BIllionaire Buried With Money, Expensive Champagne (Photos)

Ugandan Billionaire and businessman, Ivan Semwanga’s Rich gang splurged money and poured expensive champagne in His grave before he was buried on Tuesday, Ugandan Daily monitor reports.

The popular group in South Africa and Uganda known for its extravagant lifestyle sent off their boss in a form which left mourners bewildered.

The floor of the white and black tiled grave was filled with denominations of Ugandan shillings, South African Rand and US dollars sprayed by the gang shortly after they poured the champagne.

In the video shared by Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper, the gang members were adamant even as they were jeered by the crowd while spraying money on the grave. (Daily Monitor)

See more at: Bodedolu.com 

3 women abducts and raped a man, left him traumatized

Three young women took turns raping a man over several days in South Africa, after they drugged him and held him against his will, say police.

Detectives said the man, aged 23, was left severely traumatised after he was abducted from a taxi and gang raped for three days.

He told police he lost consciousness after being injected with a substance and woke up in a room where he was raped several times a day.

Police launched a hunt for the women and driver, and appealed for information after the man was freed by his captors.

The man, from Pretoria, South Africa, told detectives that the women were inside the taxi, along with the driver, when he hailed it down on May 19.

They were travelling towards the city’s central business district when the taxi changed direction, police spokeswoman Captain Colette Weilbach told Times Live.

She said the man was ordered to sit in the front passenger seat, where one of the women injected him with a substance.

The man passed out and was taken to an unknown location.

Ms Weilbach said: “He stated that he woke up in an unfamiliar room on a single bed.

“The female suspects then allegedly forced the man to drink an energy drink‚ before taking turns raping him numerous times a day.”

She said the man went to police after he was dropped off in an open field in Benoni, about 30 miles south of central Pretoria, on May 22.

He was “very traumatised” by the incident and received medical treatment.

Ms Weilbach promised a “robust” investigation, adding: “The South African Police Service take all sexual offences seriously regardless of gender.”

As they hunt for the trio, police are investigating whether the suspects have carried out similar attacks.

Source: Mirror

The 82 released Chibok girls reunite with parents in Abuja

Chibok girl: A father in a bear hug with daughter

Emotional scenes, tears, huggings,  Saturday dominated the reunion of the recently released 82 kidnapped Chibok girls with their parents.

At the reunion held in  Abuja, fathers gripped their daughters in tight embrace, while mothers shrieked with joy, wiping away tears streaming from their eyes. In one scene, captured by the cameras, both the parents, along with one of the girls, burst out in tears of joy.

Emotions prevail at another scene of reunion

One of the rescued Chibok School Girls with her parents during their reunion in Abuja on Saturday

They hadn’t seen each other since  14 April 2014, when Boko Haram militants  snatched  270 schoolgirls from their dormitories in northeast Nigeria.

“I’m feeling very happy, I was dancing with her, she’s very happy,” said Yakubu Nkeki, whose niece Maimuna — who he had raised as his own child — was among the 82 released.

“Everyone was dancing today, even the old ones, everyone was dancing,” Nkeki told AFP.

“All of us had lost hope, we thought the girls would not be returned.”

Nkeki, who represents the Chibok parents, said that they would attend a church service with the girls on Sunday, before returning home early next week.

One of rescued Chibok School Girls with her Mother

Chibok girls at the reunion. All Photos by Sunday Aghaeze

In the meantime the girls would stay in a government facility in Abuja where they are receiving therapy and vocational training.

Nigeria’s minister for women  affairs, Aisha Alhassan has said that the government’s goal is to have all the rescued Chibok girls back in school by September.

The group of 82 girls was released in May in exchange for five Boko Haram commanders following months of negotiations brokered by the Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Twenty-one of their classmates were freed in October last year, while three others had previously been found or escaped.

The Federal government has said it is still in talks to release the remaining 113 girls in captivity.

In a statement the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,said the group of 82 girls had  also been reunited with 24 others, who were rescued by the Federal Government last year.

Minister of Women’s affairs, Aisha Alhassan  said “the children are being rehabilitated and we believe that in due course they will be properly aligned with their families.

“Intensive medical attention is being administered and as soon as they are done, they will be enrolled into a remedial programme’’.

Alhasan also disclosed that the 24 others who were rescued last year were undergoing psycho-social counselling and remedial programmes preparatory to their enrolment in school next academic session.

“For the 21 and three that were earlier released, I wish to inform us that their psycho-social counselling is still in progress and of course they have started remedial classes.

“They are being taught five subjects, which is designed with a view to getting them back to school come the next school session, which is in September this year.

“They will be settled in various schools and I am sure they will continue their education from there,’’ she said.

The Minister gave assurance of the Federal Government’s commitment to rescue the remaining girls in captivity. She also  expressed appreciation to all those involved in the rescue mission.

