NJC Retires Two Judges for Gross Misconduct

    

The National Judicial Council (NJC) has ordered the compulsory retirement of Justice Gladys Olotu of the Federal High Court and Justice U.A. Inyang of the Abuja High Court for gross misconduct.

A statement signed by NJC's acting Director of Information, Mr. Soji Oye, said the two judges had been suspended pending the time the President Goodluck Jonathan would approve their retirement.
The suspension, he said, is with immediate effect.

THISDAY gathered that the decision to suspend the judges was taken at the council meeting held on February 26.
The council also issued warnings to a former acting President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dalhatu Adamu and two high court judges: Justice A.A. Adeleye of the High Court of Ekiti State and Justice D.O. Amaechina of the High Court of Justice of Anambra State.

NJC said: "Justice G. K. Olotu was recommended for compulsory retirement pursuant to the findings by the council on the following allegations inter-alia, contained in the petitions written against His Lordship: "That the judge failed to deliver judgment only to deliver same in Suit No. FHC/UY/250/2003, 18 months after the final address by all the counsel in the suit, contrary to the constitutional provisions that judgments should be delivered within a period of 90 days.

"The judge admitted before the Fact Finding Committee of the council that investigated the allegations that she forgot she had a pending ruling to deliver in an application for joinder; and
"That the judge entertained a post judgment matter in Suit No. FHC/UY/CS/250/2003 in Port Harcourt after delivering judgment, which made her functus officio.

"That in another case: Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/505/2012,  Justice Olotu failed to deliver judgment twice."

Why chocolate really doesn't grow on trees

 




"So tell me," an old school friend asked, "if the demand for chocolate is so high, why are cocoa farmers so poor?"

We were sitting in the local pub, just days after I returned from a trip to the Ivory Coast, filming a CNN documentary about child labor and poverty in the chocolate industry.

Two years after CNN's Freedom Project exposed Chocolate's Child Slaves, it was time to return to the cocoa plantations to unwrap the chocolate supply chain, to investigate what progress has been made to stop child labor and to explore how farmers can get more money for their beans.

My friend didn't know what he was letting himself in for. The answer to his question is neither simple nor short -- and "cocoa-nomics" has become something of an obsession of mine.

The chocolate industry is worth an estimated $110 billion a year, and yet its key commodity is grown by some of the poorest people on the planet, in plantations that can hide the worst forms of child labour.

Accurate figures are impossible to come by, but up to 800,000 children are thought to work in the cocoa sector across the Ivory Coast; children who are both a symptom of and a self-perpetuating factor in a much wider problem -- poverty.

In 1980 the international cocoa price was $3,750 a tonne -- equivalent to $10,000 a tonne in 2013. Nowadays it is considered high at roughly $2,800 a tonne.

Over the same period, the value of cocoa within a chocolate bar has halved from 12% to just 6%, so although a farmer's cocoa is essential to a chocolate bar, its value is a small part of the ultimate cost of production.

Most (70%) of a modern day chocolate bar's value goes to the manufacturer because the majority of the costs are in marketing, research and development.

In 2012, as part of sweeping reforms to the cocoa sector the Ivorian government enforced a minimum price for cocoa at the farm gate; at 60% of the international market price, it's about $1.5/kg.

No farmer will tell you it is enough, but it does mean they can budget ahead, and are less at the mercy of passing middlemen or traders.

Nick Weatherill, director of the International Cocoa Initiative, says the Ivory Coast's reform of the cocoa sector was guaranteeing a steadier price, "at least in its first steps."

"It may not be as high as the farmers would like, to jump out of poverty," he says. "But at least it's steady and they know what's coming".

A guaranteed minimum price was the first gust of a prevailing wind which is now sweeping over the cocoa plantations: For more than a decade the "big chocolate," companies like Nestlé, Hershey, Kraft and Mars have suffered from a barrage of bad publicity -- seemingly unwilling or unable to flex their corporate muscle to stop child labor.

Across the industry it was seen as everybody's problem but nobody's responsibility.

"So what has changed?" asked my friend, who by now was tucking into a hearty pub lunch.

Infographic: Cocoa-nomics explained

I'm afraid the answer lies in self-interest as much as corporate responsibility: Growing cocoa is becoming unsustainable. There's a crisis brewing.

The average age of a cocoa farmer is about 51 (not much lower than the average life expectancy); and across the Ivory Coast plantations are old, diseased and in need of regeneration.

But regeneration requires investment, and the younger generation would rather migrate to the capital city, Abidjan, or switch to more lucrative crops like rubber or palm oil.

In West Africa, the cocoa supply is failing to meet increasing demand.

And with 1.3 billion Chinese starting to acquire a taste for chocolate, demand looks set to rise exponentially -- particularly in emerging markets -- in the coming years.

So in the Ivory Coast, which produces more than a third of the world's cocoa, there is now an urgent business case for doing the right thing, and helping to improve the lives of cocoa-growers.

That means investing in those at the bottom of the value chain: Educated, business-minded farmers are the only way to secure a sustainable cocoa supply in the future.

My trip to the Ivory Coast coincided with a visit from José Lopez, Nestlé's top cocoa executive -- a real-life Willy Wonka who oversees 468 chocolate factories in 86 countries.

