to your second question; I do not have political ambitions. Will you accept political appointment of any nature? No. I have said it to people that there is no political appointment more powerful than being able to take the government to fire. But I will say this though in a way without bragging and without being arrogant; there is no government that is better than any of us. We can run Nigeria better than Jonathan and his bunch of cronies. If you are asked by Nigerians to stand for elective office, will you respect such request? There is no Nigerian that will ask you to come for office; the moment somebody takes power, they are the ones asking you to take the position because assigning positions in Nigeria does not involve the citizens and that’s what are trying to change. I keep saying that we will get to a point when Nigerians will have a say and that’s why we are doing what we are doing. If Nigerians want me to run for the presidency of Nigeria and run Nigeria in the most efficient and egalitarian manner, I will do it because I am convinced that you and I are better than some of the people running the country.

Dutch Court Ruling Against Shell a Watershed, says ERA

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has described a Dutch court ruling today (January 30, 2013) which held Shell liable for the pollution of fish ponds and farmlands in Ikot Ada Udo, a community in Akwa Ibom as a major watershed in the quest for environmental justice in the Niger Delta. ERA/FoEN is however disappointed that the court ruled otherwise with regard to the Goi and Oruma communities in Rivers and Bayelsa states respectively. In a statement issued in Lagos, ERA/FoEN said that while it disagreed with the court’s position that the polluted farmlands and fishponds in Goi and Oruma were due to alleged sabotage by local community people, the ruling on Ikot Ada Udo has set a precedent for global environmental accountability because companies can now be tried in their home countries for their acts or omissions in their host countries. The Hague Civil Court said that the level of damages in that case will be established at a later hearing. It rejected other claims, saying they were caused by saboteurs and, that under Nigerian law, oil companies are not responsible unless they breach their duty of care. The Goi and Oruma communities have three months to appeal. Four farmers, supported by Friends of the Earth, dragged Shell to the Dutch court thousands of miles away from their communities in Nigeria, where Shell’s defective pipelines caused damage to their fishponds and farmlands in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Shell has consistently denied responsibility. It refused to clean-up the spill and did not pay compensation. The case, which has Milieudefensie as co-Plaintiff, was filed in 2008 and had passed through lots of legal hurdles ostensibly set up by Shell before getting to this point of judgment. While Royal Dutch Shell Plc had maintained that it could not be held responsible for the actions of its subsidiary in Nigeria, the subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Ltd had insisted that it cannot be tried by the court in The Hague for problems arising from Nigeria. The Dutch judiciary in 2009 declared itself competent to try the case. Last October, the Dutch court had a full trial of the case whereupon the judgment of today declaring that Shell broke the law by not repairing leaks that destroyed the lands of the four farmers is based on. “This ruling is commendable. Through its action, Shell has demonstrated disdain for the wellbeing of communities that suffer the impacts of its reckless exploitation of oil in the Niger Delta. The company knew for a long time that its pipeline was damaged but did not do anything even when it could have stopped the leaking pipes. It is just and fair that it is held accountable,“ said ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey. “This win for Ikot Ada Udo has set a precedent as it will be an important step that multinationals can more easily be made answerable for the damage they do in developing countries. We anticipate other communities will now demand that Shell pay for the assault on their environment”. Bassey added that: “Until now it has been very problematic because it is difficult to bring cases against these companies in their home countries, because the legislation is often not advanced or properly applied”. ERA/FoEN Director, Programmes and Administration, Godwin Uyi Ojo added that “While we commend the Dutch court ruling, it is now time the western countries pass laws compelling companies to enforce the same environmental responsibility standards abroad as at home. “Shell’s volte face in the face of incontrovertible evidence has again shown the double standards of the oil companies in treating spills incidents in Nigeria differently from their pollution in Europe or North America. We are still optimistic that the Goi and Oruma communities will get justice. The ruling against the two communities will be appealed”, Ojo stressed.

Okupe to Ezekwesili: You Are Not Worthy of Respect.