The Chairman of the parents of the abducted school girls, Yakubu Nkeki said their joy had no bounds and thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for wiping away their tears.

So far,  106 Chibok school girls, out of the 219 captured on the night of April 14, 2014, have been rescued.

NAN

They Learnt Nothing, And Forgot Nothing ― By Femi Adesina

President Buhari in Europe in 2016

By Femi Adesina

They showed their pernicious hands again last Sunday, and have been on the prowl since then, roaring like a lion, seeking who to devour. 

Purveyors of death they are, and they have killed President Muhammadu Buhari many times over, cloned the websites of international media houses to announce the hoax, but their wishes did not become horses, so they remain stranded, with nothing to ride.

Between January 19, this year, when the President first proceeded on vacation, and March 10, when he returned, they had announced his demise many times. They even created apocryphal images and footages to back up their inhuman claims, but God showed them He was the ultimate. 

The Real Deal, the Special One. President Buhari came back alive, and disclosed that he would still return to London at a later date for medical follow-up. He eventually left on the night of Sunday, May 7. 

They saw the Deux ex machina, the Invisible Hands of God, between January and March, but they are so steeped and marooned in unbelief, evil wishes and malediction, that they have started all over again. 

Last Sunday, they cloned popular websites for the umpteenth time, using them to announce the figment of their diseased imagination. They learnt nothing, and forgot nothing from the immediate past experience. 

And you begin to ask yourself, just as the Good Book also asked: "Why do the heathens rage, and the people imagine vain things?" Why do they arrogate to themselves the power that belongs only to God? 

"I can kill, and I can make alive," says God in His word. But these purveyors of hate possibly don't know God. That is why they declare a man dead, when God has not said so. Once has God spoken, and twice have I heard it, that power belongs to God.

Millions upon millions of Nigerians love President Muhammadu Buhari. They love his simplicity, his forthrightness, incorruptibility, love of country, and many other virtues. And they are praying. Bombarding Heaven with petitions. 

Baba o, Baba o, Baba o. Olorun da Baba si fun wa, Baba o, Baba o, Baba o. Olorun da Baba si fun wa. Oh God, spare our Baba, the father of the country. Spare him for us, O Lord we pray. And Heaven is listening to the supplications. We await the full manifestation.

Millions of us can follow Baba blindfolded into battle. We love him that much, and it is within our rights. But have you seen a man ever loved by everybody? Show me. Even if you feed an entire city daily, some people still won't like your guts. 

So, those who are not Buharists have a right to their convictions. But must any human being be hateful to the point of wishing another person dead, and indeed broadcasting a death that never happened? Shame! Shame upon evil wishers, purveyors of lies and wickedness!!

Do they have blood running in their veins at all? Do they realize that wishing another person dead, is sin before God? Yet they go to churches, mosques, and other worship houses. Who are they worshiping? The Unknown God.

Why do some people, a tiny but vocal minority, wish the President dead? Do they know that if God wills, the man they wish dead could outlive them by many years? There was a lady who was very active on social media in 2015, before the presidential election of that year.

She was in the league of anti-Buhari elements. Oh, he was too old. Oh, he was sickly. Yes, he would soon die. The lady was rabidly pontifical in her convictions, parading herself as someone with a charmed life, who would live forever. And then, it happened! Sometime last year, she died! 

When I saw the news online, I just shook my head, and prayed for the repose of her soul. I did not gloat. No need to. Not in her wildest imagination could she have thought that she would pre-decease President Buhari. But who has the final say? Jehovah has the final say. 

The breath of man is in his nostrils, and God can decide to extinguish his candle at any time. Jehovah has the final say. It is not by age, not by how healthy you seem, or how sickly you are. It's a lesson some people have not learnt. They learn nothing, and forget nothing.

Back to the earlier question. Why do some people want their own President dead? 

Why do they want the eclipse of a man who is actuated by nothing other than love for his country? 

Why have they constituted themselves into enemies of national progress, haters of all that is good? 

Why do they prefer the dark jungle of infamy to the light of a clear and bright day, signposted by freedom from rapacity and lootocracy? 

Who then are these enemies?

"Our enemies are the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 percent, those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as Ministers or VIPs at least, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds."

Those were the words of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, after the country's first military coup in 1966. You may like Nzeogwu, or you may not, depending on how you view his actions and inactions. But you can hardly deny the veracity of what he said. And 51 years later, the words still ring true.

The enemies of Buhari are the political profiteers. To them, political office is not about service, but about making profit. Ordinary people can go to hell, and stay there. Personal profit is the name of the game.

PAGE 2

The swindlers, too. Enemies of righteousness and transparency. They swindle man, and even try to swindle God. Of course, they wouldn't want a new sheriff in town. They'd rather shoot him, and sing the reggae song: "I shot the sheriff..."