Nestlé's "Cocoa Plan" has pledged $120 million worldwide over ten years; at a new research and development centre in the capital Abidjan, they are the breeding the next generation of super saplings -- disease resistant, high-yield cocoa trees. They plan to give away 12 million new plants to Ivorian farmers by 2016.

Nigerian stowaway dies under South African Airways plane at U.S .airport

A suspected stowaway was found frozen to death in the undercarriage of a South African Airline passenger jet at Dulles Airport in Washington, after the plane landed from Senegal.

The man, identified only as Chris Dikeh, with a Nigerian Passport and in his mid-30s, is believed to have frozen in temperatures around -60°C.

The deceased boarded the aircraft from Dakar, Senegal, his body was discovered Saturday in the wheel well of the plane parked at Dulles International Airport in Washington.

Per Second News gathered from the Police that it was a South African Airways jet that was parked now in a remote part of the airport. Grounds crews found the body on Saturday afternoon.”

Airport authorities say the male body was recovered from the landing gear of the Airbus A340 belonging to South African Airways. The flight arrived in Dulles on Wednesday last week.

In a release sent to Per Second News by officials of the South African Airways and signed by SAA spokesperson Mr Tlali Tlali,” (SAA) has initiated an internal investigation into the discovery of a human body on its aircraft in Washington DC, in the United States of America”.

“Once at the Dulles International Airport in Washington DC, it was discovered that there was a fault with the landing gear of the aircraft A340-300 and the aircraft had to receive attention. It led to SAA dispatching its engineers and technicians to the US to identify the cause and to fix the fault on the aircraft”.

NIGERIA CENTENARY SPEECH BY PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN

 

Dear Compatriots,

1.            I extend warm greetings and felicitations to all Nigerians as we celebrate our nation’s centenary; a significant milestone in our journey to Nationhood.

2.            One hundred years ago, on the 1st of January 1914, the British Colonial authorities amalgamated the Southern and Northern Protectorates, giving birth to the single geo-political entity called Nigeria which has become our home, our hope, and our heritage.

3.            I have often expressed the conviction that our amalgamation was not a mistake. While our union may have been inspired by considerations external to our people; I have no doubt that we are destined by God Almighty to live together as one big nation, united in diversity.

4.         I consider myself specially privileged to lead our country into its second century of existence. And as I speak with you today, I feel the full weight of our hundred-year history. But what I feel most is not frustration, it is not disillusionment. What I feel is great pride and great hope for a country that is bound to overcome the transient pains of the moment and eventually take its rightful place among the greatest nations on earth.

5.         Like every country of the world, we have had our troubles. And we still do. We have fought a civil war. We have seen civil authorities overthrown by the military. We have suffered sectarian violence. And as I speak, a part of our country is still suffering from the brutal assault of terrorists and insurgents.

6.            While the occasion of our centenary undoubtedly calls for celebration, it is also a moment to pause and reflect on our journey of the past one hundred years, to take stock of our past and consider the best way forward for our nation.
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7.         Even as we celebrate our centenary, we must realise that in the context of history, our nation is still in its infancy.

8.         We are a nation of the future, not of the past and while we may have travelled for a century, we are not yet at our destination of greatness.

9.         The amalgamation of 1914 was only the first step in our national journey. Unification was followed by independence and democracy which have unleashed the enormous potentials of our people and laid the foundation for our nation’s greatness.

10.    In challenging times, it is easy to become pessimistic and cynical. But hope, when grounded in realism, enables and inspires progress. Therefore, as we celebrate our first century of nationhood and enter a second, we must not lose sight of all that we have achieved since 1914 in terms of nation-building, development and progress.

11.    Today, we salute once again the great heroes of our nation – Herbert Macaulay, Ernest Ikoli, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alvan Ikoku, Chief Harold Dappa-Biriye, Dr. Michael Okpara, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Mallam Aminu Kano, Mokwugo Okoye and Chief Michael Imoudu among others.

12.    We must be inspired by our past to overcome the obstacles we face in the present and honour our forebears by realising the promise of a Nigeria that is not only independent but also truly unified, prosperous and admired the world over.

YOBE STUDENTS MASSACRE

 
The outlawed Boko Haram sect, whose members have been on the rampage in Borno and Adamawa States for over a month, spread its campaign of terror to neighbouring Yobe State Monday night where it killed 43 secondary school students in a Federal Government College.

Expectedly, the latest slaying of innocent citizens, especially pupils, has elicited reactions, with President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar condemning in the strongest possible terms the killings in the secondary school.

Though a senior teacher Ibrahim Abdul in the school, located in Buni Yadi, told the state governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, that 29 students were killed during the siege in their hostel, hospital sources revealed to journalists that 43 corpses were deposited at the morgue.

A hospital source at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, Damaturu said 43 corpses of students of the school, which was also attacked sometime last year, were deposited at the morgue.

The source told journalists that the students’ bodies were brought in early yesterday morning.

Abdul said 11 students were also injured in the attack which started at about 11.30 pm and lasted till 4am.

