We Must End Boko Haram’s War on Children – By Debbie Ariyo

The news that over 200 school children were last week abducted by the Boko Haram terrorist group in North East Nigeria makes for depressing reading. Pupils sitting their end of school examinations were rounded up, packed in to vehicles and taken away after their school was invaded in a 4 hour operation. The Nigerian military then issued a statement that almost all the girls had been rescued. This proved to be a lie as the school principal gave a statement to the contrary. It now appears that a few of the girls were able to escape with the rest still held captive. Of course the military later issued a statement to retract their earlier one. So far no one knows the fate of the missing 200 or so girls.
Or maybe we do. We know the fate of girls who are usually caught up in conflict situations all over the world. In the past, in conflict zones like Sierra Leone, Liberia and Uganda, girls who were abducted were turned into sex slaves or forced to “marry” their abductors. Their main role was to serve their masters in every way possible. They cook, clean and are forced to have unprotected and endless sex with their abductors. They are forced to have babies – who are later groomed as children to become child soldiers to continue the war and kill people. They become indoctrinated and are forced to partake in killing people. This singular act of mass abduction of children has shifted the Boko Haram insurgency from a middle of the road uprising to a possible longer term conflict situation in Nigeria. It is obvious that with the success of this initial mass abduction of girls, other operations of a similar nature are bound to follow and other schools will be attacked with girls abducted and enslaved.

10 Leadership Failures In The Short Career Of David Moyes In Manchester United

 
1) Don’t change the two most important people in the organisation at the same time
Sir Alex Ferguson had been manager of Manchester United for 27 years and David Gill had racked up a decade as chief executive when the duo stepped down last summer. For manager and chief executive at a football club, read chief executive and chairman at a publicly listed company. Allowing both to leave at the same time is dangerous, particularly when their combined leadership has been so successful. Where was the succession planning that didn’t let that happen? And what happened to the board’s oversight of the career decisions of its two most important executives? How many companies have lost their chairman and chief executive at exactly the same time and replaced both with great success?
2) Don’t let the last business leader choose the next one?
Sir Alex Ferguson imposed what some observers have described as a “Stalin-like grip” on Manchester United during his 27 years in charge. Very little, it is said, happened without either his direct say-so or tacit approval. But allowing the man who has had a stand named after him and a statue erected at the club’s Old Trafford stadium to effectively nominate his replacement as manager brought personal emotion, ego and self-interest into the succession, when it should have been a rational, well thought-out collective board decision. Who on the board would have dared to shoot down the suggestion of the club’s most successful manager ever? Ferguson was allowed to become much too important during his reign at the top. How many departing chief executives are allowed to select their successors?
3) Groom successors from within when you have a winning team
Ferguson’s biggest failing perhaps was not grooming a potential successor. Maybe that’s a pitfall of having a domineering, win-at-all-costs personality. But some of the most successful leadership at winning companies has taken more of a team-based approach, generating a cadre of capable lieutenants who have gone on to follow them as well as taking the helm at other companies. Groups including Procter & Gamble PG -0.15%, Dixons, Asda and the former menswear chain Burtons have served as prodigious academies of management talent. And in British football three of the 19 other managers in the Premier League served as players and/or backroom staff under Ferguson, demonstrating that the talent to groom at hand was indeed available.
4) Keep the most important support staff intact when the top jobs change
David Moyes entered the lions’ den when he took the manager’s job at Manchester United. The previous manager had won everything there was to win in a glittering career; the top players’ medal cabinets were stuffed full too. Having never won a major trophy himself as a manager, he had an instant credibility gap and needed wise heads around him who had the benefit of having been around in the glory years. Instead, he replaced the entire top coaching staff, bringing in the team that had served him at Everton. While this might have been seen as asserting his authority at the time, it left Moyes unsupported within the club and deprived the club of vital experience, know-how and continuity.
5) Appoint someone big enough for the job
Moyes has never won a major trophy as a football manager and yet he was expected to deliver more or less instantly at a club whose previous manager had won 13 Premier League titles and two European Champions Leagues. As if this was not mission impossible, his body language, demeanour and communications with the media suggested almost from the outset that he did not feel that he was up to the task.

Why's Intercountry Trading In Africa Done With Foreign Currency?