Those that seek bribe and demand 10 percent. Enemies. Only that they are not satiated by 10 percent again. They take the entire 100 percent, and leave the country prostrate. But when a Daniel comes to judgment, and hurls them before the law, knowing neither friend nor foe, they wish that he dies. Gerrout, so that business as usual continues, they shout.

Those that seek to keep the country divided permanently. Evil souls. They use all the fault lines. Religion. Ethnicity. Language. Everything. We saw it all in the 2015 elections. They cashed in on all things that divide us as a people. 

But Nigerians were resolute for change, and they got it. But did those people give up? Did Pharaoh desist from pursuing the people of Israel? Hell, no! Till he ended in a watery grave. The stubborn fly follows the corpse into the grave.

For the greater part of this year, President Buhari has been away from home. But whether present or absent, he still looms large. The mere fact that his shadow hovers over the land riles evil workers to no end. But what can anybody do? Jehovah has the final say.

The old order is giving way for a new one in Nigeria. In just two years, the back of insurgency has been broken, corruption is taking a shellacking, and the comatose economy is turning round. Despite it all, some people still wish the President dead. Sad and sorry. But thankfully, they don't have the final say. 

However, if they refuse to repent, we can repent on their behalf, lest judgment comes speedily on them. How dreadful it would be.

Lord, we are sorry,

We've turned around and gone astray,

Your trust for us we have betrayed,

Your power we don't recognize

Your Lordship we have all despised,

We cannot pretend

We all now repent

Forgive us Lord we pray

Bring down your glory...

May God bless Panam Percy Paul, who sang the song. May God accept our repentance on behalf of evil wishers. May God spare our President, and restore him to full health.

Baba o, Baba o, Baba o, Oluwa da Baba si fun wa. 

Lord, please spare our President. Spare him for us, to the glory of your name. Let those who learn nothing, and forget nothing, be purged of all evil. Let them turn new leaf.

Amen somebody!

Adesina is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Culled from Elombah.com

Pentecostal Preacher Kills member Who Confront Him Over Impregnating His Wife at Church Service

Pentecostal church in Houston, Texas owned by the pastor who murdered one of his aggrieved congregants during a Sunday service.

The life of a young promising football career was abruptly ended during a church service at The City of God Ministry in Houston, Texas, US. The young man, Deante Smith and his young wife were members of the Pentecostal church whose owner and resident preacher is Pastor Keon Allison. Unknown to Mr. Smith, the church pastor, Keon and his wife had secret love affair which resulted in her being her becoming pregnant with her pastor-lover baby. When the young man discovered what had happened to his young marriage, he resolved to confront Pastor Keon Allison with the facts. Deante Smith is said to have held the church preacher in very high esteem and did, in fact, look up to him as a father figure.

On the fateful day, Deante resolved to go to the church during service and confront the pastor with consequences of his actions. As is allowed in Texas state, Mr. Allison carried a concealed handgun on him. During the confrontation, Deante Smith was shot five times in the chest and killed instantly in the City of God Ministry church by Pastor Keon Allison. It is not only that the pastor took over one of his congregant’s wife but also went on to finish off the man’s life by pumping bullets into the latter’s chest inside his church until he died on the spot.

This is surely the audacity of fame and and power on steroids. Perhaps, the Pentecostal preacher believes that he had a God-given authority over whatever belong to his congregants, including their wives. He must have become infuriated by the unanticipated confrontation from the late Mr. Keon Smith for mustering the gumption to challenge the pastor’s right to engage in intimate relationship with the deceased’s wife. So, he did what he felt obligated to do by sniffing out his youthful congregant’s life.

As stated by the local TV commentator relating the story, Christian Pentecostal preachers are known to have the penchant for greed, selfishness and acts of immorality which are often overlooked by church congregants who are often so brainwashed into believing that the pastor is indeed a true man of God and therefore, can do no wrong. Christian Pentecostal preacher, both within America and elsewhere worldwide, persistently demand tithes from their followers, sometimes on several occasions within a single church service. In Nigeria, for example, mass retreats are often orchestrated in large open spaces for the sole purpose of raising large sums of money from whoever attend these events. Whatever funds are realized, of course, belong exclusively to the pastor’s bank account since he is the alpha and omega of the Pentecostal church.

The Christian Pentecostal preachers usually end up amassing wealth that far exceeds that of all their church followers combined. The evangelical pastors thus can afford to live very affluent lifestyles; they dress in expensive clothes, wear pricey jewelry and other trimmings, ride costly cars, own private jet planes and live in opulent mansions while their congregants continue to struggle to make ends meet. As is the case with revelations in this YouTube video, the pastors feel that all the pretty ladies in the congregation are theirs for the taking.

Very often, these evangelical preachers become intoxicated by the adulation they routinely get from their followers to the extent that some of them could believe that they possess Godly powers to make and unmake. This is more so among the pastors who also claim to possess healing powers over all ailments of the mind and body. The killing of Deante Smith may have been considered to be justified by the church’s perpetrator because the victim had dared to challenge the “man of God” while engaged in his “holy” routine.