Still rattled by the demand made by the former minister of education, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, the special assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe has flatly refused the demand by the former World Bank Vice-president to a public debate to ascertain how the presidency spent $67billion left in the excess crude account and foreign reserve of the country. Okupe who responded to the call said in a statement entitled, "OBY EZEKWESILI GOOFED," described Ezekwesili as someone that should be regarded by all as a willfully perjured individual not worthy of any respect or recognition whatsoever." Ezekwesili while delivering a lecture in a South Eastern university last week had asked the Federal Government to explain to the Nigerian people how they spent the $45bn left in the foreign reserves account and $22bn in the Excess Crude Account by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

“The present cycle of boom of the 2010s is, however, much more vexing than the other four that happened in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. “This is because we are still caught up in it and it is more egregious than the other periods in revealing that we learned absolutely nothing from the previous massive failures.” The former minister lamented the “squandering of the significant sum of $45bn in the foreign reserves account and another $22bn in the Excess Crude Account being direct savings from increased earnings from oil that the Obasanjo administration handed over to the successor government in 2007.” She said, “Six years after the administration I served handed over such humongous national wealth to another one, most Nigerians, especially the poor, continue to suffer the effects of failing public health and education systems as well as decrepit infrastructure and battered institutions. “One cannot but ask what exactly does symbolise with this level of brazen misappropriation of public resources? Where did all that money go? “Where is the accountability for the use of both these resources and the additional several hundred dollars realised from oil sale by the two administrations that have governed our nation in the last five years? How were these resources applied, or more appropriately misapplied? Tragic choices,” she asked. But instead of focusing on the query, the presidency responded through the minister of information, Mr. Labaran Maku, by asking the former minister to also explain how she spent N457.8 Billion Education fund as Minister. The explanation given by Maku was described by analysts as containing more of excuses and denials than explanations on the real issue. Ezekwesili then demanded the FG to a public debate to which Okupe rejected. In his statement, a copy of which goodnameafrica obtained, also did not give clear explanations on how the alledged monies were spent. According to Okupe, he said the FG found it "surprising that after an extensive explanation by the Hon. Minister of Information whereby facts were stated regarding the weighty and sweeping statements made by Mrs. Oby Ezekewsili, she rather than cite the sources and establish the credibility of her figures decided to divert attention from the issues she raised by calling for a National debate on issues that are not in contention," he stated. He went on, "Ordinarily, the call by Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili for a National Debate with the Minister of Information ought to have been ignored and allowed to fall flat. However, we are compelled to respond in view of the penchant by some highly placed Nigerians who use government offices to build up reputations for themselves and then later turn on the same government to denigrate it, just to play to the gallery and incite members of the public through dissemination of false, unsubstantiated and malicious information. Rather than substantiate her claims, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili chooses conveniently to grandstand, claiming that she will remain silent until “a responsible response” is given to her demand on accountability. A more rational approach would have been for her, being the Accuser or Agent Provocateur to assume the responsibility of providing the facts to back her claims. Mrs. Ezekwesili alleged that the government of late President Umaru Yar’adua and that of President Goodluck Jonathan had collectively squandered a total of $67 Billion US Dollars from the Country’s Foreign Exchange Reserves. While Minister of Information has debunked this statement as manifestly untrue and not based on any fact, we wish to reiterate for the purpose of clarity as follows that: 1. The money spent on running the Government is what the CBN remits to the Federation which is then shared by the three tiers of government i.e. Federal, State and Local Government. 2. The corresponding allocation to the Federal Government based on the approved benchmark is then dispensed by the Federal Government and the MDAs according to the items specified and approved by the National Assembly in the Budget of that year. 3. The unspent balance plus income from other income from exports other than oil constitutes the Nation’s foreign reserve, a portion of which is kept as the excess crude oil reserve. 4. The latter is shared periodically by the three tiers of government on need to spend basis. According to the statement this office received from the CBN, it is factually incorrect to say that the reserves of the government were dipped into or misapplied. It is important to note that the Federal Government does not dip its hands into the external reserves. External reserves are available for use in settling both public and private sector foreign currency obligations of Nigeria. Whenever a ministry or agency of government needs to incur approved expenditures in foreign currency (e.g. payment of goods and services, settlement of external debt etc.) it must provide the naira equivalent to the Central Bank of Nigeria before the Bank sells the required foreign currency. The same applies to the private sector. The management of external resources (also known as foreign reserves) is one of the statutory mandates of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Section 2 sub-section (c) of the CBN Act 2007 states that the Bank shall “maintain external reserves to safeguard the international value of the legal tender currency”. Therefore, foreign reserves are used to support a broad range of national objectives such as defending the naira. It also serves as a buffer especially during periods of crisis. The breakdown of the country’s foreign reserve figures from the CBN which is the ONLY custodian banker of ALL our National Resources, is also herewith attached for all to see. It shows quite clearly without ambiguity that Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili lied shamelessly by publishing false figures. We challenge Oby to categorically state her own source of information to authenticate her claims. It is obviously preposterous for Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili to be asking for a National debate on the outlandish and reckless disinformation she made to incite the Nigerian people against the government. This was a deliberately calculated, albeit unsuccessful effort to bring the Jonathan Administration into disrepute unjustifiably. I regret to say that Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili should show dignity and character by letting the Nigerian people, whom she sort out to fool, to know the source of her figures otherwise, she should be honourable enough to retract her statement and apologize to the government and people of Nigeria. Else, she should be regarded by all as a willfully perjured individual not worthy of any respect or recognition whatsoever," he finished.

