Moses Oisakede: Eleven Years After
Posted: August 30, 2010 - 01:13
By Olamide Olatunji
On September 1st 1999, while travelling to the University of Agriculture, Markurdi to plead the case of some expelled union activists, Moses Oisakede lost his life in a car accident on the Ankpa-Markurdi Road.

Moses was travelling in the official car of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). In the car on that fateful day with Moses (who was the NANS President) was Livingstone Akwanga (who also died in the accident), Kennedy Tabuko, Mike Igaga, Steve Ekwerare, Oluwole Babalola, Vincent Agada and Olamide Olatunji (myself). The car ran into a ditch and somersaulted, while attempting to avoid a pot hole. Moses died on the spot, while Livingstone died in my arms on the way to the hospital, after about 40 minutes, trying to get a vehicle to convey him to the hospital.

Moses Oisakede, who at his death was a 28 years old Bio-Chemistry student of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, had one philosophy of life, which was that “the value of a life is in its contribution to humanity” Between the time of his election at the UI convention in December 1998 to his death in September 1999, he was an exemplary leader of the NANS. Moses who assumed office at a time when the leadership of NANS was being lobbied and hijacked by big money bags and the government, strove to lead without any blemish. Unlike what obtains presently where NANS has been turned into a platform for personal aggrandisement, doling out awards to one discredited politicians or another, jumping from one government office to another while student interests are being attacked, Moses pursued the interests of students without allowing any distractions. He was always on the road, visiting schools, meeting with various schools management, always agitating for a better welfare conditions for Nigerian students and it is not only befitting but also ironic that he should lose his life on one of the numerous trips he undertook in the course of his stewardship.

Eleven years after Moses’ death, it is very disheartening and saddening to discover that the issues which led to the untimely demise of Moses Oisakede and Livingstone Akwange are still prevalent within the education sector and the nation as a whole. These issues are; arbitrary expulsion and dismissal of student union activists, bad and deplorable conditions of our roads, poor state of facilities on our campuses and poor state of health facilities.

One of the common features of the military era was the expulsion and dismissal of student activists without due process of rule of law. It was explained then as a reflection of the national polity, since military men were ruling Nigeria, the Vice-Chancellors too were behaving like military men. But interestingly, eleven years after the departure of military men, the Vice-Chancellors are still behaving like military men. Scores of the student activists are presently expelled or dismissed from various institutions of higher learning across the country. Expulsion and dismissal of student activists rises as a result of intolerance on the part of the vice-chancellors or school managements to dissenting views. In a country where the minimum wage is between N5, 700 – N7, 500, you find a federal institution of learning charging up to N40, 000 as school fees (please how do you reconcile that), inevitably some people are not given access to education and a certificate. Meanwhile to get a decent job, you most likely need a certificate from an institution of higher learning. I am hard pressed to remember when last I read of a student activist expelled from Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge or any of the numerous universities that litter Europe (where the children of our ministers of education and all other political office holders attend) yet on daily/weekly basis student activists are either expelled or suspended in Nigeria.

Moses would certainly not believe that eleven years after his demise, the state of Nigerian roads are worse than they were when he was plunged into a ditch while attempting to avoid a pothole. From Sokoto to Ibadan, Maiduguri to Lagos, Enugu to Aba, all over the nation, the roads are in terrible and horrible conditions. Tens of thousands of Nigerians lose their lives and properties yearly due to the deplorable conditions of the roads, while trillions of naira are pocketed by the contractors and their collaborators in government. In every budget, the works ministry is allocated large sums of money and at the end of the year the minister in charge can not point to how many kilometres of road was built or repaired.

Eleven years ago, when we set out from Ekpoma, the aim was to get to Markurdi to attend the public sitting of the presidential visitation panel set up by then President Obasanjo to look into the various unrest in the universities and redress all cases of victimisation and injustice perpetuated by the vice-chancellors of the military era. Eleven student activists were earlier expelled from the university and the students’ union was banned by the vice-chancellor, so the affected students did not have any mouth piece to voice their grievances to the visitation panel. It was therefore very expedient and imperative that NANS should be at the panel to present their case. Ironically, the same Obasanjo was a president for 8 years that witnessed attacks on student activists and acute under funding of education.