 
Why is it that African countries are not using their own currencies to trade with each other?
When the Constitutive Act of the African Union was written to implement the Sirte Declaration, there were three financial institutions that were established to facilitate inter-African trade.
These were: the African Investment Bank (AIB), the African Monetary Fund (AMF) and the African Central Bank (ACB). It was agreed that it would be necessary to establish a single common currency in Africa in order to speed economic integration.
The planning for the African Monetary Fund and for the African Central Bank was supposed to be a phased process alongside the process of the full unification of Africa, leading towards the Union Government of Africa.
When the Constitutive Act was written, there was no sense among the leaders of Africa that the capitalist crisis would bring down governments in Europe, spawn a Eurozone crisis along with the current currency war that is being waged against the poorer nations.
Since the start of 2014 the world has witnessed a new battle ground as currency speculators put the reserves of poorer countries under pressure. The attacks on the currencies of societies such as Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, India, and others have reached the front pages of international news beyond the financial pages.
What is clear is the predators on Wall Street are now attacking the currencies of the exploited world and nations with the smallest reserves have to dig into their reserves to fend off currency speculators as we are continuing to see the exchange rates of Africa under pressure.
What is less clear in many countries in Africa and other parts of the Developing World, though, is the ways in which this currency war is inextricably linked to the volatility of Wall Street. Neo-liberal interpretations of the world allow policymakers to promote prescriptions that exacerbate capital flight from Africa. The belief in markets is one myth that has suborned technicians in Africa to continue to support the political and military power of the USA. The assertion that the United States has a comparative advantage as an originator of high value quality financial assets can now be dismissed as the justification for supporting the military power of the USA.
It is within this context that it is urgent that Africa begins to work toward a single currency.
One of the prior steps would be to establish the African Currency unit with strict benchmarks for the integration of Africa towards the adoption of a single currency.
Without the establishment of the African Central Bank that functions under democratic control, and a credible African currency the drain of resources will continue. The amount of documented evidence is well known. Research from the African Development Bank (AfDB) revealed in May 2013 that in the three decades from 1980 to 2009, African countries lost up to $1.4trillion in illicit financial flows, known as capital flight. These figures from the African Development Bank are repeating the scholarly findings of James K. Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana that has been around for about twenty years.
One of the most urgent political matters for the progressive forces is to end the capital flight from Africa and the seizure of African resources for external forces in alliance with African militarists. Capital flight from Africa ensures that there are no resources for infrastructure, for social development and programs and to provide for the needs of the majority of the African peoples.
Progressives and those working for the full unification of Africa should be promoting the process of establishing a common currency in Africa so that Africans no longer keep their foreign currency reserves in the US dollar, Euro or the pound sterling.
Africans can learn a lot from what is being done in the ASEAN societies where the first step of monetary integration has been placed on the table in the form of the Chiang Mai Initiative. This Initiative has laid the basis for a number of ventures such as bilateral swaps to protect the societies of East Asia from the Wall Street foreign exchange traders and to enhance regional trade. The planning for the Asian Currency Unit is following the lines of creating a firewall in Asia to protect the societies from the currency wars being waged by currency traders.
Within Asean states bilateral pacts to swap and repurchase central-bank reserves have prevented the kind of raiding that went on at the time of the Asian financial crisis 1997-1998. These societies in Asia do not agree politically and have many differences but they are all agreed to establish various initiatives to ensure that their societies are not bullied by the IMF or the World Bank. Moreover, they have learnt the harsh lessons from 1997 when George Soros and other derivative traders undermined their currencies.

One in four women hates their partner's friends because they are a bad influence.

A quarter of women dislike their partner's friends, a poll has revealed

Believe they influence their other half to drink, swear and  'act differently'

One in ten said their partner's pals had put a strain on their relationship

Millions of women dislike their partner's friends - because they drink too much, stay out late and talk about football all the time, it has been revealed.

A quarter of females feel the people their other half spends time with have a detrimental effect on his behaviour, according to a new study.

They believe they are 'too loud', 'show off' and influence their partner to 'act differently'.

Meanwhile, 16 per cent of women have confessed to trying to prevent their boyfriend, fiancé or husband from mixing with his 'undesirable' friends.

And a third of women have made up excuses to avoid spending time with their partner's pals, the poll to launch 2 Guns on DVD found.

The action film follows the 'bromance' of Robert 'Bobby' Trench (Denzel Washington) and Michael 'Stig' Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) as they are forced to go on the run together.

The survey also found that one in twenty women dislikes one particular person in their partner's friendship group - while a hard-to-please 75 per cent admitted not liking the majority of them.