Senate Confirms John Kerry as Secretary of State

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Senator John Kerry as secretary of state, filling a key job in President Obama’s second-term national security team. The nomination was approved by a vote of 94 to 3. Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who has served in the Senate since 1985, had strong support on both sides of the aisle. Earlier in the day, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the panel he has led for the past four years, gave his nomination unanimous approval. Mr. Kerry, 69, will succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose last day at the State Department is Friday.

Police Pension Scam: Meet the Controversial Judge who may have ruled himself into the Nigerian Judiciary Hall of Shame

Nobody knows what went behind the scene or caused this judge to hand an infamous judgement yesterday but to most Nigerians, he may have, with his ruling in the N33 Billion Police Pension Scam, gotten his name admitted into the Nigeria's judiciary hall of shame where names like Micheal Andoaakaa hold sway. Barely four days after his 53rd birthday, Justice Abubakar Talba shocked the nation, and the entire world, when he delivered a judgement that, in the same breath, convicted and freed a criminal. Mr. Talba handed John Yakubu Yusuf, a former Assistant Director in the Federal Civil Service, a two year jail term, with a N250, 000 fine option after the latter admitted to taking part in the stealing of N32.8 billion Police Pension fund. Mr. Yusuf is also to forfeit property worth N325 million to the government. Controversial judgments The ‘handshake’ ruling, as described by human rights activist, Olanrewaju Suraj, was as shocking to Nigerians as it was infuriating; but that was not the first time the Kano State born judge delivered a controversial judgment. In 2009, late President Umaru Yar’Adua, sued the Leadership Newspaper, after the latter ran a ‘defamation’ story on the late president’s ill health. A two-man panel of judges led by Mr. Talba, acting in an appellate capacity, held that President Yar’Adua lacked the power to maintain the legal action against the respondents because of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution which gives him immunity. The ruling effectively reversed an earlier judgment by an Abuja Magistrate court which had ruled to the contrary. However, the Supreme Court later laid to rest the question of whether a President or Governor cannot sue while in office. The apex court held that there is no provision that prohibits a person holding the offices stated in Section 308 from instituting or continuing action instituted against any other person during his period of office. In January, last year, Mr. Talba, granted bail to one Hadiza Abutu, who was facing a homicide charge for allegedly killing her husband, by gun, for taking another wife. Mr. Talba exercised his judicial discretion even without the defendant filing a bail application. Meet the judge Born Abubakar Mahmud Talba in Fagge, Kano, on January 24, 1960; Mr. Talba hails from Yola North in Adamawa State. He bagged a Diploma in Law in 1981, and was called to the bar in 1985, in Lagos, after obtaining his Law degree. In December 17, 2003, he was appointed Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. He obtained a Masters Degree in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice in 2009. Mr. Talba is married with 11 children. (Written with report culled from Premium Times)

Pension Scam Convict, Yusuf, re-arrested, Spends Night in EFCC detention.