However, at this point, there arises a dilemma. The affected students had at a senate meeting of NANS specifically requested that Moses be physically present at the panel. The reason was that the vice-chancellor, Prof. Gyang had succeeded in bribing previous NANS executive officers who had tried to intervene in the matter. The expelled students trusted and believed that Moses would not betray them. The NANS senate thereby resolved and mandated that Moses should be physically present to make the case of the expelled students at the panel. Unfortunately, the timing of the panel coincided with the examination period at the Ambrose Alli University. Moses had to decide on whether to go against the senate resolution and not go to the panel sitting or put his academics on the line and head to Makurdi. The panel sitting was fixed for a Wednesday; he had exams on Tuesday and Thursday. Finally, Moses arrived at a decision. “Sistar” (he calls me), “I will go to Makurdi”, I was quick to ask how he planned to do it without missing his exams and he replied, “If I miss the exams, I can still re-write it another time, but if I miss Makurdi, those boys might never have the chance to write an exams let alone fail it”. How philosophical that statement turned out to be; Moses missed his exams and he also missed Makurdi, but at least, as a consolation for his soul, I am happy to tell him that “those boys” did have a chance to write exams, though he had to sacrifice his own chance.

Sacrifice is what leadership is about, but not so for Nigerian leaders. They do not and can not sacrifice anything for their followers. That is why the senate president earns N88 million per month, while minimum wage is N7,500 per month. Nigerian leaders can not sacrifice, that is why some weeks back, the federal executive council, voted about 23 billion naira for the purchase of three aircrafts to add to the presidential fleet, when the entire nation is in darkness and factories are running on generators. Recently, the British Prime Minister travelled to attend a conference via rail, according to him “the recent economic crisis has made my government cut down on expenses”. Can you imagine President Goodluck travelling to Cameroon by rail, (please spit it out).

I remember very vividly the song which was composed and rendered with solemnity by the students of Ambrose Alli University at the burial of Moses Oisakede.

Moses don die o!
Alele ku ele
If dem no expel us, Moses no go die
If dem give us good roads, Moses no go die
If dem build hospitals, Livingstone no go die
Na now u go know say government people bad
Simple condolence dem no fit to send
Moses don die o!
Alele ku ele.

It is a pity that eleven years ago, we are still at where we were, perambulating!

Olamide Olatunji
Former NANS Activists and Currently the Director of Administration of a Private School in Lagos.




http://saharareporters.com/article/moses-oisakede-eleven-years-after

Today is September 1st, exactly 14 years after the death of Comrade Moses Oisakede, former President of the National Association of Nigeria Students. Moses died on September 1st 1999, in a car accident on the Ankpa-Markurdi Road, while travelling to the University of Agriculture, Markurdi to plead the case of some expelled union activists.

Share your perspective of what you know about Moses Oisakede, or what you were told.

That moment when someone re-tweets your sin

Pope Francis has revolutionized the Roman Catholic Church in many ways and now he's going after the world of social networks. It has been announced through the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary publication that the Pope may forgive sins through Twitter, to encourage those that cannot afford to see him in Brazil to follow him through the TV or Internet.

The official announcement will be made next week during the World Youth Day 2013, which will take place in Brazil July 23-28 with the presence of millions of young people around the world. The initiative is to give "collective forgiveness" only to the Pope's followers on Twitter that have previously confessed their sins, have been absolved by a priest and have attended Mass. They may tune in the World Youth Day broadcasts and receive special papal indulgence, which can reduce the time a soul spends in purgatory.

According to iEnterate.com, many theologians have criticized the measure because it "distances the person of the priest, the only mediator between God and man," said one Vatican analyst. "You do not get an indulgence as you get a coffee from a machine," said Archbishop Claudio María Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

"It's not enough just to watch a mass online or follow Pope Francis via live streaming on your iPad or by connecting to Pope2You.net. These are just devices. What really counts is that the tweet that the Pope will send from Brazil or the photos from World Youth Day produce genuine spiritual fruit in the heart of the person," said Celli.

According to the Courier Mail, Monsignor John Kennedy told Vatican Radio that indulgences referred to God's kindness in forgiving the effects of sins. "They are linked to a theme that Pope Francis has spoken very frequently about since the moment of his election - that is to say, to the gift of God's mercy," Kennedy said.