Abdul, who lamented that the hoodlums had a field day, revealed that the 11 injured students had been taken to the hospital for treatment.

He claimed that the insurgents came in 11 Toyota Hilux trucks and immediately set about attacking the hostels.

He also disclosed that 40 houses, hostels, classrooms and staff quarters in the school were burnt. 

The governor, who was visibly moved by the carnage he met in the school premises, promised to assist with N100 million for the school and victims.
He however called on the military to change the tactics deployed to fight the insurgents in order to restore sanity.

The Yobe State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Rufai, also confirmed to journalists that 29 students were killed in the siege.

Yobe State, which suffered two major attacks at its schools last year, has enjoyed relative peace for some months.

EFCC Press Release : Gunmen Abducts EFCC's Suspect Within Lagos Court Premises

Four gunmen on Thursday, February 20, 2014 abducted an alleged serial fraudster and suspect in two cases being handled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The suspect, Princewill Arinze Nwobodo (alias Aboki J. Brown) was abducted by the gunmen within the precincts of the Lagos High Court, Igbosere where he was to be arraigned before Justice Aishat Opesanwo on a 4-count charge bordering on obtaining $ 92,000(Ninety-Two Thousand United States Dollar) under false pretence. The arraignment was deferred to March 27, 2014 as the court did not sit.

Nwobodo had previously been arraigned in two separate courts in Lagos on fraud related charges. He was docked on October 25, 2013 before Justice Saliu Seidu of the Federal High Court, Lagos on a 15- count charge bordering on forgery and obtaining under false pretence. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted bail. His inability to meet the bail conditions consigned him to prison custody till Thursday, February 20.



In the second court, he was arraigned on November 20, 2013 before Justice Aishat Opesanwo alongside Katchy Okoye and Matthew Usong on a 12-count charge that borders on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence. They were granted bail but could not meet the bail terms.

Nwobodo was brought to court on Thursday from Ikoyi Prison, Lagos. He was snatched by the gunmen from the Prison Warders who brought him to court.

SOURCE:www.efccnigeria.org

VICTORY FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

 

A Lagos High Court in Ikeja has sentenced to death Akolade Arowolo for the murder of his banker wife, Titilayo, who he repeatedly stabbed to death at their residence in Isolo, Lagos, on June 24, 2011.

Justice Lateefat Okunnu, in her judgment on Friday, held that even though there was no eyewitness to the incident, the circumstantial evidence adduced by the prosecution had proved the murder charge against the convict beyond all reasonable doubt.
“I pronouce the defendant guilty and accordingly sentenced to death,” the court held.
Okunnu relied on the testimony of the forensic pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, who testified that there were at least 76 stab wounds found on the deceased.
Contrary to the convict’s claim during trial, Obafunwa had testified that the injuries must have been caused by sharp weapon applied on the deceased could not have been self-inflicted.

The Letter Suspending Sanusi

 

19th February, 2014

Reference:

Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Governor, 

Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja.

SUSPENSION FROM OFFICE

1.    Following the Report of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria on the Audited Financial Statements of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the year ended 31st December 2012, and other related issues, I write to convey to you His Excellency, Mr. President’s decision that you be suspended from office as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria with effect from Thursday 20th February 2014.

2.    The decision is predicated on the loss of confidence in your ability to lead the Apex Bank towards the achievement of its statutory mandate. Of particular concern is the fact that, under your watch, the bank has carried out its functions in a manner characterised by disregard for due process and accountability.

3.    This is exemplified by various acts of financial recklessness and unprofessional conduct which are inconsistent with the administration’s vision of a Central Bank propelled by the core values of focused economic management, prudence, transparency and financial discipline.

4.    The particulars of the infractions are highlighted below:

5.    Persistent Refusal and/or Negligence to comply with the Public Procurement Act in the Procurement Practices of the Central Bank of Nigeria

(a)    By virtue of Section 15(1) (a) of the Public Procurement Act, the provisions of the Act are expected to apply to all ‘procurement of goods, works and services carried out by the Federal Government of Nigeria and all procurement entities.’ The definition clearly includes the Central Bank of Nigeria.

(b)    It is however regrettable the Central Bank of Nigeria under your leadership, has refused and/or neglected to comply with the provisions of the Public Procurement (PPA). You will recall that one of the primary reasons for the enactment of the PPA was the need to promote transparency, competitiveness, cost effectiveness and professionalism in the public sector procurement system.

(c)    Available information indicates the Central Bank has over the years engaged in procurement of goods, works and services with billions of naira each year without complying with the express provisions of the PPA.

(d)    By deliberately refusing to be bound by the Provisions of the Act, the CBN has not only decided to act in an unlawful manner, but also persisted in promoting a governance regime characterised by financial recklessness, waste and impunity, as demonstrated by the contents of the 2012 Financial Statements.

6.  No responsible government will tolerate this blatant      disregard for its laws and procedures by any person or institution. The Central Bank, by its unique position, ought to show good example and be the leading light in the promotion of the culture of observance of due process.

