Accident Along Ojota/Ketu Link bridge.

An automobile accident involving two Toyota sedans and a lorry just occurred at Ojota/Ketu link bridge

towards Oworonshoki and its causing a hell of traffic.

Vehicle plunges into Ocean From Lagos Third Mainland Bridge

Reports reaching Goodnameafrica is that an unidentified vehicle has plunged into the Lagoon after losing control at the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos. The accident has caused a major traffic jam at one side of the lane. According to eye witnesses, it seemed the car crashed the barrier and fell into the ocean. The Vehicle and lone casualty have been recovered with the victim taken to the hospital. It cannot be confirmed if the victim is alive or dead.

Egyptian Court Sentences 21 Football Fans To Death Over League Violence.

An Egyptian court has sentenced 21 people to death over football riots that killed 74 last year, with the verdict sparking fresh deadly violence. The riots - Egypt's worst-ever football disaster - began after a top-league game at Port Said stadium. The ruling caused anger in Port Said, where eight people died as supporters of the defendants clashed with police. The new violence comes after a day of unrest on the second anniversary of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak. Thousands of people took to the streets on Friday to voice their opposition to Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, accusing him of betraying the revolution. At least seven people were killed and more than 450 wounded in unrest across Egypt. Last year's football riots led to the suspension of the league. (Culled from BBC)

EFCC Nabs Two Currency Traffickers At Abuja Airport

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday arrested the duo of Moghalu Maduakonam and Esho Femi David at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja for attempting to smuggle $240,000 out of the country. While Maduakonam was travelling to Dubai, United Arab Emirates with $200,000.00 which he failed to declare; Turkey- bound David declared only $5,000 out of $40,050 in his possession

FG turns Niger Delta States to Beggars For Oil And Gas

Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, yesterday, complained about the situation in which the Federal Government had turned oil-producing states and communities to beggars for the oil and gas produced in their own territories. The governor, represented by his deputy, Prof Amos Utuama, spoke at the Ist Delta State Oil and Gas Industry Stakeholders’ Conference, which commenced, yesterday, in Warri. He noted that lack of equity for oil and gas communities was responsible for the crisis in the Niger-Delta and urged that the incongruity be redressed. Uduaghan stated, “We must recall that in 1969, the course of Nigerian history was changed and the nature of economic relationship between States and Federal Government was altered in 1969 with the promulgation of the Petroleum Decree by the military government…” He said the decree took away the rights of the States on minerals produced in their territories and placed it squarely under the exclusive control of the Federal Military Government. His words, “Since then, oil and gas producing states have become beggars for the oil and gas produced in their own territories and now depends on allocations from the federal authorities to meet their needs and to solve the multifarious problems like the monumental environmental destructions, which accompany oil prospecting and production.” According to him, “Every other policy in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria took its roots from the Petroleum Decree of 1969 and has further contributed to the increasing alienation of oil producing communities and states from the benefits of oil, while leaving them to suffer the hazards and permanent damages arising from oil production.

Lassa Fever Kills One in Nassarawa.

An out break of Lassa fever in Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa, which was confirmed last week, has led to the death of at least one person. This is not the first time the epidemic is occurring in the state. In April last year, no fewer than three persons lost their lives in the State as a result of Lassa fever outbreak in Lafia, Obi and Awe local government areas of the state.

Nigeria’s Interest in the Malian war

What made the Nigerian Government to be the first from Africa to send in its soldiers to combat the Malian rebels in a war that started early 2012 when there was insubordination in the Malian government which spurred rebels to come-to-light among the Toareg ethnic group in the north and they began a crusade for self-government, has been an issue of many questions. The military junta in Mali, headed by Captain Amadou Sanogo had seized power on March 22, accusing the democratic government of President Amadou Toumani Toure of failing to deal effectively with a Tuareg rebellion that had started in January. Former parliament speaker, Diouncounda Traore later emerged as interim president, following international heaviness s on the military junta to relinquish power. The Federal Government of Nigeria took a decision of sending 1, 200 Nigerian soldiers to Mali this year, what it could not even do during the crises that ravaged some countries of Africa like Libya, Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt in the recent past, being the second to France, which had earlier initiated ground battles with its 1, 400 troops. I60 Nigerian soldiers had so far arrived Bamako, the Malian capital, and were happy to help in combating the uprising in that country. Apart from the contingent of Nigerian soldiers’ present in Mali, the Nigerian Government had also made its pledge of warplanes known to the Malian Government. This was coming after President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria had directed a review of Nigeria’s foreign policy on Monday May 16, 2011, to reflect what he called current realities, after 50 years of independence. It was at a breakfast meeting with the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations at the State House, Abuja that Jonathan gave the dictate.