On July 9, the Pope released a decree about indulgences and social media, according to Tennesean.com. "The faithful who on account of a legitimate impediment cannot attend the aforementioned celebrations may obtain Plenary Indulgence under the usual spiritual, sacramental and prayer conditions, in a spirit of filial submission to the Roman Pontiff, by participation in the sacred functions on the days indicated, following the same rites and spiritual exercises as they occur via television or radio or, with due devotion, via the new means of social communication," the Pope stated.
The Pope's Twitter account is @Pontifex and has over 2,600,000 followers, while its Spanish version is @Pontifex_es has nearly three million followers worldwide.

http://www.latinospost.com/articles/23964/20130719/pope-francis-forgive-twitter-followers-sins-online.htm

This is the state of the Nigeria educational system. People should learn to read and understand before talking anyhow in public forums. Wole Soyinka was referring to the rich resource endowment of the Niger-Delta, and he never called Patience Jonathan a hippopotamus. Read the context in which that statement was made. He was indirectly saying that oil, which is the main issue causing the crises, is not the only rich resource of the region. People should look into the waters for solution, "the kingdom of God is within and around us".




NOBEL LAUREATE, Professor Wole Soyinka has warned of dire consequences for the country should the crisis in Rivers State be allowed to degenerate beyond this.

Professor Soyinka, in a statement stated that “even after the Rivers crisis has been resolved, this notorious proceeding will not be permitted to fester unchallenged.”

Making reference to the election of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF

In Public Interest, in order to eliminate all further distraction and enable the nation to concentrate on issues that affect the democratic pursuit, it is necessary to make the following information available:

Before the press conference held by Femi Falana and myself – that is, even before the Rivers Assembly fracas - I had been canvassed by opposing sides of the face-off, both via telephone and physically. One such visit, perhaps the most significant, was made by a Special Adviser in the presidency who outlined what can be regarded as the official rationale for the Governors’ Forum election debacle. In the process of this exchange, he did make certain complaints against Governor Rotimi Amaechi, including charges of a conflict of interests over certain resources. This was implied as the root of division between the Governors’ Forum and the Presidency.

I wrote down the details, informed the emissary that I would pass on these accusations to Governor Amaechi – which I did. That Amaechi hotly denied them and offered contradicting facts, which he urged me to verify, remained, and remains utterly irrelevant to the democratic core of the conflict – and this has been made clear to all interventionists: Keyed into this core are:

(i) the arithmetics of democracy involved in figures 16 and 19 at the time, and now, with increased confidence in impunity, the figures 27 and 5.
(ii) whether or not it is democratic , even cultured proceeding that a state governor is barred from public access anywhere within his own zone of constitutional authority, with the massive security apparatus of the centre, on behalf of an unelected individual.

Even after the Rivers crisis has been resolved, this notorious proceeding will not be permitted to fester unchallenged.

For the rest, since beneath the surface of most Nigerian conflicts will be found inordinate greed for public resources, it is perhaps pertinent to remind ourselves that Oil is not the only marvel to emerge from the Delta swamps. There are also exotic creatures – mermaids, manatees, even mammy watas and hippopotami. However, unlike crude oil, which can be refined, you can extract a hippopotamus from the swamps, but you cannot take the swamp out of the hippopotamus.

This is the state of the Nigeria educational system. People should learn to read and understand before talking anyhow in public forums. Wole Soyinka was referring to the rich resource endowment of the Niger-Delta, and he never called Patience Jonathan a hippopotamus. Read the context in which that statement was made. He was indirectly saying that oil, which is the main issue causing the crises, is not the only rich resource of the region. People should look into the waters for solution, "the kingdom of God is within and around us".

This is the state of the Nigeria educational system. People should learn to read and understand before talking anyhow in public forums. Wole Soyinka was referring to the rich resource endowment of the Niger-Delta, and he never called Patience Jonathan a hippopotamus. Read the context in which that statement was made. He was indirectly saying that oil, which is the main issue causing the crises, is not the only rich resource of the region. People should look into the waters for solution, "the kingdom of God is within and around us".

I remember the famous speech made by Comrade Moses Oisakede, late NANS President, "How can we say goodbye? ...Welldone and not goodbye". Little did he know that Nigeria Students will re-echo the same eulogy at his funeral.
I remeber how Lanre Lagacy, former OAU Union President, escaped death by whiskers.
I remember how this incidence cost Wole Omole, former Vice Chancellor, his job.