7. Unlawful Expenditure by the Central Bank of Nigeria on ‘Intervention Projects’ across the country
(a) The unacceptable level of financial recklessness displayed by the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria is typified by the execution of ‘Intervention Projects’ across the country. From available information, the Bank has either executed or is currently executing about 63 (sixty-three) such projects across the country. Please find attached hereto as Annexure I, a letter dated January 7th, 2014 from the CBN confirming the list of projects across the country to which the CBN has committed N163 Billion (One Hundred and Sixty Billion Naira).

(b) It is inexcusable and patently unlawful for any agency of Government to deploy huge sums of money as the CBN has done in this case, without appropriation and outside the CBN’s statutory mandate. It is trite that the expenditure of public funds by any arm of government must be based on clear legal mandates, prudent costing and overriding national interest.

(c) Cognisant of the attendant negative consequence of the CBN’s action, a review of the Central Bank (Establishment) Act 2007 does not disclose any legal basis for the huge expenditure on intervention projects in default of appropriation.

Eseoghene Ohwojeheri: [rejoinder] Chimamanda, are our differences not enough already?

  I read Chimamanda Adichie’s article, titled “Why Can’t He just be like Everyone Else?”, where in she made a case for homosexuality and condemned the law prohibiting it on the basis that we are different. I read the said article with that painful smile on my face. Painful because I realise how weak man is especially when the foundation of his ideologies are standing solely on his intellect rather than guidance. Smile because I marveled at the beauty of truth; truth is so beautiful falsehood cannot be truly beautiful no matter how beautifully presented
Let me begin by telling you how different I am; I prefer heat to cold, I find “how are you” disrespectful, I admire naive people, and I think News is overrated, yet I am normal and if you knew me you’ll agree. I also know a normal person who asked if he will be allowed to farm in heaven, and another normal person who is left handed when he writes and right handed when he eats and left handed again when he has to lift an object only to be right handed one more time when what he is lifting is money. Even in physical preference I know the mass of normal women who speak of 6 packs as what they wish for in their husbands and I also know one normal lady who says a man has to have pot belle to be appealing; no kidding! Indeed we are a people so different.
Now consider the case of Armin Meiwes. One day in 2001 he was so different he posted an advert online saying he was “looking for a well-built 18- to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed”. And you will think the world will say who is this psycho but Bernd Jürgen, an Engineer from Berlin, was interested because he was “different”, he was so different he wanted to be eaten, to him that was the peak of sexual gratification. Now this kind of different is really really different and it opens our eyes to the fact that the “different” we accept should have limits. But let us conclude this oddly interesting story later.
Firstly, Adichie spoke of how it was unfair and unjust to outlaw homosexuality because it is not a crime. She hinged her submission that homosexuality is not a crime on her own premise that a crime must have victim or harm society and when two adults who so happen to be same sex choose to love each other there is no crime because there is no victim. We hope to respectfully ask our dear writer; by your ‘no victim no crime’ premise does it follow that if a man of 45 decides that he is in love with his daughter of 25 and she loves him too romantically then there is no crime in their having sex? If there is please who is the victim?
Furthermore we want to ask, again very respectfully, how about when a man drives a car heavily drunk but he drives it properly and there was no accident, no victim. No crime? How about a couple, and we have seen such, who say they are in an “open relationship” in other words the husband says ok my wife is allowed to have sex with whoever she likes and the wife says my husband is also free to have sex with whoever he likes; no victim; no crime? How about a superbly skilled fellow who does surgery without qualification but meanwhile all his patients are healthy and all operations he has carried out so far were successful; no victim, no crime?
What a world it would be. There is indeed need for us to broaden our horizon on what a crime is. Man commits crime against others, some other crime he commits against himself, and some other against God. Homosexuality is a crime against society because it threatens our existence and shuts the door in the face of the next generation, it is a crime against self because it harms the body from Human Papillomavirus (HPV) to Anal cancer among other diseases and you can see this people practically falling apart, and it is a crime against God because He has prohibited it in all of His scriptures

LAMIDO SANUSI SACKED

The Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, has suspended Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi from his position as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The suspension was announced in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.
The statement read that, “Having taken special notice of reports of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and other investigating bodies, which indicate clearly that Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s tenure has been characterised by various acts of financial recklessness and misconduct, which are inconsistent with the administration’s vision of a Central Bank propelled by the core values of focused economic management, prudence, transparency and financial discipline;

Chimamanda Adichie writes on anti-gay law in Nigeria

 
  


Why can’t he just be like everyone else?’  written by award winning writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

I will call him Sochukwuma. A thin,  smiling boy who liked to play with us girls at the university primary  school in Nsukka. We were young. We knew he was different, we said,  ‘he’s not like the other boys.’ But his was a benign and unquestioned  difference; it was simply what it was. We did not have a name for him.  We did not know the word ‘gay.’ He was Sochukwuma and he was friendly  and he played oga so well that his side always won.

In secondary school, some boys in his  class tried to throw Sochukwuma off a second floor balcony. They were  strapping teenagers who had learned to notice, and fear, difference.  They had a name for him. Homo. They mocked him because his hips swayed  when he walked and his hands fluttered when he spoke. He brushed away  their taunts, silently, sometimes grinning an uncomfortable grin. He  must have wished that he could be what they wanted him to be. I imagine  now how helplessly lonely he must have felt. The boys often asked, “Why  can’t he just be like everyone else?”