Chief Emeka Anyaoku who was the Chairman of the Advisory Council, had earlier congratulated President Jonathan in the April 2011 presidential elections. He termed the elections as “successful, transparent and credible’’, saying that the elections have made-higher the country’s democratic credentials in the international community, a statement which President Jonathan gave a very conspicuous nod to. In a related development, suggestions were offered by the Council on many areas of national and international interest to Nigeria. What was amiss is if the Malian war is part of the “national and international interest to Nigeria”, having President Jonathan said that what was paramount to his administration would be to pay special attention to intensifying the economic relations with the international community.

With the role of Nigeria in the Malian crisis, has Jonathan got it wrong by that statement when he received the letters of credence of five new ambassadors at the State House on that very faithful day of Monday May 16, 2011? The ambassadors were: Alvaro Aguilar of Spain, Ali Suleiman of Ethiopia, Alain Nyamitwe of Burundi, Issa Ibrahim of Chad and Nyahuma Obika, the High Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago. Being a crusader of transforming Nigeria like never before, the song on President Jonathan’s mouth had been to give a special attention to the improvement and strengthening of economic ties with Nigerian partners in the international community as a foundation for stability and growth of our country. Not war! It is on record that he distinctively told Obika that Nigeria was interested in cooperating with Trinidad and Tobago in the oil and gas sector, while he welcomed the proposal for energy cooperation by Aguilar of Spain. Nigeria’s Role In Cote d’Ivoire: The role that the Nigerian government could not play in the Ivorien crisis that followed the difference-of-opinion in the country’s election of November 28, 2010, is what it is playing in Mali, even though that the ECOWAS, which resolved to renew President Jonathan’s tenure as Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government till December 31, 2011, resolved in its meeting of December 7 to accord formal recognition to Alassane Ouattara as President-elect of Cote d’Ivoire, while urging his rival, Gbagbo, to make a peaceful exit from power in the best interest of the Ivorien people. Nigeria being then the chair state of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, the only solution to the Ivorien crisis Jonathan could offer in its Resolution A/RES.1/03/11 signed by him, was to tell Gbagbo, as armed supporters of the two men continue to fight one another, that: “The time has come to enforce Decision of 7 and 24 December 2010 in order to protect life and ensure that transfer of the reins of power to Alassane Ouattara without further delay.”

In its extraordinary session in Abuja on December 24, following Gbagbo’s refusal to yield power to his successor, the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government under President Jonathan said, it regretted that its previous resolutions were ignored by Gbagbo, and warned him against this. President Jonathan later requested the UN Security Council to authorize the immediate implementation of these decisions to stem the tide of the rapidly deteriorating political, security and humanitarian situation in Cote d’Ivoire. And the resolutions had since been endorsed by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN. While President Jonathan condemned the widespread violence against civilians in the Ivorien country, he did not sue for war as thus Mali, but said: “The crisis in Cote d’Ivoire has now become a regional humanitarian emergency. We request the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to strengthen the mandate of the United Nations Operation in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI) to enable it use all necessary means to protect life and property and to facilitate the immediate transfer of power to Mr. Alassane Ouattara.” President Jonathan was urging the UN Security Council to adopt more stringent targeted sanctions against Gbagbo and his collaborators, and not war. So, why Mali! Federal Government’s Interest In Mali: Unlike Egypt and Libya where the Federal Government of Nigeria did not give a hoot of sending its soldiers to during their crises, and what it could not do in Cote d’Ivoire, it was doing in Mali. This has gone a long way to put the statement which says that there is no smoke without fire right. It was, though, annoying that insurgent groups started fighting the Malian government for the independence of Northern Mali (Azawad). An Islamist group wanted Azawad as independent homeland for the Toaregs, having the support of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), backed by the Ansar Dine. They chased the Malian army far away from Azawad, and took control of the place in April 2012. There was a conception that the dreaded Al-Qaeda terrorist group in North Africa made the situation got worse by giving its support to a group of Islamists: Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA).