You will always remain in our minds. Adieu Gallant fighters!!!

I am not a catholic but I like to share the reason why i think a big gap exists between the current Pope and some Nigeria Pastors.

As Cardinal Bergolio and Archbishop of Buenos Aires he gave up his mansion and chauffeured limousine, he moved to a simple apartment, often rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals. As Pope Francis, he picks up his own luggage, pays his own hotel bill, shuns security, refuses a limousine, gets on a minibus with the cardinals.


Some Nigeria Pastors ride in Private Jets, move with body guards and drive Rolls-Royce

Hi Guys

Please anyone heard of a rumoured document flying around about the possible disintegration of Nigeria in 2014 (after 100 yrs)? In the said document, it is rumoured that Lord Lugard actually planned and signed that Nigeria will survive for 100 years. Please, anyone got information about this document or where i can find it, please kindly post.

I am not an advocate of Nigeria's disintegration. I believe when we have such documents at our disposal, we can start debating about the future of our country. Thanks

Wole Soyinka remains one of the few voices of truth alive in Nigeria today. Let it be known, should anything happen to Wole Soyinka, i am prepared to abandon everything i am doing to wage war against that sect. Enough is enough

The Nigerian Labour Congress has just announced end of her participation in the fuel subsidy protest which commenced in Nigeria on the 2nd of January, 2012. Technically, that brings to an end the resistance of the Nigerian people to the hike in the price of fuel announced by President Goodluck Jonathan January 1, 2012. Historically, labour is central to civil resistance struggles in Nigeria due to the central role the labour movement plays in the dynamics of economic relations upon which the state functions.

For many Nigerians in the streets, it is a painful betrayal as they had resolved not to tolerate any increase in fuel prices and have, in the past eight days, given up everything in furtherance of their commitment.

As usual with resistance to bad government policies in Nigeria, lives have been lost. Many have been injured. There has been devastating economic sacrifices by the people. With labour compromising the struggle at 3 naira less than One Hundred Naira per litre, the question is: if there was any basis for the resistance at all? The dead have died in vain. It is for their families to go bury their dead.

Not withstanding, many Nigerians particularly in Lagos still came out to protest today. They were randomly intimidated by armed soldiers who had been stationed by government to maul and kill any in opposition to its anti-people policies.

The workers are expected to resume work and the people to swallow the bitter pills of spiral inflation which they thought to fight against with their lives.



www.occupynigeriaprotest..com

This is constructive. Labour is not in charge of this protest, not even the Bakare's led SNG. The protest is strictly by Nigerians and for Nigeirans

I think this thread should be closed by the moderators

No one is born homosexual. Our anatomy and the debilitating and deadly consequences related to going against our anatomy, HIV, AIDS, anal gonorrhea, anal warts, multiple psychological problems, and much, much more, prove we are all born heterosexual. It is truly sad, some choose to act out their sexuality in a way that is contrary to their biological heterosexuality and bring such harm to themselves and others.

The good news is homosexuality is not ingrained the same as race or eye colour. A white person cannot stop being white, even if they perceive it desirable to be a different race. I have black eyes and I am not able to make my eyes brown. I personally know a man who have spent years in the homosexual subculture and who by his own account had thousands of sexual encounters with hundreds of different men. My friends left the homosexual scene in the early 1990s and married a woman. The last time I talked to him he had five children. Clearly the heterosexual sex was working. He is now heading towards 2 decades of faithfulness to his vows and he has no desire to go back to that which was killing him.

Evil brain, pls stop populating this thread with your evil brain

The Nigerian Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram poses an “emerging threat” to the United States and is set to join other al Qaeda affiliates in plotting attacks against the U.S. homeland, a congressional panel said Wednesday.

U.S. intelligence agencies must not underestimate Boko Haram’s ability and desire to strike directly at the United States, a mistake they made with al Qaeda affiliates in both Pakistan and Yemen in recent years, a House Homeland Security subcommittee said in a bipartisan staff report published at a hearing Wednesday.

“The U.S. intelligence community must not underestimate Boko Haram’s intent and capability to strike U.S. interests and most importantly, the U.S. homeland,” said Rep. Patrick Meehan, Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.

The report noted that Boko Haram has begun to employ hallmark al Qaeda tactics in oil-rich Nigeria. The terrorists have used truck bombs, coordinated multiple suicide attacks and released martyrdom videos.