Possible answers to that question  include ‘because he is abnormal,’ ‘because he is a sinner, ‘because he  chose the lifestyle.’ But the truest answer is ‘We don’t know.’ There is humility and humanity in accepting that there are things we simply  don’t know. At the age of 8, Sochukwuma was obviously different.  It was not about sex, because it could not possibly have been – his hormones  were of course not yet fully formed – but it was an awareness of  himself, and other children’s awareness of him, as different. He could  not have ‘chosen the lifestyle’ because he was too young to do so. And  why would he – or anybody – choose to be homosexual in a world that  makes life so difficult for homosexuals?

The new law that criminalizes  homosexuality is popular among Nigerians. But it shows a failure of our  democracy, because the mark of a true democracy is not in the rule of  its majority but in the protection of its minority – otherwise mob  justice would be considered democratic. The law is also  unconstitutional, ambiguous, and a strange priority in a country with so many real problems. Above all else, however, it is unjust. Even if this was not a country of abysmal electricity supply where university  graduates are barely literate and people die of easily-treatable causes  and Boko Haram commits casual mass murders, this law would still be  unjust.  We cannot be a just society unless we are able to accommodate  benign difference, accept benign difference, live and let live. We may  not understand homosexuality, we may find it personally abhorrent but  our response cannot be to criminalize it.

Holy water washes away sins at Ethiopia's Timket festival

 
France has Lourdes, India has the Ganges. Ethiopia, meanwhile, has Gondar.

Situated about 450 miles north of Addis Ababa, encapsulated by hills and tall trees, and dotted with 17th-century relics from the city's glory days (when it was the country's capital), Gondar today can seem somewhat remote. During the religious festival of "Timket," however, the city is inundated with pilgrims who come to re-enact the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, and take a dip in the holy waters at the historical Fasilides Bath.

Nearly two thirds of Ethiopia's 94 million population is Christian, and the majority of those belong to the Orthodox church. For them, Timket -- celebrating the Epiphany -- is among the most important occasions of the year. It's is a two-day affair that begins with a procession of "tabots," holy replicas of the Ark of the Covenant -- the sacred chests described in the Book of Exodus as carrying the stone tablets on which the 10 Commandments were written.

The tabots are wrapped in cloth and placed on the heads of Ethiopian Orthodox Christian priests, who parade the streets en route to the bath. The priests, clad in ceremonial robes, are escorted by drums and by the clapping and singing of worshipers, who hold an overnight vigil until dawn.

There are services the following morning which culminate in the priests blessing the waters of the historic bath, while onlookers crowd every nook surrounding the bath -- some getting a pristine view from nearby trees.

When the priests are done, the mood turns jubilant, and the spectators rush to jump into the pool.

The water is now sacred, and the sick shall be cured
Ezra Adis, head priest

"The water is blessed in the name of the Holy Trinity ... in the name of God. The water is now sacred, and the sick shall be cured," explains Ezra Adis, the head priest at the local Medhanelem Church.

"That is why the young people who jump in first get excited; it is a spiritual love," he adds.

Woman accused in Craigslist slaying tells newspaper: I've killed lots of others

- A Pennsylvania woman charged in the November slaying of a man she and her husband met through Craigslist has told a newspaper that she killed many more victims, and authorities told CNN Sunday they are investigating the woman's shocking claims.

A law enforcement source close to the investigation said Miranda Barbour's new claims could be "the real deal." "It's conceivable," the source said, who did not want to be identified because of the ongoing investigation.

From prison on Friday, the 19-year-old Barbour told a reporter for the Daily Item in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, that she participated in at least 22 killings in the past six years in Alaska, Texas, North Carolina and California.

"When I hit 22, I stopped counting," Barbour is quoted as saying in a phone interview from Northumberland County Prison on Friday night. "I can pinpoint on a map where you can find them."

Sunbury Police Chief Steve Mazzeo told CNN that investigators have been in contact with the FBI and law enforcement in some of the states where Barbour has lived.

"We investigate all leads just because that's the proper protocol to follow through," Mazzeo added.

The FBI said it's too early to say what its involvement may be in the case.

"The FBI's Philadelphia Division has recently been in contact with the Sunbury Police Department regarding Miranda Barbour, and will offer any assistance requested in the case," it said in a statement to CNN.

Barbour told the newspaper she had her first experience with killing when she just 13, shortly after she said she joined a satanic cult in Alaska.

Authorities are looking closely at Barbour's claims that she was involved in Satanism, according to another law enforcement source close to the investigation.

Public defender Edward Greco, who is representing Barbour, told CNN he was not aware that his client was planning to give the interview.

Barbour requested the interview that was recorded on audio at the Northumberland County Prison, according to the Daily Item.

The reporter, Francis Scarcella, told CNN he was not allowed to bring in a notepad or any other recording device. He said police allowed him to listen to the interview after it was conducted.

"I feel it is time to get all of this out. I don't care if people believe me. I just want to get it out," Barbour is quoted as saying.

Greco would not comment on the accuracy of Barbour's claims.