Abigail Anaba: Some boxes are better left unopened, Gov. Nyako

If you are familiar with Greek Mythology then you must have read about Pandora and her box which she got as a wedding gift from Zeus with instructions not to open it. The box contained all the evils of the world. Out of curiosity, Pandora opened the box and out poured all the evils in the world today.
Curiosity killed the cat, so the saying goes. But these days it seems humans have become more curious than cats and can’t help opening boxes.
Mind you, there was evil in existence before Pandora opened her box. Just it was trapped in a box and wouldn’t have seen the light of day if Pandora hadn’t done the honours.
Pandora is no longer with us but we have been gifted a saying to remember her by. When we today speak of opening Pandora’s box, we mean that someone takes an action which seems innocent but turns out to have severe consequences. Like Murtala Nyako, current governor of Adamawa state and former Naval officer 1966 to 1993.
That Nyako began serving in the Nigerian Navy in 1966 is noteworthy. 1966 was a pivotal year in Nigerian history, a year many people would rather not talk about. A year we have kept in a box. A year when the beats of drums of war gathered momentum. A year Nyako decided to talk about in his recent memo.

FULL TEXT OF THE MEMO BY NYAKO TO THE NORTHERN GOVERNORS FORUM

 


A Memo To The Northern Governors’ Forum
By
His Excellency,
Vice Admiral MURTALA H. Nyako (Rtd),
Executive Governor, Adamawa State
On
Genocide In Northern Nigeria