Culled from Lower Niger Congress USA

Fresh Ebola outbreak kills 3 victims

The 2014 Ebola outbreak victims

An Ebola outbreak has been declared in north-east Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said, after the virus caused three deaths since 22 April.

WHO said the outbreak had affected an equatorial forest region in Bas-Uele province, bordering Central African Republic.

The last Ebola outbreak in Congo in 2014 was quickly contained and killed 49 people, according to official figures.

In a television address, the country’s health minister, Oly Ilunga, confirmed the outbreak and urged the population not to panic.

“[The DRC] has taken all necessary measures to respond quickly and efficiently to this new outbreak,” he said.

WHO said it was working closely with Congolese authorities to help deploy health workers and protective equipment in the remote area to “rapidly control the outbreak”.

In 2013, an Ebola epidemic began in west Africa that killed 11,300 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and has left thousands more survivors with long-term health problems.

WHO was criticised at the time for responding too slowly and failing to grasp the gravity of the outbreak. An experimental vaccine was recently developed that WHO said could be used in emergencies.

Culled from The Guardian

Buhari treats me like his son - VP Osinbajo

Vice President Osinbajo (right) with Governor Aminu Masari in Katsina

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN today gave some glimpses into the personal and official relationships he has shared with  President Muhammadu Buhari.

On a visit to Katsina to launch the state’s Micro, Small and Medium Scale  Enterprises Clinic,  Prof. Osinbajo disclosed that ” the President has been treating me as a brother. In fact the President has taken me as a son in the way he treats me.”

The Acting President noted that going by the amount of responsibilities President Buhari has given me, it shows that he seriously believes that we can live as brothers in this country.

Osinbajo with the Emir of Katsina, Dr. Abdulmumini Kabir Usman,

“He seriously believes in the unity of Nigeria. I pray the Lord will preserve our President to continue to lead us just as the nation has voted him to do.”

The Acting President who earlier paid a visit to the Emir of Katsina, Dr. Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, also spoke about his close relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari at the palace reception/

“One of the reasons why I feel very much at home in Katsina State is because this is the State of our President, President Muhammadu Buhari, who has taken me more like a brother; in fact sometimes more like a son than a Vice President.”

Acting President Osinbajo inspects the exhibition by small and medium scale enterprises

Ag. President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo issued a speedily-processed Certificate of Incorporation-within two hours of application- to one of the participants at the MSME Clinic today. Photo: Novo Isioro.

Ag. President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo with Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika; Emir of Katsina Abdulmumin Kabir Usman; and Governor of Katsina State Hon. Aminu Bello Masari

He commended the Government and people of Katsina State for being a role model in terms of peaceful co-existence of all ethnic tribes and religions in the State.

Osinbajo stated that President Muhammadu Buhari knows Nigeria’s capacity is limitless in terms of what we can produce. 

 “When he gave the 2017 budget speech in December 2016, the President said the central vision of our government is to grow everything that we would eat and to make everything we would use.”

At the launch of the Katsina State’s MSMES Clinic,  Osinbajo averred that the Federal Government’s newly launched Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (EGRP) places high premium on the nation’s capacity to grow it’s export potentials rather than continue on the unsustainable path of total dependence on import.

He said the focus of the Plan is to develop “the capacity of Nigerians to do everything that we need internally; to become a net exporter of the various things that we are importing today.”

Explaining Federal Government’s reason for the inauguration of the MSMEs Clinics that is now going round major cities in the country, Prof Osinbajo stated that it was designed to give small businesses the opportunity “to meet with the industry regulators, to talk to them and to hear their problems”, adding that he was so excited to see not only business men but women who are focussed and serious about their businesses.

He explained that the idea of the MSMES clinics which he has personally attended for the fourth time now is the Buhari administration’s effort to close the gap between MSMES and relevant FG regulatory agencies like NAFDAC, CAC, SON, BOI, FIRS and others and ensure that those agencies become facilitators of businesses not obstacles to business development.

Prof Osinbajo who declared the MSMEs Clinic open, was accompanied to Katsina by the Minister of State for Aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar, Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service, Babatunde Fowler and Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu.

He also spoke about the imperative of a one indivisible and united Nigeria, emphasising that the nation’s diversity is its strength and noted that “Katsina State is the home of a United Nigeria.” (NAN)

Witness slump and dies in court

An Ikeja High Court was on Thursday thrown into confusion after a witness slumped and died in the court while waiting to testify in a land case.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deceased, who was in his late 30s had come court to testify in a land dispute before Justice O.A. Olayinka.

“Before the case was called for trial, he started coughing and gasping and had to leave the courtroom.

“He was vomiting a lot of blood and onlookers were scared to go near him. He collapsed on the corridors of the courtroom and a medical team came in an ambulance to take body away.