Investigators believe Barbour had Craigslist encounters with at least 30 men, according to a source close to the investigation. Police are trying to find those men, the source said.

The father of Barbour's 1-year-old child is deceased. Sunbury police have said his death is part of their investigation.

BOKO HARAM MURDERS 106

 

Gunmen  believed to  be  Boko Haram Islamists on Saturday  night   continued their reign of terror by killing  dozens of   people in Izghe, a village in Gwoza Local Government Area of  Borno State.

The latest killings came barely a few hours  before President Goodluck Jonathan reiterated his belief that Boko Haram activities represented Nigeria’s  “share of the negative news” across the world.

Only last Tuesday,  the fundamentalists snuffed lives out of no fewer than 67 people in Konduga in Borno State. Late last month, the sect  killed over 115 people, including worshippers,   in two communities in Borno and Adamawa states.

The gunmen reportedly rounded up a group of men in Izghe, a largely Christian community  and shot them  during  the attack that lasted about five hours.

Residents, who fled the area said some of the victims were shot, while others had their throats slit by the attackers who were  chanting  “Allah is great.”

“All the dead bodies of the victims are still lying in the streets,” a resident, Abubakar Usman, told Reuters.

“We fled without burying them, fearing the terrorists were still lurking in the bushes.”

There were however conflicting  casualty figures  given  by  some prominent indigenes of the area.

While   Ali Ndume, who represents the area in the Senate  told the Agence France Presse that about 106 people were murdered, a resident put the fugure at 93.

“So far, from information I have received from Izghe, 106 people, including an old woman, have been killed by the attackers, suspected to be Boko Haram gunmen,”  Ndume   said.

The resident,  Mallam Bulama,  told journalists in Maiduguri, Borno State, that the Islamists, who were dressed in military uniform, invaded the community   “killing 93 people, and inflicting injuries on several others.”

“As I speak to you (journalists), many residents of Izghe are missing and those lucky enough to be alive have started leaving.”

Bulama added  that the terrorists who were about 100  came with sophisticated weapons and  shot sporadically before    setting  many houses and shops ablaze.

Funeral rites were held for 52  Muslim victims at the central mosque in the nearby town of Madagali, mosque officials   said.

Another  survivor, Barnabas Idi, also told the AFP  that  he scaled the fence of his house and crawled for about 40 minutes to safety.

“The attackers came around 9.30 pm in six trucks and some motorcycles. They were dressed in military uniform. They asked men to assemble at a place and then started hacking and slaughtering them,” he said.

Idi, who added that security agents were not present during the attack, said some of the insurgents moved from door-to-door looking for those in hiding in their houses.

A Maiduguri resident and an indigene of the troubled community, Adamu Izge,   said he lost his father in-law to  the siege.

SHOCKING!!! Woman delivered of 4 years pregnancy

The shocking story of how a woman, Ms. Oluchi Merife (maiden name) was delivered of a male child after four years of pregnancy has continued to dominate discussions in and around the Oji-River area of Enugu State. Before she was finally delivered of he baby on December 13th, 2013,  Oluchi a  mother of two who hails from Ndiagbor in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State had to be abandoned by her husband Azuka Uchendu when she couldn’t deliver after two years.
The woman who narrated her four-year ordeal to Saturday Sun at Oji-River alleged that at a point her husband taunted her with the pregnancy saying that she merely had a swollen stomach. She also disclosed that her husband who hails from Mgbidi in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu later eloped with another woman when the crisis continued. According to her; “I took-in in 2010 and was attending ante natal clinic. By the 5th month I was given date for delivery. But at the sixth month I started seeing my period; at the hospital they told me that the child was going down and wasn’t growing any longer.
They sent me for an ultra sound scan which was negative indicating that there was no child in the womb. “In 2012 a man gave me some money and asked me to go The Lord’s Chosen headquarters in Lagos that I will be freed. I went as directed but nothing happened. By then my husband had left me and went to live with another woman in Ituku. I continued running around for solution to my problem; I packed out from where we were staying at Dodo in Oji and moved down to Achi.“While the hospitals say that the baby was no longer there, prayer houses kept telling me that I was carrying a male child and that his name will be Jeremiah.

17-yr-old nabbed for sleeping with own mother, raping 4 children

THE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Ebonyi State, yesterday, arrested a serial rapist and homosexual, Chibuike Maduka, who allegedly raped four children of different parents at Ndibe in Afikpo North Local Government Area of the state.

The suspect who blamed his strange sexual escapades on his mother, Mrs. Idam Augustina Josephine, confessed to have had sexual intercourse with his mother on several occasions and that he doesn’t know what usually compel him to have sex with children in the area.

Parading the suspect at the Command headquarters in Abakaliki, the state Commandant of NSCDC, Mrs. Ego Echendu, said the suspect was arrested after a tip-off by an indigene of the area, adding that the suspect had in a confessional statement disclosed that he had sexual intercourse with his mother.

He said: ”We got a tip-off and sent some of our men to follow up the information concerning an adolescent male who has been in the business of raping children.

“We continued to monitor the suspect and fortunately at about 3 p.m yesterday, our divisional office at Afikpo  North Local Government Area was able to locate him and his mother who, we reliably gathered, was also a  key player in the son’s sexual escapades.