The adverse security situation in Northern Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general is being felt by all of us. While every State Government is doing everything possible using virtually all its resources to stem the tide of near disaster facing all of us especially in the North, it is a well-known fact that the present Federal administration has now become a government of impunity run by an evil-minded leadership for the advancement of corruption that is apparently enjoying the protection of the Federal administration as a citizen of this country should enjoy but is being denied by the administration using its mass murderers/cut-throats imbedded in our legitimate and traditional Defence and Security organisations. It is very clear that the protection of life and property of innocent citizens in Northern Nigeria and recognising their Human rights and Voting right in the forthcoming general elections is no longer a cardinal principle of the administration.
The beginning of Genocide:
Clearly the victims of the Administration’s evil-mindedness are substantially Northern Nigerians. The administration is bent on bringing wars in the North between Muslim and Christians and within them and between one ethnic group and another or others in various communities in the region. Cases of mass murders by its bloody minded killers and cut-throats are well known, but it attributes the killings to so-called Boko-Haram. Thousands of our young girls and boys have been kidnapped by clearly organised militia in the last few years and kidnapping is now a random affair all over the far North. These organized kidnappers must have the backing of the Federal administration for them to move about freely with abducted children just as those who convey ammunitions and explosives from the Ports to the safe-houses of so called Boko-Haram in the North. Hurrah we are no longer being deceived!
We no longer accept let alone believe that our prominent Mallams in the Mosques in Kano and Zaria have been killed by ‘innocent’ Boko-Haram members or Christians in the North, nor do we believe that the killing of the Pastor and other worshippers in the Christ Apostolic Church in Jimeta-Yola was done by any Muslim or Boko-Haram members. We know where we are now pointing our fingers. There have also been attempts to assassinate the Senate President (Northerner) in Imo State, two Executive Governors of States in the North (the Governor of Benue State and my humble self), two of our most prominent Traditional leaders (Shehu of Borno and the Emir of Kano), Senators and others too numerous to mention, all from Northern Nigeria. This is in line with the demonic policy of the evil-few in and around the administration that have advocated how Northerners, both Christians and Muslims, are to be so dealt with, ill-treated and oppressed!
No wonder, we in the Northern Nigeria are now facing an organised ethno-religious campaigns of hate fuelled by the Federal administration to make communities which hitherto have remained peaceful for centuries to start killing the minorities in their midst and to facilitate mass killings of the innocent and the arbitrary arrests and torture of elders of minority ethnic groups in the various Northern communities. The reader is please requested to note what has been happening in Plateau State and the recent happenings in Benue and Nasarawa States. We, in Adamawa State, have been battling this heinous machination in the last 3 years. Yes, we noticed it! We also saw it as the Beginning of Genocide. Genocide kingpins are now on prowl in Northern Nigeria!
Fulani communities in parts of the North who have been in their locations for over 100 years are now being raided and uprooted by paid killers within the Nigerian Army for the satisfaction of the Federal administration instead of being protected as citizens with their rights and dignity safe-guarded. This has happened to those communities at Keana L.G. in Nasarawa State and Laddoga and Kachia in Kaduna State. It is presently extended to Benue, Zamfara and Katsina States. Furthermore it is a well-known fact that virtually all the soldiers of Northern Nigerian origin recently recruited to fight Boko-Haram have been deceived in that aspect. They are being poorly trained, totally ill-equipped, given only uniform and are killed by their trainers in Nigerian Army training centres as soon as they arrive in the Nigerian Army camps being used by so-called Boko-Haram insurgents. Virtually all the Nigerian Army soldiers killed/murdered in these operations so far are of Northern Nigerian origin. The Administration has also hired militia from all across especially North Africa who have been deceived into accepting to come because they were made to believe that they would be fighting infidels.
The Federal administration’s affront to frame Northerners is also an open secret. Senior Special Assistant to Mr President tried to hoodwink us into believing that Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was kingpin of Boko-Haram. Typical bullshit from the Federal administration. Mr Henry Okah, the convicted leader of MEND also stated under oath that he was being put under pressure by the administration to implicate senior Northern elements such as IBB and Buhari as financiers of Boko Haram terrorism. We are in deep trouble. We have begun to sleep with ‘both our eyes widely open’!
Let me paraphrase what humanity has been humming over the ages: ​
A call to Action
When they killed the Jews, we watched unconcerned because we were not Jews.
When they murdered the Blacks we were still unconcerned because we were not Black.
When they massacred the Asians we kept mute because we were not one of them.
Then we saw the Marauding Murderers coming and we realised they were coming for us and we were not safe.
That was when we knew that if we had collectively protested the Killings of the Jews, the Murder of the Blacks and Massacres of the Asians, we would all have been safe.
Right here at Home
They started killings in Borno State we kept quiet.
The hired killers got to Yobe State we remained mute
They proceeded to Adamawa State we watched
They attacked Kano, Katsina and Sokoto we said nothing
The North-East is under occupation
The North-West is under assault
Now their tanks and marauders have begun rolling into the North-Central
The North is under occupation
Yet we are still silent!
Nigerians stand-up and talk! Injury to one is injury to all!
Full-fledged Genocide
It is fortunate that the people of Northern Nigeria and indeed Nigerians have friends namely the good people of this country and other nations, International Court of Justice and NGOs dealing with the protection of humanity against Genocide etc. The International Criminal Court Charter broadly defines genocide as:
• Mass killings of human beings
• A deliberate action by a government that embarks on a policy that denies a group basic social amenities.
• A deliberate action by a government or group of people who embark on campaign of hatred against the innocent.
The International Criminal Court Charter also empowers any aggrieved person(s) or NGO to approach the Court to intervene when a Nation/State party fails to prosecute perpetrators of genocide or grave human right violation or human right offences.
One must confess that all these elements of genocide have been perpetuated by the present Federal administration against the people of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States and is beginning to rapidly spread to other 14 States of Northern Nigeria. The dead bodies being dragged daily from the Nigerian Army hitherto armouries now turned into killing chambers as identified by Human Right organisations and the last weekend massacre of inmates of SSS cells in Abuja speak volumes on genocide being committed in our country today. Mass killings of students and children in their schools’ dormitories and on their way to take exams are now virtually daily occurrence in Borno and Yobe States. Below is the chart on numbers and percentage of people killed in key trouble spots of the world (Courtesy of Sunday Trust of April 6, 2014) and some of the gruesome pictures of the dead in our country recorded by the Nigerian media and international NGOs.
We in the North must now have an open agenda to protect our people from acts against us similar to those in the foregoing. We should demand our Human Rights; we should demand protection against the evil acts being done to our people and environments; we should demand the Right to Vote in forthcoming General Elections as the people of war-torn Afghanistan did and were able to vote in smooth General Elections on 5th April, 2014. If it could be done in Afghanistan, it should be done in Nigeria, the whole of Nigeria!
It is overdue for us to commence the very serious business of purging all Northerners and fellow Nigerians of mutual hatred and suspicion against fellow countrymen and to inculcate true love and patriotism in the minds of all of us. How could we be nonchalant to the activities of the Federal administration which is involved in the daily massacre of our young men and women, selected elders and eventually all and sundry? It is also time to mobilize International NGO to bring to an end all the atrocities being committed by the evil-few in Abuja against millions of our innocent people. We need international support to compile an accurate data on the dead, maimed, wounded, displaced and missing in the North-East Zone especially Borno State and Yobe State and now other Northern States for payment of full compensation for the loss of life and property.
We need the Red Cross to help us set up an efficient medical and ambulance services etc. We need the services of other international organisations such as UNICEF to assist us trace the whereabouts of our abducted children and return them to their parents. They should also assist us to rehabilitate all those who have been adversely affected by the evil machinations of the Federal administration and those evil-few around it. We also need the services of appropriate NGOs to help us arraign all those involved in the genocide before the International Criminal Court at The Hague! We urgently require the services of all those that could help us achieve the objective of the UN Millennium Declaration 2000 where all parties agreed viz “We recognize that, in addition to our separate responsibilities to our individual societies, we have a collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level. As leaders we have a duty therefore to all the world’s people, especially the most vulnerable and, in particular, the children of the world, to whom the future belongs”. Nigeria is a signatory to this Declaration.