Earlier, the Federal Government of Nigeria had been looking for solution to curb the recurrent campaign of violence by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, in Nigeria, but especially in the northern part. This took President Jonathan and his National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) to Bamako, the capital of Mali. The two-day working tour which was announced by the presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, on Wednesday, October 17, 2012, was for a secret meeting with the civilian and military authorities in the troubled Mali and also consult on efforts by ECOWAS and the UN Security Council, to restore normalcy to that country. But before the tour, investigations revealed that a tough intelligence report showed that Mali’s northern region was the depot that was used as the operational base of Boko Haram. The leader of the sect, Sheik Mohammed Shekau, was also believed to be hiding in Mali and coordinating attacks on Nigeria. According to sources, it was noted that one of the meetings in a place like Niamey was a measly lure. A source said: “The meeting in Niamey was a mere decoy for President Jonathan to seek collaboration and cooperation of both the military and civilian authorities in Mali on how best the operational base of Nigeria’s Boko Haram in the north of Mali, which is under the firm control of Islamist groups and Tuareg rebels, who took control of the region following a coup in March... the Nigerian president actually left Niamey, Niger Republic on Thursday, October 18 and went straight for the main goal of his trip, which is to hold talks with the Malian authorities, as part of efforts to dismantle the main structure of Boko Haram in the North of the country (Mali).” Sources confirmed that in different discussions, part of the discussions between President Jonathan and Mali’s interim President Traore and Captain Sanogo were: To stabilise the civilian regime of Traore, mobilise African and ECOWAS forces to Mali, with a view to flushing out all Islamist groups and rebels, including Boko Haram leaders that had taken control of North of Mali; and offered Sanogo a political asylum in Nigeria to pave the way for Traore’s full control of Mali’s armed forces, which were still loyal to Sanogo. What was certain to President Jonathan was the success of the war against Boko Haram. The sources unraveled that the success of the war against Boko Haram depended largely on the stability in Mali and the knack of the African and the complete international community to dislocate all rebels and Islamist groups in service in northern Mali. Conclusion: While the Nigerian soldiers had been deployed to Mali, it was not certain why it took the Federal Government this long to do so, having been notified that the incessant killings by the Boko Haram in the country were hatched in Mali. And whether the Federal Government would still reiterate its offer of asylum to anybody or group in Mali since the war has intensified, was not clear. It was obvious that Captain Sanogo was only power drunk, but could not control his arsenal of mutineers. However, it was not certain why Nigeria did not depend on UN and other world military allies before she deployed her soldiers to the troubled Mali, as she could not do to countries like Egypt, Libya and Cote d’Ivoire. In spite of these, President Jonathan could be advised not to receive any alternative in Mali, when it concerned the security of Nigeria. By Odimegwu Onwumere, Poet/Author, Media/Writing Consultant and Motivator, is the Coordinator, Concerned Non-Indigenes In Rivers State (CONIRIV); and Founder, Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Rivers State, Nigeria Phone: +2348032552855 (OR) +2348057778358 Email: apoet_25@yahoo.com Website: www.odimegwuonwumere.com Buy His Books On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0089WYSVS and http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008223IBG

For The Love of A country, For The Death Of A Father.