”The suspect confessed to have been having sexual intercourse with the biological mother and we asked to know when it started and he said last year and also claimed that the mother usually encouraged him to sleep with children of tender ages.

1 survivor, at least 77 dead in Algerian military plane crash

 
A man surveys the damage after a military plane crashed in the mountains of eastern Algeria on Tuesday, February 11. Rescue workers recovered at least 77 bodies and found one survivor, officials said.
 
The plane was flying from Tamanrasset in southern Algeria to Constantine in the east, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
 
The plane crashed into Mount Fertas, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of Algiers.
One person survived the crash of a military plane Tuesday in the mountains of eastern Algeria that left at least 77 others dead, a spokeswoman for the country's Civil Protection office said.

The spokeswoman, who could not give her name in line with protocol, said there were a total of 78 people on board the plane. The man who survived has head injuries and was taken to a hospital, she added.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika declared a three-day national mourning period and offered his condolences to the families of the victims, the state-run Algerie Presse Service (APS) reported.

The Hercules C-130 was carrying members of the Algerian air force and their families, according to several media outlets in Algeria.

Map: Algeria plane crash

Initial reports on the crash gave conflicting numbers, with some saying 103 people were on board the aircraft and as many as 100 had died. Others cited 52 deaths and more than two dozen missing.

The plane was flying from Tamanrasset in southern Algeria to Constantine in the east, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"An investigative team has been created and sent to the scene to determine the cause and the exact circumstances of this tragic accident," the Defense Ministry statement said, adding that top military officials were heading to the crash site.

The plane crashed in Mount Fertas, which is about 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of Algeris, according to APS.

State radio, citing a military source, said bad weather was behind the crash.

There was a snowstorm in the area when the plane went down, witnesses told the radio network.

MURTALA MUHAMMED-THIRTY EIGHT YEARS AFTER.

It was an incident that shocked the nation. A sitting military head of state had just been assassinated. It was the first and only time in the political evolution of the country. Ironically, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed was just 38 years at the time of his murder and tomorrow, February 13, this black day will be 38 years in history
If there was ever a time in Nigeria when politicians lived a life of simplicity, the idea probably lost its attraction following the assassination of the late General Murtala Ramat Muhammed on February 13, 1976. History has it that General Muhammed, for all his days since July 29, 1975 when he assumed office as the Head of State, til his death, continued to be driven in an official black Mercedes Benz saloon car and escorted by an Aide-de-Camp (ADC), an orderly and driver.

It was this low-profile lifestyle of General Muhammed that made assassinating him possible. On the day of his murder, he was said to have been driven by his driver alongside his ADC, Lt. Akintunde Akinsehinwa and his orderly who carried a pistol, the only visible sign of protection.

Unlike what obtains in today’s Nigeria, there was no siren-blaring, acrobatic and reckless-driving convoy. Small wonder, it took just a traffic controller, who while performing his statutory duty, stopped the lane on which the General’s car was at the time of the incident.

General Muhammed aside, two other targets were to be assassinated same day and almost at the same time. They were General Muhammed’s deputy, who was the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, General Olusegun Obasanjo and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Theophilus Danjuma. While General Muhammed wasn’t as lucky, both Obasanjo and Danjuma lived to tell their part of the story.

Immediately the assassination of General Muhammed was confirmed, Lt. Col. B. Dimka had run to the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) to announce his “good tidings.” And what was it? “Fellow Nigerians, Murtala Muhammed’s deficiency has been detected. His government is now overthrown by young revolutionaries.” Lt. Col. Dimka, thinking the coup had succeeded, bragged on: “All the 19 military governors have no powers over the states they now govern. The states affairs will be run by military brigade commanders until further notice…” Unfortunately for him too, he didn’t live to reify his dream of ruling Africa’s most populous country.

Unlike his predecessor, General Yakubu Gowon, General Muhammed was considered tough, dogged and fearless. It is touted that he applied this characteristics in his resolved fight to rid the country of all form of corruption by some military governor-politicians under General Gowon, whom he said had “betrayed the trust and confidence reposed in them by the nation and betrayed the ethics of their profession.”

His fight against public sector corruption, led to mass dismissals and retirement of over 10,000 public officials on the grounds of inefficiency and corruption. As it is in modern Nigeria, many of those dismissed or retired were people regarded as highly placed, with connections in high places.

Perhaps, it could be said that the difference between General Muhammed and Nigeria’s current crop of leaders is that while the General was willing to make the hard decision for a greater and brighter tomorrow even though as a military regime, today’s leaders lack the political will to make hard choices that could better the lots of the country.

Since he was alleged to be performing more than his predecessor, General Gowon, whom he ousted also as military head of state, the question of what then, could have necessitated his assassination by Lt. Col. Dimka and co had continued to resonate? In a second near victory speech, which never got to be read, Dimka had said: “Fellow Nigerians… On the 29th July 1975 the Government of General Gowon was overthrown.

“Some of the reasons given for the change were: corruption; indecision; arrest and detention without trial; weakness on the part of the Head of State; maladministration in general and a host of other malpractice. Every honest Nigerian will agree with me that since the changeover of government, there has not been any physical development in the whole country generally.”