Robbers raid eight Lagos streets, destroy 30 cars

 

There were fears and tension in the Mushin area of Lagos State on Monday morning after about 60 robbers operated on no fewer than eight streets and destroyed about 30 vehicles.

Some residents told our correspondent that the robbers also raped some young ladies and operated unchallenged for about seven hours.

The hoodlums, who reportedly belonged to two cult groups – Akala boys and Toheeb’s gang – ravaged New Balogun, Euba, Ayonuga, Tiamiyu, Haruna, Ereko, Oyedele streets and Coker Lane.

A mosque on Coker Lane was not spared as the worshippers, who slept in the mosque after a vigil, were robbed by the hoodlums.

One of the people in the mosque told PUNCH Metro that the robbers fired bullets for over one hour before robbing from house-to-house.

He said, “It was around 12am on Monday morning that we started hearing gunshots. It lasted for about an hour.

“Around 1am, they started going from house-to-house, robbing the occupants. They stole about seven laptops from the house opposite this mosque. They stole phones, money and everything they saw. They came inside the mosque and took our phones and money. People were crying throughout the night. It was terrible.”

DAVID MOYES SACKED

Manchester United finally lost patience with manager David Moyes Tuesday after a disastrous first season in charge of the English Premier League champions.

"Manchester United announces that David Moyes has left the club," said the English Premier League in a statement on the club's official Twitter feed.

"The club would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role."

Moyes succeeded Alex Ferguson last May but has overseen a lackluster campaign, with the club lying seventh in the table having amassed 57 points from 34 games.

United slipped to an 11th league defeat this season against the Scot's former club Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday -- a result that finally ended any mathematical chance of participating in next season's Champions League.

The three-time winner of the European club football's biggest prize is now 13 points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with four games remaining. The last time United failed to qualify was in 1995.

Moyes, who turns 51 on Friday, signed a six-year-deal with English football's most successful club last May, when the outgoing Ferguson personally endorsed his appointment.

"David is a man of great integrity with a strong work ethic ... There is no question he has all the qualities we expect of a manager at this club," Ferguson said of his compatriot.

Ferguson also implored United fans to stand by Moyes when he addressed them following his last game in charge at Old Trafford last season, which ended with his 13th league title in a trophy-laden 27-year reign.

UK-based Daily Star Links Samantha Lewthwaite, White Widow, to Abuja Bombing

Samantha Lewthwaite, also known as the White Widow, has been linked to the horrific attack in Abuja on Monday, which left 74 dead and hundreds wounded, according to Daily Star, a UK-based newspaper.

Lewthwaite, also known as Sherafiyah Lewthwaite, is the widow of 7/7 suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay and one of the world's most wanted terrorism suspects.

On Monday, a huge explosion ripped through a busy bus station in the capital, Abuja, during the peak rush hour.
The enormous blast destroyed 40 buses and left a sickening trail of death and destruction as fuel tanks on nearby vehicles also exploded amid the heat of the blast.

According to Daily Star, while nobody has officially claimed responsibility, security sources fear the bombing may have been a revenge attack for the death of al-Shabaab terror chief Makaburi, aka Sheikh Abubakar Shariff Ahmed - Lewthwaite's mentor - just two weeks ago.

Lewthwaite is an alleged member of the Somali radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab.
She has been accused of orchestrating grenade attacks at non-Muslim places of worship, and is believed to have been behind an attack on those watching football in a bar in Mombasa during Euro 2012.

The infamous widow of 7/7 bomber, Lindsay, is on the run in Africa with three children.
The daughter of a British Army soldier, she is already on Interpol's Most Wanted list in connection with seven murders as well as the siege of the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in September last year which left 67 dead and nearly 200 injured.
She was known to be “extremely close” to Makaburi, who coordinated the Westgate atrocity.

According to Daily Star, a senior security source said agents across Africa were on high alert after the assassination of Makaburi - reportedly by the UK and US-funded Kenyan Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) 14 days ago.