The hospital where I was assigned was constantly busy throughout the period of the attacks. Day after day, soldiers wounded in battle were brought over mainly by porters on foot with very few arriving on trucks, only a few made it on their own. The intensity of the war at that period made it impossible for the Red Cross to fly in their supplies which made us run out of stock. The bandages got finished completely that we had no option than to remove already used bandages from patients that were older in the ward to be washed and used on fresh causalities. Three qualified and elderly nurses came over from Umuahia to help us out and another young doctor arrived from Orlu. The constant arrival of the wounded, nearly dead and dead causalities made the added human resources unnoticed. Dr. Nwosu worked day and night; we worked during the day fear and uncertainty. Many of the casualties that went into the surgery room were carried out dead because, at a time, operations were carried out without anaesthetic. The patients watched their shattered limbs and arms gruesomely cut off their body. This led to many of them dying of haemorrhage. One night, I watched as a soldier carried in another wounded comrade, the wounded one was very elderly while the person that brought him was younger almost as young as me if not for his enhanced biceps. As I showed them a place to lay the wounded man down for me to administer first aid, my kit being river water and a small face towel with a length of bandage, I noticed the striking resemblance between the two soldiers; they were father and son. The older man had been hit in the hip and by the way his trousers was held to his waist by a rope which I believed served as a belt, I was sure the man had lost so much blood. The position and distance his son carried him contribution no doubt. As the wounded man was laid down, his child pleaded with me.
“Biko, nyere nna m aka, ekwela ga onwu o biko,” he pleaded, I saw the pain and the fear with which he said those words. He was ready to do anything to ensure his father did not give up. I nodded as I started loosing the knot on the rope, the man cried out in pains as my hands moved to check out the exact position of the wound. The son disconnected the bayonet from the nozzle of his rifle quickly and cut the rope, helping me to pull his father’s blood soaked trousers down.
“Papa, hang on, don’t die, hang on,” he consoled his father as he undid the trousers; it was such a pitiful sight that it brought tears to my eyes. It was such a horrible situation to watch your own father dying before your very eyes and you could not do anything.
“As I soaked the towel inside the iron bucket I had with to clean the area surrounding the wound, the man cried out,
“Ahh, Chineke mu, Alaoji bia kwa nu, Chineke bia kwa o!”
“Papa ndo! Ndo! Sorry! Jisi ike,” his son consoled.
“Mmiri o, biko nun ye mu mmiri!” he requested.
“He needs water,” The young man said to me as if I was deaf.
I shook my head to indicate the request cannot be granted.
“Please, give me water, Jesus, I am dying, I need a drink!” the father yelled, his son still looked at me questionly.
“Give him water to drink please, he is my father!” he pleaded as tears rolled down his young eyes.
“No, it would kill him,” I told him.
“Chineke umu Africa, biko, mmiri! I need water, my mouth is dry,” the man groaned, I could see his loss of blood was sapping whatever energy he had left.
“Papa please don’t die, please hold on,” his son cried, “Nurse! Help me, don’t let my father die, please help me.” He asked holding his dying father’s head on his laps. I cleaned the surface of the wound and the man flinched and shouted with a very familiar painful shrill that I had become accustomed to inside the hospital’s butcher room,
“Hmm, chukwu Ala oji nwa oduma anaa! Blood trailed out slowly from the wound, whoever fired the shot aimed to kill him instantly but instead his death was occurring slowly. I went on to bandage his waist to stop the bleeding.
“Where is the doctor?” the kid soldier asked with tearful pleading eyes, I pointed towards the new doctor who was standing by the bed of another patient.
“Doctor, Doctor!” the boy called out, leaping up and moving towards him, I cried more for his pain; he was willing to keep his father alive. I looked back at the dying man, his eyes were half closed and some saliva were running down his mouth, his mouth squeezed into a smile as he looked at me.