There have also been increasingly close connections between some Boko Haram leaders and al Qaeda-linked groups in Africa, like al Shabab in Somalia and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, it said.

In August, Boko Haram attacked the U.N. headquarters in the capital Abuja with a suicide truck-bomb, killing 21 people in its first attack against an international target. It has also threatened Nigeria’s oil infrastructure.

The U.N. attack and reports of links between Boko Haram and other Islamist terror groups “may signal a shift [from a purely national or regional strategy] towards a more global militant ideology,” said California Rep. Jackie Speier of California, the senior Democrat on the subcommittee.

The rapid evolution in tactics and targets by Boko Haram “mirrors” the trajectory taken by other al Qaeda affiliates, which have attempted to strike directly at the United States.

Mr. Meehan noted that the so-called “underwear bomber” who tried to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009 was linked to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He added that the failed truck-bombing of Times Square in New York in May 2010 was plotted by a Pakistani-American trained by the al Qaeda-linked Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.

“There is little evidence at this moment to suggest that Boko Haram is planning attacks against the homeland,” said Mr. Meehan.

However, he added, that a “lack of evidence does not mean that it cannot happen.”

Mr. Meehan noted that U.S. intelligence agencies have “very recently been wrong about al Qaeda affiliates’ intent and capability to strike the homeland with nearly deadly consequences.”

“We underestimate emerging terror groups at our peril,” he said.

A well-coordinated series of attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria could “completely [cut] off oil production in the West African nation and cause a “spike in oil prices worldwide and soaring domestic gas prices,” the report warned

Nigeria is the world’s fourth largest oil producer and accounted for eight percent of U.S. oil imports last year.

Ms. Speier cautioned that little is known about Boko Haram in part because of its “rapid rise.” She urged U.S. agencies to redouble their efforts to find out about its “membership strength and leadership cadre,” as well as “the true nature of its ties to other groups.”

She called for increased counter-terrorism cooperation with the Nigerian government and “outreach to the Nigerian people, especially the Muslim community,” to help U.S. officials “better understand the appeal of a group like Boko Haram.”

About half of Nigeria’s 155 million people are Muslims and 40 percent of the population is under 40 years old.

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/30/nigerian-terrorists-pose-threat-to-us/?page=all#pagebreak

MAIDUGURI (AFP) – A purported spokesman for Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed Thursday that the group, blamed for attacks including the suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Nigeria, has links with Al-Qaeda.

“It is true we have links with Al-Qaeda,” the man identifying himself as Abul Qaqa told reporters in a phone conference in the Hausa language. “They assist us and we assist them.”

Abul Qaqa has claimed to speak on behalf of Boko Haram on a number of previous occasions. He did not provide further details on the supposed link.

He said “any Muslim group that is struggling to establish an Islamic state can get support from Al-Qaeda if they reach out to them.”

There has long been speculation, particularly among Western nations, over whether Boko Haram has formed links with outside extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda’s north African branch.

Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of attacks in Nigeria, including the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in the capital Abuja that killed at least 24 people.

A bomb explosion rocked Maiduguri late Wednesday in the latest such attacks by the sect but nobody was hurt, state police chief Simeon Midenda said.

The explosion in a desolate area of the city was part of a new strategy devised by the sect in attacks targeting a special military unit deployed in the city to counter the sect, he said Thursday.

“We have realised that Boko Haram members have come up with a new tactic of detonating bombs in places where there are no people and then lay ambush on soldiers who will naturally deploy to the area where there is explosion,” he said.

The group is believed to have a number of factions with varying aims.

Nigeria’s secret police alleged this week that some Boko Haram members have links to politicians following the arrest of another alleged spokesman for the group.

Abul Qaqa refuted the secret police claims during the phone conference, while also threatening to kill a political figure in the northeastern state of Borno as well as attack political party offices.

He issued the threat against Baba Basharu, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Borno, because of comments he reportedly made linking Boko Haram to former Borno state governor Ali Modu Sheriff.

Basharu reportedly said Sheriff had allied with the group, but then the two sides had fallen out, causing Boko Haram members to turn against the then-governor.

Abuk Qaqa said Boko Haram had two conditions for dialogue with the government, describing them as “implementation of sharia in Nigeria and the withdrawal of troops from Maiduguri.”