Man City pay sport's highest wages

   

 Manchester City have been revealed as the best-paid team in world sport in a survey conducted by Sporting Intelligence and ESPN the Magazine.
The Capital One Cup winners’ first-team players earn on average $8.1 million (5.3 million pounds) per year, putting them just ahead of two baseball teams, the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
City’s overall team payroll, of 202 million dollars, is the third highest, behind the Yankees and the Dodgers, who spent 241 million dollars on salaries, but the 2012 Premier League champions’ average income is the highest.
It represents a 256 percent increase in salaries over the last five years at the Etihad Stadium, although the mean wage for a first-team player only rose 0.6 percent in the 2012-13 season.
Their biggest earners that year, when they were runners-up in the Premier League and the FA Cup and failed to get out of the Champions League group stages, included Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, David Silva and Yaya Toure.
The survey comes at a time when City’s finances are under scrutiny amid reports they will fail UEFA’s financial fair play (FFP) regulations, although the club are confident they will pass the test.
After City, the football clubs with the highest average salaries are Real Madrid and Barcelona, where players’ incomes of  $7.58 million and $7.44 million respectively put them fourth and fifth in the sporting world, while Bayern Munich are seventh.
Manchester United are the second Premier League club to feature on the list. They stood eighth after the average wage went up to $6.56 million per year when they acquired Robin van Persie.

Hillsborough: A tragedy that united a city

 
- Like many parents across the city of Liverpool, the McManamans waited.

Twenty-five years ago, it was all they could do.

There were no mobile phones to call, no text messages that could be sent to calm the frayed nerves of concerned families.

Twitter wasn't on-hand to provide minute-to-minute updates; Facebook statuses couldn't be refreshed to comfort worried relatives.

So they waited, hoping to see their son Steve appear at the bottom of the road.

"I was there, so I remember everything about the day," recalls the man who was that teenage boy.

Now 42, Steve McManaman went on to play more than 250 games for Liverpool Football Club between 1990 and 1999. But back then, he was still making his way as a professional player.
"I traveled along with the Liverpool youth team, the apprentices and the reserves, to watch the game," he tells CNN.

"I was always OK because I was with the team and the players' wives, so we were in the main stand. Fortunately I was in the stand watching the incident unfold in front of me. It was a harrowing experience.

"It shouldn't happen when you get up in the morning and go to watch a football match."

It was April 15, 1989. Liverpool's senior team was contesting an FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest 75 miles away at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.

While McManaman was able to return home to his family, others never would. The death of 96 fans on that spring afternoon cast a shadow which still hangs over a sport, a football club and a city.

The match kicked off at 15:00 local time but within minutes it had been abandoned, the football becoming irrelevant when framed against the human tragedy unfolding in the Leppings Lane stand.
In those days huge banked terraces were commonplace in English football. Metal fences separated the thousands gathered in the stands from the pitch.

The fatal crush in such a terrace at Hillsborough sent a jolt through England's Football Association, eventually leading to the introduction of all-seater stadia.

"That was the end of standing in stadiums," McManaman says. "The stadiums are safe now, they're all modernized and better."
Hillsborough disaster: 25th anniversary Hillsborough disaster: 25th anniversary

It is a tragedy that is not just felt in the red-jersey-wearing half of Liverpool.

On that same day, Merseyside's other football club Everton also contested an FA Cup semifinal against Norwich City.

The blue half of Liverpool celebrated a 1-0 win and a place in the final, but it wasn't long before that joy was tempered by the realization that their neighbors had just endured their darkest hour.

Among the thousands of Evertonians who had ventured 100 miles south to the game at Villa Park, in the city of Birmingham, was a young Jamie Carragher.

National Conference Delegate Pictured Playing Scrabble Replies his Critics

 The elder statesman who was pictured at Nigeria's National Conference playing Scrabble on his laptop has responded to the criticisms by Nigerians who condemned his act.

The delegate, identified as Professor Oyewale Tomori, a University administrator and academician, the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Ogun State, dropped his reply on a website, TrumpetMediaGroup that put up his picture with the caption: 'Does anyone have a name for him?'

Below is his response:

"Yes, indeed, I know the person, because I am the one. I have responded to some of the blogs on the matter. The truth is this activity was done during the lunch break between 2-4 pm. As soon as the Chairman calls the meeting to order, I switch off my computer.  

Is there any rule against spending my free time as I like? Moreover, is there anything
wrong, if others engage in reading newspapers and talking with others during their free time, and I prefer engaging in activities, I consider more useful to my development, such as using scrabble to improve my word power and discover new words? 