“So this is how a man goes,” he said a little audibly, I held his hand, not really knowing what to say or do at that very moment. I knew the man would be gone in a matter of minutes, I had seen cases like his in my short stay at the hospital. I looked up on time to see the boy and the doctor coming down to us. The doctor crossed over to where we were and shifted the two weapons lying carelessly by the side.
“Nurse, what do we have here?” the doctor asked as he bent down to have a closer look.
“The patient was brought in not long ago with a bullet wound to the pelvis,” I narrated, “Must have lost so much blood and requested for water. I tried to stop the bleeding.” I finished the doctor lifted the bandaged to study the wound closely.
“The entry wound is a real bad case,” he commented, “did you check if there’s any exit?” he asked.
“No, I replied.
“That means the lead is still lodged in there, too bad,” he said as he checked the man’s eyes with his torch.
“This one will need someone to till the ground,” the doctor finished as he stood up; it was our code indicating a patient that may die soon and be buried.
“I’ll go get some pain killers across,” the doctor announced getting up and touching the boy briefly on the shoulders, “Be strong and be man.” I knew the doctor would not be back, the talk was just a way of buying time for the expected to happen.
“Ikenna,” the dying man called out weakly.
“Papa, I am here,” his son replied.
“Icheghim na nga agbake na nka,” he started.
“Papa, hold on the doctor is coming,” the boy replied into his father’s ears.
“Ikenna, listen,” the weak voice demanded, “I am leaving and want you to know I died a very proud man. I am proud of you, you are a brave son.”
“Papa, you will not die, the doctor will soon be here. He went to get drugs for you,” his optimistic son continued.
“Take care of your mother and sisters, don’t let them down and don’t let those bastards hurt you,” his dying father kept uttering, his eyes were closing and the strength in his voice was trailing with each word.
“Papa, hang on, Papa, Doctor!” the boy shouted, “Nurse! Call the doctor, my father is dying,” As he shouted, his father’s weak head kept shaking on his laps with his body’s movement. The only thing I could do was to watch the tragedy happen; if I had had power to give life, I would have been more than generous for the son’s sake. But being equally mortal, I cried at the demise of yet another casualty. The poor boy started crying and calling his father continuously, it was useless, the man was dead. I watched with tears as the boy hugged the torso of his dead father whose nakedness was still exposed with only the bandage rolled round his waist covering his manhood partially. The boy was still bent in agony when Dr. Nwosu appeared from the butcher room wearing his same bloodstained gown. He watched the scenario for sometime and then walked up to them and collected the two rifles lying on the floor.
“Elias, keep these inside my office,” he instructed, “he will certainly come back for it.” Both of them left the scene as if nothing happened. I stood by the side and grieved with the boy, his sobs continued for sometime until he could cry no more. He got up and looked about with reddened eyes which fell on me and asked, “Where will I bury my father?” I did not know where the dead were laid; it was the job of Elias and Orjiakor or any solider Dr. Nwosu assigned the duty. I went and enquired from Elias and he led us that night to the place used as burial ground for the fallen heroes. That night the kid soldier called Ikenna carried the corpse of his father to his final resting place, I held the lantern as Elias dug the grave. Elias helped the boy put down his father’s remains down the grave, the body was completely stripped of its clothes as they were in short supply and was needed by somebody else. I said the prayer for the soul of the departed man and heard the boy’s tearful “Amen.” Elias reminded him to perform the burial rite of dust to dust and he grabbed some earth heaped by the side of the grave and stared for some minutes at his dead father before he courageously said, “Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust. Papa Na gboo.” After that Elias threw in earth and I did the same. I held the lamp as both Elias and the boy covered the grave and marched on the grave. We all walked back to the hospital together silently, when we got to the entrance, the boy asked Elias, “Where is my gun?”
“The doctor took it to his office,” Elias informed him. I watched as he went in there and came out with it; the expression on his face was obvious, he was no longer a boy, he was a soldier, a solider that was out for revenge.