There was no chance for the former assistant director in the federal civil service,John Yakubu Yusuf, who was convicted and freed by an Abuja Court, to enjoy his surprise freedom as he was re-arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission less than 24 hours after he walked out a free man after paying a paltry N250,000 fine for a two year jail time for embezzling N23.3Billion pension fund. The former assistant director in the federal civil service, was tried on a 20-count charge alongside Atiku Abubakar Kigo (Permanent Secretary), Ahmed Inuwa Wada (Director), Veronica Onyegbula (Cashier) and Sani Habila Zira (ICT Officer); they were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in March last year in a police pension scam involving N32.8 billion which was shared between the Permanent Secretary and the other accused persons who were signatories to the police pension fund account. Mr. Yusuf’s sentencing came after he pleaded guilty to betraying trust and fraudulently converting N2 billion of police pension funds to private use. He admitted to the 19th and 20th offences relating specifically to him, each involving betrayal of trust and the conversion of N1 billion apiece. But an Abuja court, presided by Justice Abubakar Talba, yesterday handed him a paltry two year jail term, with a N250,000 fine option as well forfeiting property traced to him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, valued at N325 million; he promptly paid the fine and walked out a free man. The EFCC, however, said Mr. Yusuf still has cases to answer. The Commission’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the arrest, said that there are other related crimes that Mr. Yusuf could have committed that the commission is looking into. He however, refused to confirm whether the ex-pension boss will be re-tried. Nigerians across the world reacted to the light sentence which many described as ridiculous leading to some human rights activists to plan a protest at the Ministry of Justice. The miscarriage of justice irked Nigerians more when the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd), revealed thT about 4,000 retired police officers were yet to receive their pensions, stating that the number could be more, as more files of retired officers were still being processed.

Five in Police net over N108m fake currency.

The Lagos Police Command has paraded a five-man syndicate of counterfeiters who specialize in printing fake monies in different denomination and currencies. They suspects identified as Femi Jacobs 28-years old, Ramon Adeoye (31),Akeem Ayodabo (42) , Isaka Usman (38) and Onyeka Ibe (37) were paraded alongside eight printing machines and a large quantity of printed fake notes in Naira, Dollars, Pounds, Euros and Cedis totaling N108m. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko, said during the parade that the syndicate has been in operation for over five years. “Their customers are spread across several African countries like the Republic of Benin, Mali, Ghana, Togo, Liberia and Sierra Leone.”

Disclosing how the suspects were arrested, Manko said acting upon a tip off, officers of Special Anti Robbery Squad led by SP Abba Kyari, mounted a surveillance operation on the residence of one of the suspects, Femi Jacobs, located at 6.Ogunlana Street, Alagbado a suburb in Lagos State and caught the group printing fake notes of various denomination in local and foreign currencies with eight printing machines. Jacobs who is described as the leader of the gang confessed during the parade that he had been in the business for over a year. “I was working with a printing press before I joined the business,” the father of two said. Onyeka who said he came all the way from Imo State to buy fake currency said he uses the fake monies to purchase from the group to buy computers and phones which he usually sells. Another of the suspect, Ramon, said he used to be a meat seller but joined the gang after being duped of N8, 700. Manko,told goodnameafrica that the police was yet to establish link with their major marketers. “This case will eventually be handed over to operatives of Interpol because of the negative implications the fake currencies outflow might have had on the economies of the West African countries,” he said. The CP said the cutting machine was owned by Ayodabo and procured from the Republic of Benin The suspects who claimed some of their customers come all the way Abuja, Republic of Benin, Ghana, Mali, Togo, Liberia and Sierra Leone said they usually sell fake N100,000 for N5,000; a wrap of fake $100 dollars was sold at N3,000, Euro for N3,000,while Pounds Sterling went for N4,000.

Police Pension Scam judgement: Dino Melaye Plans Protest at Ministry of Justice.

Following the conviction and sentencing of a former head in the Police Pension Board, Yakubu Yusuf, by an Abuja High Court to two years in prison with an option of fine to the tune of N750, 000, radical activist and former member of the House of Representative, Mr. Dino Melaye, is calling on all human rights activists, students, union leaders and citizens who abhor corruption and are fighting the malignant cancer in the society to join him tomorrow (Wednesday) in Abuja to protest the judgment which many have described as being very shameful and a slap on the wrist. “Please join us tomorrow as we protest the satanic judgement by Justice Abubakar Talba on the fraud in the pension scam. We will all put on black. It's 11am tomorrow (Wednesday) at the ministry of justice. We must rescue our country. Enough is Enough. If we keep quiet more miscarriages of justice will happen. God bless Nigeria,” he said.