 

Indeed, I often play against the best in the world, world champions, and I have been beaten many times. But in the process I learnt new words, their meanings and improve my written and spoken language.  

Journalists live and sell their papers through the sensation route, which often is the opposite to telling the truth or providing full details. If the person who posted the picture had said the activity took place during the lunch break, that would have been no news; but to create sensation, he or she was economical with details.  

I will certainly continue to play such other mind engaging games like Sudoku, Logic, etc, if only to make me a better thinker and presenter. Only thing, is I will do this at my own free time!  

Thank you very much 

- Oyewale Tomori

Supreme Court Scraps Customs That Disinherit Women

The Supreme Court has held that Nigerian customs which disinherit women are repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience and should therefore not be allowed to stand.

The court therefore declared as repulsive the custom of the Awka people in Anambra State which allows married women to be disinherited upon the death of their husband because they did not have a male child for the late husband.
A widow, Mrs. Maria Nweke, had in 1991 instituted a case at the Awka Division of the Anambra State High Court.
Among other claims, she asked the court to declare that she was the person entitled to statutory right of occupancy of a parcel of land situated at Amikwo village.

She also urged the court to restrain the defendants from trespass on the said land.
The defendants, Onyibor Anekwe and Chinweze, were the descendants of Anieke Nwogbo,  the half brother of the plaintiff's husband, Nweke Nwogbo.

Their father, Nwogbo Okonkwo Eli, had died outside the home town of the parties.
His two widows who had a son each (the plaintiff's husband and the father of the appellants) went to stay with Eli's half brother, Obiora Okonkwo Eli.

Assistant principal who tackled stabbing suspect hailed as 'great man'

 
It's a special thing when a childhood idol does indeed turn out to be a real-life hero.

Many students and adults responded with courage Wednesday morning when a 16-year-old sophomore allegedly attacked classmates with two knives at a suburban Pittsburgh high school.

But only one person managed to stop the horrific ordeal: Sam King.

The Franklin Regional Senior High School assistant principal tackled the alleged assailant to the ground to end five gory, terrifying minutes inside his school, said Murrysville, Pennsylvania, police Chief Thomas Seefeld.

It was an act of incredible bravery, yes. But not everyone was surprised it was King who did it.

"Mr. King has always been like a storybook hero, ever since we were little," former student Challon Fisher wrote on Twitter. "Love that man."

Added Julia Bolkovac, who graduated from the school last year: "If there was one guy in the school who I thought would do that, it would be him."

'What Mr. King did is just awesome'

Sam King wasn't alone. Three others -- a school security guard, Assistant Principal Joan Mellon and patrolman William "Buzz" Yakshe, working as the school resource officer -- also played a part in subduing the suspect, identified as Alex Hribal.

"They were all extremely instrumental," said Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck. "In coming out (and seeing) chaos in the halls (and the aftermath of) an attack on a number of students, people were rushing by ... Those four individuals showed no lack of courage."

The security guard suffered stab wounds in the melee -- the sole adult injured, in addition to at least 20 students -- just before King who provided the tackle that ended the bloodshed.

While authorities didn't detail King's role immediately, social media quickly outed him as a hero.

"What Mr. King did is just awesome," wrote one Franklin Regional alumnus now at Penn State. "A great man becoming a hero when people needed him most."

Another former Panther described King as her hero since she was 7. One student lauded him as "the man of the year." And another said King was due a simple, but deserved, tribute whenever the school reopened.

Manchester United Legend Sir Alex Ferguson 8 Secrets To Building Success From Scratch

 
Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse has been studying the leadership methods that Sir Alex Ferguson used to become the most successful manager in the history of English soccer.
This week, she published "Ferguson's Formula" — a list of Sir Alex's eight core concepts when building Manchester United into a world powerhouse — in the Harvard Business Review.
When he became manager in 1986, Man U hadn't won the league in 20 years. He spent six seasons building the team from scratch, and won his first title in 1993. By the time he retired in 2013, he had won 13 league titles and built a club

1. Start with the foundation

Sir Alex says his first order of business was bringing in young players and building a youth system that could sustain the club for years, rather than signing veterans for short-gain success.

2. Dare to rebuild your team

Since he wasn't afraid of being fired, he made decisions based on what the team would look like in four years. He thinks that every team should be retooled every four years.

3. Set high standard — and hold everyone to them

He tells a great anecdote about how meeting high standards can become contagious: "I used to be the first to arrive in the morning. In my later years, a lot of my staff members would already be there when I got in at 7 AM. I think they understood why I came in early—they knew there was a job to be done."