A military task force has been deployed to the northeastern city of Maiduguri in a bid to stop Boko Haram, but soldiers have been accused of major abuses, including killing civilians and burning their homes.

Islamic sharia law is in place in 12 states in northern Nigeria, but it is selectively enforced.


Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/al-qaeda-assist-us-and-we-assist-them-boko-haram-spokesman/

The extant revelation that Nigeria's civil servants helped themselves with the whooping sum of 450bn in the year 2010 alone palpably makes the point some of us have made from mountain Olympus that in the aqua of malversation or quagmire of defalcation if you like,the Nigerian bureaucracy is as guilty and corrosively pigmented as our political class.That is no extenuating anchorage however for the harum scarum miasmatic gamdadoeism of the political class but if we must detoxify Nigeria's Augean stables then we must be both religious,ethnic and class blind.That's is the only dialectical way to peregrinate.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=143398235760413&id=100002707135436

THE Federal Government on Monday said that cross border flow of the global proceeds from criminal activities was estimated to be about N240 trillion (USD 1.6 trillion annually). It observed that this amount comes from "particularly corruption and economic crimes estimated to be between USD 1 to 1.6 trillion annually.”

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), made this revelation in Abuja at a workshop on stolen assets recovery and management of the proceeds of crime organised by the Federal Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with Justice for All and International Centre for Asset Recovery.

In his keynote address entitled, "Recovering Stolen Assets and Management of Proceeds of Crime,” the AGF said that "half of this amount is looted from developing and transition economies. “Statistics further revealed that USD 20-40 billion of this inflow originated in bribes to public officials from these countries,” saying that the equivalent of more than half of the continent's external debt are held in foreign bank accounts.


He further noted that it was vital for the affected nations to have the political will to pursue recoveries.

Against this backdrop, the justice minister said he had articulated plan for a wide range reform in the justice sector for improved institutional mandates and structures of anti-corruption institutions in the context of efficient justice delivery and accountability.

Also speaking on the occasion, the coordinator of the National Economic Team and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said it took Nigerian government five years to recover stolen funds by former military head of state, General Sani Abacha.

She said the recovered stolen funds from Abacha was 80 per cent utilised in the provision of social infrastructure, adding that the recovery took place under the civilian government of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

She added that the Swiss government, civil society groups in Switzerland and Nigeria insisted on monitoring the usage of the funds, to ensure that it went into provision of roads, water, health facilities and others.

Meanwhile, the finance minister has called on all agencies of government to return to the national treasury any recovered fund from acts of corruption.

She said apart from the Ministry of Justice, other agencies of the Federal Government were yet to return such corruption monies to the national treasury.

The minister said returning of proceeds of corruption to the national treasury was the practice while she served as Finance Minister under Obasanjo, adding that since she returned, that had not been done.

In her remarks, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri, said EFCC pioneered the introduction of a comprehensive non-conviction based asset forfeiture law in Nigeria.

“The principal aim was to have in place, a legislation that would complement the current conviction-based regime,” she said.

In addition, she added that the “bill suffered a setback in the House of Representatives. The reasons advanced for defeating the bill were legally and morally unsupportable.

“Section 44(1)b of the 1999 Constitution already recognises the possibility of a forfeiture of assets through a civil process.

“All the National Assembly needs to do is to make a law that prescribes the mode of that process. It is, therefore, strongly recommended that this initiative by the AGF and DFID should result in the urgent representation of that bill to the seventh National Assembly for its consideration and passage into law.”

Meanwhile, naira firmed at the official trading window on Monday, as US dollar demand eased, following several tightening measures by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week, but the local currency remained much weaker at around Friday’s levels on the interbank market.

The CBN sold all the $296.91 million demanded at 149.95 to the dollar against its initial offer of $400 million at the official window.

Foreign exchange demand was down sharply from the $591.67 million at last Wednesday’s auction, which were sold at 150 naira to the dollar.

The naira remained under pressure on the interbank market, at 162.88 to the dollar by 1156 GMT, with dealers uncertain over sentiment, following a week of intense volatility for exchange rates in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy.