John Yakubu Yusuf, a former assistant director in the federal civil service, was tried on a 20-count charge alongside Atiku Abubakar Kigo (Permanent Secretary), Ahmed Inuwa Wada (Director), Veronica Onyegbula (Cashier) and Sani Habila Zira (ICT Officer); they were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in March last year in a police pension scam involving N32.8 billion which was shared between the Permanent Secretary and the other accused persons who were signatories to the police pension fund account. Mr. Yusuf’s sentencing came after he pleaded guilty to betraying trust and fraudulently converting N2 billion of police pension funds to private use. He admitted to the 19th and 20th offences relating specifically to him, each involving betrayal of trust and the conversion of N1 billion apiece. But an Abuja court, presided by Justice Abubakar Talba, yesterday handed him a paltry two year jail term, with a N750,000 fine option as well forfeiting property traced to him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, valued at N325 million.

Me In America: A Dream.

It is called the land of dreams, the place of opportunities, capital of the world; God’s own country and the place to be, but I know it as the United States of America: U.S.A. The country I started dreaming to visit ever since I was three years old wearing my Oshkosh dungarees while watching Sesame Street, a kiddies TV program that got me infected with the American bug. My grandfather never failed to tell me about America, “Obodo Oyibo,” he usually calls it whenever he sits down with to tell us tales by moonlight while smoking his tobacco filled pipe. I used to wonder how he knew much about this country himself and my father failed to visit when there was opportunities for them because I was made to know that our Naira was stronger than the Dollar at some point. I remember me, seven years old and still dreaming, writing my first letter to America; the recipient, a Christian tract society. I still feel my young heart filled with joy when the postmaster handed me my first mail from America filled with lovely tracts that talked about Jesus. From then onwards, I started writing to everybody and everything America; I wrote to the Voice of America and they sent me This Is America; I wrote to DC Comics and they mailed me Batman Comics and I wrote to Ernest Angley, he replied with a copy of Rapture. All Americans, all America. I remember listening to the angelic voice of Dolly Parton singing Coat of Many Colours while Michael Jackson moon walked me to Mars and back again on disco shows. Then came the era of Musical Youths; the boys that came with the track 007 and made many kids in my peer group start losing interest in school.

I dreamt America, I slept America. How can I forget 1989, when KC and Tolu, two of my best friends, came knocking on the window in the night. “Our Daddy is taking us to America,” they announced. I asked my Papa why he wouldn’t take me to America like my friends. “When you grow up, I’ll take you to America,” he assured me. I wait for growth to occur never losing sight of the dream while my buddies left for this land I had so much imagined. I watched TV and said a prayer for Reagan; I watched Rambo and longed to be a marine. I longed for America, I lived for America. In 1991, while still at junior high, specifically on January 15th, Bush led a war of liberation for Kuwait from the grips of Saddam. I prayed for America, I supported America and started the 11th commandment for America, a new gospel about this super power nation; “If a man lives all his days on earth without visiting America, if he dies, he would surely go to hell.” And I believed it; I still had doubts if my grandfather would go there but I sure did want heaven.