4. Never, ever cede control

You have to get rid of an employee if he's creating discord and trying to wrest some of your power, even if he is the best player in the world. Don't worry about whether employees like you.

Salami accuses judges of aiding corruption

 

A retired President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, on Tuesday said  there were reports of some judges and retired senior judges who practise as consultants in fixing judgments.

He alleged that these consultants take money from litigants to give to judges or intimidate judges to pervert justice.

He spoke in Ilorin during the opening  ceremony of the 2014 biennial law week of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ilorin branch.  The summit was titled, ‘A centenary of legal practice in Nigeria: 1914-2014: Legacies and lessons for the next century.’

Salami said, “It is my respectful view that appeal should be made to these retired senior justices to leave the despicable role of bribing or intimidating judges.  They should engage themselves in other respectable vocations.

Military commanders aiding Boko Haram, soldier alleges

 

A soldier has claimed that he witnessed incidents that suggested some military   commanders work  with Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East.

The soldier told the Voice of America Hausa Service  how his military unit in Borno State was ambushed by Boko Haram members.

He  said the commander of a nearby military unit in Bama recently sought assistance from his unit in carrying out a raid.

The soldier, who did not give his  name, said when the two military units joined up, they were given different uniforms. The Bama unit commander, according to him, gave his own troops green uniforms while his   unit received tan “desert camouflage” uniforms.

When the troops reached the battle area, the soldier said the commander of the better-equipped Bama unit suddenly withdrew his forces, leaving the remaining troops to fend for themselves against Boko Haram fighters.

Speaking in Hausa, he said, “We had only light arms and our men were being picked off one after the other.”

The soldier also said he recognised some of the Boko Haram fighters as his former military trainers in Kontagora, a town near Abuja.

“We realised that some of them were actually mercenaries from the Nigerian army… hired to fight us,” he said.

The soldier also claimed that many of his colleagues were deserting   the army because of their frustrations with what he said was the politicisation of the fight against the militants.

He said, “I swear by Allah, there are soldiers who are coming out of the forest after they were abandoned; several of them dropped their weapons and just went home.

“There were more than 20 of them from this battalion in Kwanduga. Even me that is talking to you now, I am preparing to leave. I just want to tell the world so that they will know what is happening. These people are doing this secretly.”

He also claimed that  there was a deliberate attempt to further impoverish the North preparatory to the 2015  general elections.

The soldier dismissed claims that there were up to 10,000 troops in Maiduguri.

The soldier added,   “I swear, even now, there are boys in the forest where we are coming out from.

“They (Army) keep saying they are sending soldiers, it’s a lie. They claim that there are 10,000 soldiers in Maiduguri but  it is a lie. If we have 10,000 soldiers, Boko Haram would have ended.  How  many members does Boko Haram have?”

When one of our correspondents contacted the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen Chris Olukolade,  he said he did not believe that the person who granted the interview to VOA was a soldier of the Nigerian Army.

He said that the person claiming to be a soldier could be an insurgent trying to create a false impression to promote the activities of Boko Haram.

The  defence  spokesman  said, “The person that granted that interview on the VOA; we believe he is not a soldier, he could just be one of those simulated on the other side to give some false impression to support the insurgents.”

But the soldier’s claim seemed to have been corroborated as a lance corporal has been killed by the Special Forces during an  encounter with  insurgents in Borno State.

It was learnt on Sunday that the military high command was investigating  soldiers  suspected to be involved in  conducts that could compromise national security.

The lance corporal was  said to have been killed  while assisting in  the  training of Boko Haram fighters.

Investigations revealed that the soldier was ‘competent’ and trusted enough to be a trainer of Special Forces at the Nigerian Army Training Centre, Kontagora.

It was learnt that one of the soldiers who took part in the operation recognised the body of the lance corporal  who   dressed in military camouflage.

The soldier  was said to have called the attention of his commander to his discovery that one of the corpses   was that of a soldier well known to him as a trainer of special forces in Kotangora.

It was learnt that the commander ordered a search on the body of the  lance corporal  and   a current pass permitting  him  to leave his location at the   training centre in  Kontagora was found on him.

A security source said, “A  soldier who trains Special Forces at the Nigerian Army Training Centre in Kontagora, Niger State, was among those who were killed.

“The man was not among the Special Forces; he was obviously leading the attack for the insurgents but he got killed.

“It was one of the soldiers that identified him as somebody from  his unit in Kotangora.

“The soldier called attention to the man’s corpse and when the commander said he should be searched, they recovered a current pass authorising him to leave Kotangora and his Army identity card from him.”