The CBN, last week raised its benchmark interest rate by 275 basis points to 12 per cent, upped the cash reserve requirement of banks to eight per cent from four per cent and reduced net open positions lenders can hold as reserves to one per cent of shareholders funds from five per cent.

source: http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/29819-nigeria-loses-n240trn-annually-to-corruption-agf-fg-targets-n78trn-foreign-investment-by-2020-as-cbn-douses-fear-of-mpr-effect-on-stocks-investment

The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni women's rights advocate Tawakkul Karman.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee made the announcement Friday in Oslo, saying the three women will split the coveted award for "their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights."

Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland praised the work of the three recipients, saying that "we cannot achieve lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men."

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 72, became Africa's first democratically elected female president in 2005. The Nobel Committee praised the Liberian leader for her efforts to secure peace, promote economic and social development and strengthen the position of women.

Thirty-nine year-old Leymah Gbowee, also from Liberia, helped to end her country's civil war by encouraging Christian and Muslim women to participate in a series of sit-ins and non-violent demonstrations. In 2002, Gbowee mobilized Liberian women to participate in a "sex strike" until the violence ended.

Meanwhile, 32-year-old activist and journalist Tawakkul Karman was praised for playing a "leading part in the struggle for women's rights and for democracy and peace" in Yemen. A leading "Arab Spring" activist in her country, Karman told reporters after winning the prize that she dedicated it to the "youth of the revolution in Yemen," saying it was a victory in her country's uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The committee said it hopes the prize will help bring an end to the "suppression of women that still occurs in many countries."

The three women will share an award of nearly $1.5 million, which they will receive at a ceremony in Oslo on December 10.

Last year, the Nobel committee awarded the peace prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident writer and activist Liu Xiabao, angering the Chinese government. Liu is serving an 11-year prison sentence for what China says is "subverting state power."

Past winners include U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009, former Vice President Al Gore in 2007 and former President Jimmy Carter in 2002. The 2001 prize was split between the United Nations and then Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The prize was created by Swedish scientist and industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.

Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Nobel-Peace-Prize-Goes-to-Trio-of-Liberian-Yemeni-Women-131317719.html

@kodewrita you need not waste your time answering them. I wander how Nigerians reason. If the world is all about economic interest rather than moral, none of us will be alive today. We are talking about universal defence of human rights and some chalatans here are talking about economic interest.

China is leading the league of Nation for the violation of universal human rights. When the Dalai Lama (a Nobel peace laurate) was denied visa, it spells great danger for the defence of human rights the world over. It is unfortunate that South Africa, inspite of its history, has been bought by Chineese wealth.

Today makes one year activist Liu Xiabao was listed as 2010 Nobel peace winner. One year has gone by and activist Liu Xiabao is still languishing in jail. His wife has been placed under house arrest since then. The worst thing is that he wasn't even allowed to go to Oslo for his award. There are millions of activist like that in China. And some idiots are talking about economic interest here.

I believe it going to be Anna Hazare

If you are looking forward to meeting him,why not travel to his hometown and do that ? South Africa won't sacrifice her national interest and relations with china just to satisfy a separatist.

@Bluetooth - I will not respond to this. Its not your fault, its just unfortunate that you are ignorant of the fact that you are part of a universal battle between forces of good and forces of evil. It is the ignorance of people like you that is causing the problems we are having in Nigeria today.

This is the second time this is happening. It is a disgrace to the whole of Africa. I am in Johannesburg and have been looking forward to meeting the Dalai Lama. I have even booked a place in the lecture hall at University of the Witwatersrand, where he was scheduled to deliver a lecture on the 12th of October.

This attitude of compromising the truth is the county's worst nightmare. South Africa was one of the least to declare support for the NTC regime in Lybia. It is a pity that South Africa we all struggled to deliver from apartheid would fail to deliver on our collective dream. It is sad that this country of great heros have been hijacked by forces of falsehood.

The Dalai Lama says he has been forced to pull out of Archbishop Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday celebrations because South Africa did not grant him an entry visa.

Civil rights campaigners reacted furiously to the news, claiming that South Africa had buckled under pressure from China, its biggest trading partner, which regards the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist.

Tutu had invited his fellow Nobel peace laureate to deliver a lecture to mark his milestone birthday in Cape Town on Friday. Officials from the archbishop emeritus's office started the visa application process in June but were hit by a series of bureaucratic delays.