“America oh America, in my lifetime, I must visit thee,” became my creed, my prayers during the morning and at noon day. Aged 17 and grown, I reminded my Papa about his promise, my America. “Son, if you read your books well, you will go to America,” he advised; from an American promise to an American advice. I knew I had to salvage my soul from going down the pit; my father wasn’t as wise. Then came the great gamble, a chance to live the dream; the American visa lottery it was called. Five times did I gamble, five times did I lose my chance to make heaven on earth. I called on to my ancestors, my lineage that transcends of old to free me of whatever curse they may have laid on me; for if they weren’t too stubborn to have resisted the colonials, I may as well have being a Kunta Kinte somewhere in Michigan. Watching a youngster called Valentine a year after, the bug still very much alive, talking about an exam that can lead him to America. I watched and kept faith because where I was coming was very far. Val passed the SAT and got an admission in America, only then did I come nearer him. “I will go to the embassy tomorrow,” he informed and off he went, on a night journey to Lagos. “Valentine got passed,” I was told, “his visa was granted.” I learnt. Oh foolish me, lousy me, how near America was to me only that I didn’t seek. The next year, trust me; I did apply to write the exam to America. Pass I did, an admission, I did get, to Oklahoma Panhandle State University to study Computer Information Systems. I became too happy that at last I was going to America like Akeem. Meticulously, I gathered my documents; my uncle’s contract papers, my father’s palm oil farm papers and my results, all for America. Early in the morning I set out for the American embassy. I trekked under the rain and got soaked on my grandfather’s coats but I never did mind; to me it was showers of blessing; blessings of going to America. Arriving at Victoria Island, I asked for the embassy. “It was on Eleke Crescent,” one person said. “No, Abacha changed it to Louis Farrakahn Crescent,” another argued. “They now call it Walter Carrington Crescent,” a young lady informed me. I trekked on, wearing my grandpa’s coat and carrying my bulging documents to the crescent called Carrington.

On getting there I saw the flag, the most beautiful of all nations; blue stripes on red stars. Quickly like Arnold Swazzeneger, I threw a salute hoping to fly that flag in a matter of minutes. Waiting all over the river bank were dreamers like me; old and young, tall and short; beautiful and ugly, black and white including Chinese and Indians. All wanted America. I enquired about the requirements for the commandments of the consulate that I might abide therein. “You get your Valucard for your visa fee and then you wait for your turn.” A fellow dreamer said with his lips moving in prayers apparently for a breakthrough. “How much?” I enquired. “$100.” “$100?” My visa fee was not complete. The enemies were at it again but I was not the type to give in to my fears. “When will it reach my turn?” I kept on. “It depends on the visa you are applying for.” “I-20, student visa.” I announced. “You have to come back in a month,” my informer said. “Why such a delay?” I had come from afar. “To give you time to pray and fast.” The Youngman said and it made sense to me.

Immediately I went to the cathedral and did all the penance, I confessed all my sins and became born again. All for America. I started fasting and praying for success until I believed or deceived myself into believing that I heard a voice telling me that all was well. Finally, a divine confirmation that I was going to America. A few days later and it was D-Day. I left for the embassy before first light and met people that slept there and woke up there. I was advised to come so early so as to greet the consular when they arrived on speed boats. I did, I almost bowed down to them when they came. None of them responded to my greeting but I was confident. We all filed out like slaves about to board another slave ship only that we were struggling to get in. Even the whips that the guards used in flogging us to keep calm weren’t painful. I strived to get in and I did. I was nearer America. Inside the embassy I saw all kinds of Nigerians like me, some more desperate; there were very old men and women still hustling to get into America. I didn’t blame them; they never wanted to go to hell. I started praying, refusing to talk to anyone before they infect me with their bad luck. There were many of them around; people denied visa crying about the place. I didn’t want to dwell on them before I catch their bug, their bad luck. As I loaded my card and gave all my money away to America, I wondered how much revenue they generate each day because it was a market inside there. But I needed to keep praying. I saw people with accents being denied; I saw doctors told they weren’t doctors; I saw Chieftains in their regalia being told to leave; I saw grandmothers denied their visa because their claim that their daughter was abroad was seen to be a lie. I saw many broken dreams and people addicted to trying again. All for America. Then my turn came; I was called by a very young girl that may as well be my junior. I had my confidence and my documents reading millions of naira contract my uncle was making but nobody looked at my documents. I was asked an inaudible question by the American and her hand was already holding one stamp. I kept rattling why I wanted to go to America but the girl, the very young girl had made up her mind or somebody had made it up for her to stamp those denials.

I was not an exception. I lost my application, my chance to go to America. My only avenue to make a dream a reality. It was destroyed by a small girl without any conscience what a man went through, that I had to wait to grow up, that I had to fast and pray and ….oh…….my America is gone. I am still around but maybe still dreaming about America but then I ask myself why can’t I love Nigeria like I do America. That would be a topic for another day. Right now, I still see America.

Woman uses name of Jesus to cast away armed robber.