“His lawyer informed Justice Olayinka of his client’s death and she immediately stopped proceedings for the day,” a witness said.

When NAN visited the courtroom, clots of blood were seen on the corridors of the courtroom as well as the blood-stained shirt and leather slippers of the deceased.

A court registrar, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN:“I am not authorised to speak on what happened in this court today, it is only the Chief Registrar that can speak.”

Contacted, the Chief Registrar was unavailable as he was having a meeting with the Chief Judge and Chief Security Officer of the court. (NAN)

Igbo scholar Dr. Samuel Okafor disgraces Femi Fani-Kayode •Demolishes his claims on Igbo/Yoruba history with facts and figures

Fani-Kayode

An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor, has made one-time Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, look so small and uneducated by using facts and figures to demolish the claims he made in the controversial August 8 article, “The Bitter Truth About The Igbo”, which set off a storm that almost threatened Igbo-Yoruba relations.

In the first part of an article entitled “The Lies of Femi Fani-Kayode”, Okafor, who has a First Class in History from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and then did a Ph.D in Nsukka on scholarship, dismissed Fani-Kayode as a “half-baked intellectual.” He then proceeded, point by point, to address what he termed “the most reckless amongst the tangle of reckless comments spewed by Femi, a character who with each punch of his keypad stresses his severely unwell conditions of logorrhoea, delusions of enlightenment, history and sociology – amongst others.”

Below are Okafor’s words:

FEMI AND HIS SEVERELY IGNORANT LIES:

•Femi Lies About the Yorubas Being Nigeria’s Earliest Graduates:

From his myopic bubble Femi FaniKayode claims the Yoruba were the first to acquire Western education; the first ever known record of a literate Nigerian in the English Language is the narrative of an Ibo slave who regained his freedom and documented his life history as a slave from the time he was 11 years old in present day Ibo land till the time when he gained his freedom in the middle of the 18 th century. He later married an English woman and had 3 children. He died in 1795.

Femi, a basic Google-research will do you good here; check out the name, Equanoh OLAODAH. Further Femi claims that the Yoruba were the first lawyers and doctors in Nigeria. This is again a big falsehood. The first Nigeria doctor was an Effik man Silas G. Dove who obtained a medical degree from France and returned to practise medicine in 1840 in Calabar. This fact can also be verified from historical medical records in Paris.

I would also ask that you google the name BLYDEN – Edward Wilmot BLYDEN – an educated son of free Ibo slaves who by the mid-19th century had acquired sound theological education. He was born in Saint Thomas in 1832. He is one of the founding missionaries that established the Archbishop Vining church in Ikeja. Before the next time you succumb to your long-running battle with logorrhoea, Femi please do some research.

What about the third president of a free Liberia – President J JRoyle – again, a man of Ibo descent. Please take some time to do some research so that we can discuss constructively. It is wrong to peddle lies to your people. It is academic fraud to knowingly misrepresent facts just to score cheap points with people who do not have the discipline to do research and accept anything you pour out simply because they say you are well educated. To again quote the great Nobel Prize Winner in Economics Joseph Stiglitz; Femi fits into the category of third rate students from first rate universities with an inflated sense of self-importance. Let’s go on!

Who was the first Nigerian Professor of Mathematics – an Ibo man – Professor Chike Obi – the man who solved Fermat’s Last Theorem. He was followed by another Ibo man, Professor James Ezeilo, Professor of Differentail Calculus and the founder of the Ezeilo Constant. Please do some research on this great Ibo man. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka and one of the founders of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Who was Nigeria’s first Professor of Histroy – Professor Kenneth Dike who published the first account of trade in Nigeria in pre-colonial times. He was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Who was the first Professor of Microbiology – Professor Eni Njoku; he was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos. Anatomy and Physiology – Professor Chike Edozien is an Asaba man and current Obi of Asaba. Who was the first Professor of Anatomy at the University College Ibadan? Who was the first Professor of Physics? Professor Okoye, who became a Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He was followed by the likes of Professor Alexander Anumalu who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics three times for his research in Intermediate Quantum Physics. He was also a founding member of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Nuclear Physics and Chemistry – again another Ibo man – Professor Frank Ndili who gained a Ph.D in his early ’20s at Cambridge Univesity in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry in the early ’60s. This young Asaba man had made a First Class in Physics and Mathematics at the then University College Ibadan in the early ’50s. First Professor of Statistics – Professor Adichie who’s research on Non-Parametric Statistics led to new areas in statistical research. What about the first Nigerian Professor of Medicine – Professor Kodilinye – he was appointed a Professor of Medicine at the University of London in 1952. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka after the war. What about Astronomy – again another Ibo man was the first Professor of Astronomy – please, look up Professor Ntukoju – he was the first to earn a double Ph.D in Astronomy and Mathematics.