Nasir El-Rufai Bereaved Again; losses mother-in-law.

Former Minister for FCT and frontline critic of the Jonathan administration, Mallam Nasir El-rufai is bereaved again.His mother in-law, Hajiya Nafisa Garba Haliru passed on Friday after a protracted illness. El-Rufai who made the announcement on his Facebook account said he was still in shock after learning about the sad development and called for his friends and well wishers to join him in extending his condolences to his in-laws.

El-rufai wrote, “Bereaved again: yesterday, my mother inlaw, Hajiya Nafisa Garba Haliru died after a protracted illness. I have been in shock since hearing of this sad news. Please join me in extending sympathies and condolences to my wife, Ummi and her father and siblings. May the gentle soul of Mami find eternal peace in Aljannat Firdaus. Amin.”

This is coming almost two years after the former BPE boss lost his eldest daughter, Yasmine el-Rufai, who was found dead in her London apartment. Yasmine was 25 years old as the time of her demise and held a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics (LSE). She also had a law degree from the University of London.

Under Obamacare, Smokers Are Liable To Pay More For Health Insurance

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama's health care law, according to experts who are just now teasing out the potential impact of a little-noted provision in the massive legislation. The Affordable Care Act — "Obamacare" to its detractors — allows health insurers to charge smokers buying individual policies up to 50 percent higher premiums starting next Jan. 1. For a 55-year-old smoker, the penalty could reach nearly $4,250 a year. A 60-year-old could wind up paying nearly $5,100 on top of premiums. Younger smokers could be charged lower penalties under rules proposed last fall by the Obama administration. But older smokers could face a heavy hit on their household budgets at a time in life when smoking-related illnesses tend to emerge. Workers covered on the job would be able to avoid tobacco penalties by joining smoking cessation programs, because employer plans operate under different rules. But experts say that option is not guaranteed to smokers trying to purchase coverage individually. Nearly one of every five U.S. adults smokes. That share is higher among lower-income people, who also are more likely to work in jobs that don't come with health insurance and would therefore depend on the new federal health care law. Smoking increases the risk of developing heart disease, lung problems and cancer, contributing to nearly 450,000 deaths a year. Insurers won't be allowed to charge more under the overhaul for people who are overweight, or have a health condition like a bad back or a heart that skips beats — but they can charge more if a person smokes. Starting next Jan. 1, the federal health care law will make it possible for people who can't get coverage now to buy private policies, providing tax credits to keep the premiums affordable. Although the law prohibits insurance companies from turning away the sick, the penalties for smokers could have the same effect in many cases, keeping out potentially costly patients. "We don't want to create barriers for people to get health care coverage," said California state Assemblyman Richard Pan, who is working on a law in his state that would limit insurers' ability to charge smokers more. The federal law allows states to limit or change the smoking penalty. "We want people who are smoking to get smoking cessation treatment," added Pan, a pediatrician who represents the Sacramento area. Obama administration officials declined to be interviewed for this article, but a former consumer protection regulator for the government is raising questions. "If you are an insurer and there is a group of smokers you don't want in your pool, the ones you really don't want are the ones who have been smoking for 20 or 30 years," said Karen Pollitz, an expert on individual health insurance markets with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "You would have the flexibility to discourage them." Several provisions in the federal health care law work together to leave older smokers with a bleak set of financial options, said Pollitz, formerly deputy director of the Office of Consumer Support in the federal Health and Human Services Department. First, the law allows insurers to charge older adults up to three times as much as their youngest customers. Second, the law allows insurers to levy the full 50 percent penalty on older smokers while charging less to younger ones. And finally, government tax credits that will be available to help pay premiums cannot be used to offset the cost of penalties for smokers. Here's how the math would work: Take a hypothetical 60-year-old smoker making $35,000 a year. Estimated premiums for coverage in the new private health insurance markets under Obama's law would total $10,172. That person would be eligible for a tax credit that brings the cost down to $3,325. But the smoking penalty could add $5,086 to the cost. And since federal tax credits can't be used to offset the penalty, the smoker's total cost for health insurance would be $8,411, or 24 percent of income. That's considered unaffordable under the federal law. The numbers were estimated using the online Kaiser Health Reform Subsidy Calculator. "The effect of the smoking (penalty) allowed under the law would be that lower-income smokers could not afford health insurance," said Richard Curtis, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions, a nonpartisan research group that called attention to the issue with a study about the potential impact in California. In today's world, insurers can simply turn down a smoker. Under Obama's overhaul, would they actually charge the full 50 percent? After all, workplace anti-smoking programs that use penalties usually charge far less, maybe $75 or $100 a month. Robert Laszewski, a consultant who previously worked in the insurance industry, says there's a good reason to charge the maximum. "If you don't charge the 50 percent, your competitor is going to do it, and you are going to get a disproportionate share of the less-healthy older smokers," said Laszewski. "They are going to have to play defense." (By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR | Associated Press)

Edmund Ebiware’s Violent Walk To Life Imprisonment

Edmund Ebiware, one of the accomplices of the former MEND leader, Henry Okah, was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court that sat in Abuja, this is coming four days after Henry Okah, who was also accused of masterminding the October 1, 2010 bomb blasts in Abuja was found guilty by a South African court. Ebiware who was arrested by operatives of the State Security Service on the 2nd of October at a hotel in Abuja reacted violently to his conviction.

While delivering his ruling, Justice Gabriel Kolawole who had listened to the testimony of the witnesses as well as seen the exhibits, denounced Ebiware’s attitude and his failure to disclose to the agents of the Nigerian Government that acts of terrorism were being planned.

The judge drew from Section 40 (B) of the Criminal Code Act, which says anybody that becomes an accessory to treason or becomes aware of the commission of treason and fails to give evidence to the President, a State Governor or a law enforcement officer in order to prevent the commission of the crime, is liable to treason and sentenced to life imprisonment. Justice Kolawole said “I concluded that the accused person is adjudged guilty as charged, being aware early in September 2010, that Henry Okah was planning a bomb attack but did not give such information to any of the persons or authority listed in Section 40 (B) of the Criminal Code Act. An enraged Ebiware had a violent encounter with the security operatives at the premises of the court after his conviction yelling on top of his voice in a gesture apparently targeted at the media saying: "my conviction is political after what I have done for this country is this how they will pay me back." After a few of his relatives hugged him in an apparent long time goodbye, the convict struggled with prison guards who were in the court to take him to where he would spend the rest of his life although he will be eligible for parole after serving 32 years of his sentence and is of good behaviour. Henry Okah who was accused of being the mastermind of the blasts was found guilty by a South African court on 13 counts of acts of terrorism and prosecutors say he could be facing a life sentence.