If anyone is still in doubt over the potency in shouting the name of Jesus when faced with danger then you need to hear Jacquie Hagler's real live story when she shouted the name of Jesus and made an armed robber determined to rob her and 15 guests with a loaded pistol during a jewelry party, run away from her home. The robber has been arrested by the police and Hagler is sharing her testimony. If you ask the 15 women inside Jacquie Hagler’s house what happened, they’ll tell you it’s simple: Jesus scared a would be thief out of the Florida woman’s home.

At first, those gathered at Hagler’s house for a jewelry party thought the intruder was simply part of an elaborate gag, using a “water gun” to tease the Florida women. "It's only a water gun," one attendee reportedly said, while brushing away the firearm allegedly brandished by Derick Lee, who entered the home wearing a ski mask and bandana across his face. Witnesses say Lee then held the gun to the woman’s head and announced, "I'm not joking, I'm going to shoot someone, give me your money." He even showed the women some of the bullets loaded into his gun before they could be convinced the robbery attempt was real. But what Lee didn’t know was that he was outgunned by the jewelry party attendees – at least spiritually speaking. "When I realized what was going on, I stood up and said, 'In the name of Jesus, get out of my house now,'” Hagler told WJXT-TV. And he said, 'I'm going to shoot someone.' And I said it again, real boldly," Hagler continued. "Everybody started chanting, 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,' and he did a quick scan of the room, and ran out the door as fast as he could go." Lee, 24, was arrested Friday night at his home and identified by several of the jewelry party attendees during a police photo lineup. He’s currently being held on a $200,000 (N30 million) bond. I believe he saw angels,” Hagler said in a separate interview with the Christian Post. “I think he saw who was on our side, and he just turned around. The look on his face was just, like, astonishment. He was totally captivated by whatever he saw. He just turned around and ran out the door.” (Culled from Yahoo)

Nigerian girl married off by parents’ at 14 years uses sex as weapon to regain freedom husband.

In what is being reported in the media as a victory for the complainant against the accused, a Nigerian teenager has actually gained her freedom from what could be described as slavery through marriage by her parents. Maryam Suleimean was 14 years when her parents contracted her into a marriage with a man, Mukailu Naibi , who was 21 years older than her when they purportedly married. But the girl, who could have ended up becoming a victim of Vesico Vagina Fistula (VVF), denied her husband sex for two years, a situation that eventually compelled the husband to seek for divorce. After hearing the suit, a court sitting in Abuja ordered Maryam, now 16, and her parents to refund N570,000(about $4,000) to her husband, Mukailu Naibi, over a what it termed the fraudulent marriage. The judge in the Area Court sitting in Lugbe, Haruna Masanawa, ruled that Suleiman and her parents must refund the money to Naibi within 30 days. Masanawa also ordered that Naibi's estranged wife, who had filed for divorce, must remain married to him pending the full refund of the amount. "Based on the evidence before me, the court is convinced that the plaintiff's parents are dubious people that no child should be proud of. They collected money from different suitors, all with the fraudulent intention of marrying their daughter out to them, all of which turned out to be fake promises. This honourable court hereby orders the plaintiff to pay the defendant the sum of N570,000 before divorce is granted to her,'" Masanawa said. Naibi of Keke village, Kaduna, whose wife allegedly starved him of sex for two years of their marriage, had demanded N1. 2 million as compensation from the wife's parents before he would agree to his wife's request for divorce. Naibi, 37, while testifying in the case, said the amount covered the bride price he paid before marrying Suleiman. He told the court that the amount also covered the cost of damage done to his house after Suleiman set it on fire before filing for divorce. Naibi tendered written documents with records of all expenses made on his estranged wife and her parents, in addition to presenting a witness who testified in his favour. He told the court that his wife had refused to make love to him since they got married two years ago. "Your worship, since we got married two years ago, my wife never allowed me to make love to her for once and all my attempts to do it always led to fighting. I married her out of love and I still love her, but with this development, I have no choice, but to ask the court to grant her divorce wish for the sake of peace," Naibi said. In her testimony, Suleiman said her husband had made love to her once but she was not impressed and so wanted divorce. "I don't love him. I don't love anybody who bears his name and I hate anybody who loves him," she told the court. Naibi's in-laws denied most of his claims.