On the dismissals and retirements of public servants in the fight against corruption and inefficiency, Dimka’s speech read further: “All we have is arbitrary dismissal of innocent Nigerians who have contributed in no less amount to the building of this great nation… The sad point about it all is that those who initiated the retirement or dismissal exercise are the worst offenders. You will be informed about the ill-gotten wealth in my next announcement.”

Famed former child actress Shirley Temple dies

 
 Shirley Temple, who rose to fame as arguably one of the most famous child actresses in Hollywood history, died late Monday night, her publicist said.

She was 85.
Temple died of natural causes at her Woodside, California, home, surrounded by family and caregivers, a statement from the publicist said.

Temple starred in four massive box-office draws before she turned 10, commanding a then-unheard of $50,000 per movie.

She retired from filmmaking at 22, but she did not fade from the public eye. Far from it.

She embarked on a new career a foreign diplomat: She served in the U.S. delegation to the United Nations from 1969 to 1974, was U.S. Ambassador to Ghana from 1974 to 1976 and U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992.

"We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife of fifty-five years of the late and much missed Charles Alden Black," the statement said.

Funeral arrangements are pending. A remembrance guestbook will be set up online at shirleytemple.com

SOURCE:www.cnn.com

PDP–APC Showdown

 VS  

We are at least a year away. But we are there already. Believe it or not, this year, 2014, is the election year. To be sure, the ballot for presidential, legislative and most gubernatorial elections will not be cast until February 2015. But the election heat is already upon us, so pervasive, so intense, and so thick you can slice it with a knife. And it will only get worse, not better. 

Hardly a day passes now without frontal and proxy confrontations between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the leading opposition party. These confrontations come through accusations and counter-accusations, defections and counter-defections, threats and counter-threats, boasts and counter-boasts etc. The two parties are having a vicious go at each other, the like of which we have not seen in recent times. And there won’t be any let off. So, brace yourself.

Perhaps, this is inevitable. Since 1998/1999, we have never approached a general election in such a heightened state. With the possibility of a first-time defeat staring it rudely in the face, the ruling party is giving it its all, definitely not waiting to be steamrolled. And fancying itself to be within touching distance of history, the opposition is not willing to take prisoners either. It is this push-pull dynamics, the constant attempts to gain advantage over and undermine the other, that has blanketed the polity with a heat-wave that will possibly linger beyond February 2015.

Even if APC’s early promise is not immediately fulfilled, its dramatic entry has already changed the temper of the game. The possibility of alternation of power, without which a multi-party democracy is all but a sham, appears more realistic now with the emergence of a strong opposition. This has the potential of further deepening our democracy by expanding choice, increasing competition, and providing incentive for elected officials to perform. Also, the emergence of two strong parties across the religious and geographical divide, if well managed, could diminish the negative use to which religion and ethnicity are routinely put in our politics.

But this same dramatic arrival, combined with the equally dramatic response it has elicited, has also brought forward the election year. Everything is now political, and politics is now everything. Governance, sadly, has taken the back-seat. We have thus prematurely entered the lame-duck zone. Show-boating will be prioritised ahead of difficult but necessary reforms. And projects that will seduce the voters and swell the war chest will be favoured over the ones that will make real and lasting impact.

Worse could happen, unfortunately. The spirited contest between the two parties is already amplifying tension in an ordinarily brittle polity. Muds are freely thrown, fiery words freely exchanged, and violence appears only a spit-distance away. A recent discussion in the House of Representatives predictably degenerated into a row. When the passion eventually spills into the streets and other arenas where there are no rules and gavels, the situation could get uglier. It is hoped that the electoral umpire and the security agencies are ready for this and are prepared, in a non-partisan way, to force the actors to play by the rules.

While we brace ourselves for the next 12 months, it is important to back up a little. How did we get to this moment of intense competition? A time was when Nigeria could pass for a one-party state. Even with close to 50 registered parties, PDP controlled not only the presidency, but also more than two-thirds of the states, and near absolute majority in the National Assembly. Scholars of democracy have names for that dysfunctional state, ranging from multi-party democracy with a dominant party, feckless pluralism to pseudo-democracy.

At its glorious height, PDP controlled 28 out of the 36 states. That was almost 80 per cent of the states. Now, it is barely hanging onto only half of the states, with a slim majority in the Senate, and a seriously threatened standing in the House. And it could get worse. So, how do we explain PDP’s tumble from Mt. Olympus? An oft-repeated account puts it all down to the politics of 2011 and 2015. Even if that is true, the issues are much deeper, for the unraveling of PDP had been long in coming.

A big chunk of the puzzle issue lies in the origin. PDP was conceived as a big tent, creatively symbolised by the green-white-red umbrella, a party strong enough to withstand even the military. This outlook gave it strength, earning it the first slot for registration in 1998 and easy victory in the 1999 elections with 21 states (All Peoples Party won nine and Alliance for Democracy won six), and the presidency to boot. But its strength also became a weakness. The truth is that PDP has never been a party in the strictest sense. It is a rally, a collection of different tendencies, a mere but effective platform for winning elections.