Let’s go to the Social Sciences – Demography and statistical research into population studies – again another Ibo man – Professor Okonjo who set up the first Centre for Population Research in Ibadan in the early ’60s. A double Ph.D in Mathematics and Economics. Philosophy – Professor G D Okafor, who became a Professor of Philosophy at the Amherst College USA in 1953. Economics – Dr. Pius Okigbo who became a visiting scholar and Professor of Economics at the University of London in 1954. He is also the first Nigerian Ph.D in Economics. Theology and theological research – Professor Njoku who became the first Nigerian to earn a Ph.D in Theology from Queens University Belfast in Ireland. He was appointed a Professor of Theology at the University College Zambia in 1952.

I am still conducting research in areas such as Geography where it seems a Yoruba man, Professor Mabogunje, was the first Professor. I also am conducting research into who was the first Nigerian Professor of English, Theatre Arts, Languages, Business and Education, Law and Engineering, Computer Technology, etc. Nigerians need to be told the truth and not let the lies that Femi Fani-Kayode has been selling to some ignorant Yoruba who feel that to be the first to see the white man and interact with him means that you are way ahead of other groups. The Ibo as The great Achebe said had within a span of 40 years bridged the gap and even surpassed the Yoruba in education by the ’60s. Many a Yoruba people perpetually indulge in self-deceit: that they were the first to go to school; to be exposed to Western education; that they are academically ahead of other Nigerian cultures of peoples. Another ignorant lie.

As far back as 1495 the Benin Empire maintained a diplomatic presence in Portugal. This strategic relationship did not just stop at a mere mission but extended to areas such as education. Scores of young Benin men were sent out to Portugal to study and lots of them came back with advanced degrees in Medicine, Law and Portuguese Language, to name a few.

Indeed, some went with their Yoruba and Ibo slaves who served the sons of the Benin nobility while they studied in Portugal. These are facts that can be verified by the logs kept by ship owners in Portugal from 1494 to 1830. It is kept at the Portuguese Museum of Geographic History in Lisbon.

Why then would several Yoruba people peddle all these falsehoods to show that they are ahead educationally in Nigeria? The true facts from the Federal Office of Statistics on education tell otherwise, showing that 3 Ibo states for the past 12 years have constantly had the largest number of graduates in the country, producing more graduates than Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Oyo states. These eastern states are Imo, Anambra and Abia. Yet he calls Ibos traders. Indeed, the Igbos dominate because excellence dominates mediocrity – truth.

Let me enlighten this falsehood’s mouthpiece even further: before the civil war Ibos controlled and dominated all institutions in the formal sector in Nigeria from the universities to the police to the military to politics:

•The first Black Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan was an Ibo man

•The first Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos was an Ibo man

•The first Nigerian Rector of the then Yaba College of Technology was also an Ibo man

•The police was run by an Ibo IG

•The military as a professional institution was also run by elite-ilk Ibos.

Facts can never be hidden. To be first does not mean you would win the race; let us open up all our institutions and may the best man win. Let us not depend on handouts or privileges but on heard work. Let us compete and give the best positions to our brightest – be it Ibo, Yourba or Fulani, and then we shall see who is the most successful Nigerian.

I find it difficult not to respond to some of these long-held lies that are constantly being peddled by Yorubas. One is that the Yoruba have the largest number of professors in the country. I would again ask that we stick to facts and statistical records. The Nigerian Universities Commission has a record of the state with the largest number of professors on their records and as at 2010 that state is Imo State followed by Ondo State and then Anambra State; the next state is Ekiti and then Delta before Kwara State. I am sure you Yorubas are surprised. When you sit in the South-West do not think others are sleeping but I wish to address another historical fact and that is who were the first Nigerians to receive Western education. It is important that these issues be examined in their historical context and evidence through research be presented for all to examine.

I have continued my research for as the great sociologist and father of modern sociology – Emile Durkheim – put it, the definition of a situation is real in its consequence . What this simply means is that one must never allow a perceived falsehood to become one’s reality and by extension individuals who accept a defined position act as though the situation is real and apply themselves in that narrowly defined perspective.

Why is this important to state it is because for long the Yoruba have peddled lies that have almost become accepted as the truth by other Nigerians but it is important that we lay down the facts for others to examine and come to their own conclusion for facts are facts. Let’s go back to education. Historically, Western education resulted as a product of indigenous ethnic groups interacting with the whites through trade. The dominant groups sold slaves, ivory gold and a host of other products to their European counterparts in exchange for finished goods – wine, tobacco, mirrors, etc.

The Bini who were the dominant military force from the 15th to the 19th century raided and sold other ethnicities to the Europeans. Top on the list of those they sold were the Yoruba, Ibo and Igala. Various other ethnicities suffered as a result of the Bini military expansion. And the Benin Kingdom stretched from present-day Benin up to what is now geographically referred to as Republic of Togo. Indeed, the influence of the Benin Empire extended to the banks of the river Niger to present-day Onistha. There are huge Yoruba settlements in the Anioma part of Delta State who fled Yoruba land as a result of these attacks and constant raids. Yes, there are Yoruba people who are currently living with Ibos in the Ibo-speaking part of Delta and they are full citizens of the place no one refers to them as strangers and there is no talk about the Ibos being the host community like we hear from the Governor of Lagos State. But let me return to research. Slaves were moved from the hinterland to the coast and many were sold through Eko to the New World. These slaves were the first to encounter the Europeans and by extension their way of life – this included education in a Western sense. The Bini King had taken pains to establish a diplomatic presence in Portugal and the relationship developed into areas that extended beyond trade in the late 15th century and lasted well into the early 19th century. Scores of young Bpni youth were sent to Portugal and studied there, coming back with advanced degrees in various disciplines. The next set of people to receive Western education were the slaves themselves. Some of them managed to buy their freedom and develop themselves further.

For the Ibo it does not matter who your father is; the question is: Who are you? Who was Obasanjo’s father? Was he the most educated Nigerian? I am sure the answer is no. Yet this Great Nigeria led this nation two times as a military Head of State and as a civilian President. What about GEJ? Who was his own father? Was he the first Nigerian to go to London? The answer is no. In fact, he had no shoes, yet he is fully in charge. So it does not matter if your father was the first Lawyer or first Doctor in Nigeria but rather what matters is what an individual does with the talents the Almighty has given to him. Let us open up Nigeria for competition. That is the solution to our problems. Those who want privileges keep reminding us that their fathers were the first to go to school in London. Every generation produces its own leaders and champions. Like Dangote who is the biggest employer of labour in Nigeria today and the richest man in Africa. Was his father the first to go to study in London? Yet he is the master of people whose parents gave them the best. My brothers, the answer to the Nigerian problem is that we should establish a merit-driven society. “I get am before” no be property.

Source News Express

Posted 17/08/2013 04:10:34 AM

Chibok girls who escaped by jumping out of Boko Haram's truck are now college students in the US (Photo)

Jackson Ude on Saturday, met Mercy and Patience, who were among the lucky few that jumped out of the moving truck carrying over 200 schoolgirls, who were kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists on April 14th, 2014.

Both started school this year at Bronx Community College in the U.S under a project called Education Must Continue Initiative.

Speaking earlier this year at the 5th annual Global Education and Skills Forum held in Dubai, one of the girls described how she jumped out of the moving truck that fateful night.

“What happened that night was terrible. We were writing our final exams. They came to our school,dressed in military uniforms, so we didn’t know they were Boko Haram. They wanted us to get in the truck and told us they were going to protect us. But they started shooting. All the teachers ran away. I thought I was going to die. They came with a very long truck and loaded all of the food and the girls. As we moved deeper into a forest, some of the girls were jumping out of the truck. I turned to my friend and told her her we should jump tow. We jumped and disappeared into the forest, but my friend hurt her ankle and couldn’t walk. We met a shepherd who helped us with his bycycle. And then a man in a motorcycle took us home.” (LIB)

Culled from bodedolu.com

82 Chibok girls released by Boko Haram

Previously released girls

Boko Haram militants have released 82 school girls out of a group of more than 200 who they kidnapped from the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014, officials said on Saturday.
The girls were released through negotiations with the government, one official said, asking not to be named.
A military source said the girls were currently in Banki near the Cameroon border for medical checks before being airlifted to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

The kidnapping was one of the high-profile incidents of Boko Haram’s insurgency, now in its eighth year and with little sign of ending. About 220 were abducted from their school in a night-time attack.
More than 20 girls were released last October in a deal brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Others have escaped or been rescued, but 195 were believed to be still in captivity prior to this release.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said last month the government was in talks to secure the release of the remaining captives.
Although the Chibok girls are the most high-profile case, Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of adults and children, many of whose cases have been neglected.
The militants have killed more than 20,000 people and displaced more than 2 million during their insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria.

Despite the army saying the insurgency is on the run, large parts of the northeast, particularly in Borno state, remain under threat from the militants, and suicide bombings and gun attacks have increased in the region since the end of the rainy season late last year.

Reuters

Buhari Resumes Work Tuesday, Meets AGF, NNPC GMD, May Attend FEC Meeting Wednesday

• Accuses N’Assembly of not passing laws to strengthen anti-graft war
• Osinbajo panel to submit report Wednesday
• Crude oil production put at 2mbp

President M Buhari

After weeks of absence due to ill-health, President Muhammadu Buhari resumed work on Tuesday and met separately with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Buhari’s resumption at his office was bound to stem speculation and growing concerns about his health, which presidency sources informed THISDAY have been grossly exaggerated.

The president was also absent at the May Day rally organised by the labour unions for the second time since assuming office in 2015, a development that caused commotion at the Eagle Square, Abuja.A source on Tuesday reiterated the statement by one of the president’s spokesmen Garba Shehu that Buhari had been advised by his doctors to rest more and take things slowly after his medical vacation in the United Kingdom, adding, however, that now he has resumed work, he would likely chair the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday.
Since his return from the UK, Buhari has not attended any public function and was unable to attend two cabinet meetings last month and the Jumat service last Friday at the Presidential Villa.

Briefing State House correspondents after his closed-door meeting with the president, Malami said Buhari expressed concern over the perceived failure of the National Assembly to pass some bills meant to aid the fight against corruption, describing it as a major setback for the anti-graft war.

Malami, who disclosed that the assets recovered by the anti-graft agencies are scattered all over the country, added that the non-passage of the bills was worrisome to the president because it has resulted in a stalemate in stock taking and management of the proceeds of the anti-corruption war.

He made reference to Proceeds of Crime Bill which he said contains the legal backing for the establishment of an Asset Management Agency as one of such bills whose non-passage constitutes a threat to the progress of the anti-corruption war.
According to him, assets recovered by anti-corruption agencies are scattered across the country without any legal framework to aid their gathering and management.
He also explained that he had visited the president to brief him on developments in his ministry as well as the submission of the report of the Electoral Reform Committee to his office.

“It was a routine briefing to the president as it relates to general issues – the issues that have to do with anti-corruption.
“Mr. President is worried that the anti-corruption bills that are pending before the National Assembly, there has not been any expeditious determination on the passage of the bills and indeed the Asset Management Agency was also part of the discussion.
“Mr. President is worried that the assets that have been gathered over time by the agencies of government that are responsible for the fight against corruption are scattered all over the place.

“And embedded in the Proceeds of Crime Bill is the Asset Management Agency which is the agency put in place by the presidency for the purpose of managing the associated assets that are recovered.
“So, Mr. President is indeed worried and the discussions bordered on how best we can handle it. There are also limited issues that relate to the parastatals under the Ministry of Justice that were discussed.

“As you are aware, this afternoon, the Electoral Reform Committee that had been put in place submitted its report to my office.
“I equally briefed Mr. President on that and in addition to the report, there are bills that have been presented for the consideration of the Federal Executive Council as they relate to amendment to the electoral process.

“The whole essence of the meeting was to seek the view of Mr. President and the direction as to what to do next as it relates to the Electoral Reform Committee report that has been submitted and to consider routine processes under the Ministry of Justice,” he said.

Malami also disclosed that the presidential committee probing the allegations of corruption against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal, and Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mr. Ayo Oke, over the discovery of N13.3 billion in an apartment in Ikoyi, would submit its report to Buhari on Wednesday.
The committee is chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo. Malami and National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno (rtd.) are also members of the committee.

Malami, who declined to make comments on the committee’s findings, said doing so would be pre-emptive, adding that the vice-president who is the chairman of the panel would brief the president on its findings after submitting the report today.
“Well, you know the presidential committee that is investigating the NIA and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is supposed to make its submission by tomorrow.
“So it is pre-emptive now to discuss anything considering the fact that the committee is under the chairmanship of the vice-president who is supposed to brief the president in that respect and the schedule for the committee’s assignment has not elapsed,” Malami said.
Lawal and Oke were suspended by Buhari on April 19, after which the president constituted a three-man committee chaired by the vice-president to probe them.

While Lawal was accused of violations of due process in the award of contracts on the humanitarian crisis in the North-east, Oke was suspended over his claim that the money discovered in the Lagos flat belonged to the agency.
The committee was tasked with investigating “how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds”.

Lawal is being investigated over the management of the Presidential Initiative on the North-east (PINE) in his capacity as SGF.
He was alleged to have awarded a N220 million tree-cutting contract to his company, Rholavision Engineering Limited, in contravention of public sector rules barring government officials from awarding contracts to companies in which they have an interest.
During his briefing, Dr. Baru said he met with the president to update him on operations of the NNPC and its subsidiaries, and on the relative stability in the nation’s oil and gas sector in recent weeks.

He said the president expressed delight over the reported stability in the oil and gas sector.
“I briefed Mr. President on the state of the NNPC and its subsidiaries and also on the situation of fuel supply, crude oil production, gas production and by extension, ability to supply gas to the power sector,” he said.
“We had an extensive briefing as you can see; I passed here over two hours ago. I spent quite some time with him to discuss these national issues.

“He was happy with the state of the corporation and told us to continue with the efforts that we are doing and if we need any executive attention we should not hesitate to come back to him,” Baru said.
Baru disclosed that following the peace and stability being enjoyed in the Niger Delta, oil production peaked at two million barrels per day (mbpd) on May 2.
He also said NNPC has no plan to increase the prices of petroleum products.

Culled from This Day