On Tuesday, the Dalai Lama's office finally gave up. "His Holiness was to depart for South Africa on 6 October, 2011, but visas have not been granted yet," it said. "We are, therefore, now convinced that for whatever reason or reasons, the South African government finds it inconvenient to issue a visa to His Holiness the Dalai Lama."

A candlelit vigil outside the South African parliament in Cape Town on Monday night drew around 250 protesters demanding that the Tibetan spiritual leader be allowed into the country. Instead there was bitter disappointment on Tuesday morning, when it was announced the eight-day trip had been called off. Civil rights campaigners blamed the government with expressions of anger and shame.

Nomfundo Walaza, chief executive of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre , said: "I'm shocked and dismayed that they would let it come to this point. I still had hope after the vigil last night that we would wake up this morning to hear the visa had been issued.

"It's a shame. I think it's the darkest moment in the history of this country for this to be allowed to happen. We worked so hard on this, we put our heart and soul into it. For a religous leader of the Dalai Lama's standing to be refused is not acceptable. It's sad that this is what our democracy is all about." She had not yet spoken to Tutu, Walaza added, "but I'm sure he is devastated."

Ela Gandhi, who had planned to present the Dalai Lama with a peace prize in the name of her grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, said: "I'm very disappointed. We were looking forward to him coming and to presenting the award.

"I really feel the whole situation has been handled so badly. It's discourteous for a person of his stature to be told to wait for so long. For a person of peace to be treated like this is wrong."

She continued: "Everybody thinks this is because of pressure from China. It's very sad that another country is allowed to dictate terms to our government. It's going back to aparteid times. I am ashamed of my own country."

Activists who had been campaigning for the 76-year-old spiritual leader's visit joined the condemnation.

Hennie van Vuuren, director of the Institute for Security Studies in Cape Town, said: "I'm deeply disappointed that the South African government didn't find the wisdom to do the right thing. It makes no sense given that the Dalai Lama recently went to Brazil and Mexico. It shows the issue cannot be about China alone.

"South African foreign policy is increasingly showing incoherence. It undermines the strong human rights record of this country. It flies in the face of the desire of most South Africans to uphold our constitutional democracy."

South African foreign ministry officials have consistently denied accusations they were bowing to pressure from Beijing. Asked for his reaction to the Dalai Lama's decision, spokesman Clayson Monyela said: "We don't have a reaction. He's cancelled his trip and that's it.

"We have not said no. We've not refused him a visa; the visa was still being processed. It's only on 20 September that he submitted his full paperwork. In some countries, a visa can take two months. I don't know why people are criticising the government."

The Dalai Lama visited South Africa in 1996, meeting the then president, Nelson Mandela, but was prevented from attending a Nobel laureates' conference in the country two years ago, when the government said his visit would distract from preparations for the football World Cup. At the time, Tutu called the decision disgraceful, and accused the authorities of bowing to pressure from China.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/04/dalai-lama-desmond-tutu-visa

Security should be put on red alert and the public appriopriately warned, no excuse from FG this time around

LAGOS — Militants from Nigeria's oil producing delta on Wednesday threatened to bomb areas in the capital Abuja, scene of last year's Independence Day attacks which killed 12 people.

Abuja's Eagle Square which MEND threatened to target usually hosts the main celebrations of Independence Day which comes up on Saturday.

"The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) intends to place bombs within and in the immediate vicinity of Eagle Square, venue of the proposed 2011 independence anniversary celebrations," the group said in a statement.

MEND which claimed responsibility for last year's twin bombings near the same venue, issued the threat in a statement emailed to journalists.

It warned members of the public to take the warning seriously, adding that the attack "will be novel in nature".

The group followed through on its threat last year to bomb the 50th anniversary celebrations, setting off two bombs outside Eagle Square where several foreign heads of states were also in attendance. It was the group's first attack in Abuja.

Its presumed leader, Henry Okah, a Nigerian national with permanent residence in South Africa, is in detention in Johannesburg, facing terrorism charges in connection with the Abuja bombings. His brother is facing trial back home over the same attacks.

Most of MEND's previous attacks had been centred in the southern oil region, targeting especially oil facilities.

The group claims to be fighting to give the people of the Delta more access to the region's oil wealth.

Although the government in 2009 made an amnesty offer for oil militants, which saw more than 20,000 laying down arms, some MEND members rejected the offer.

It is not exactly clear if authorities plan to hold any independence festivities this year, given a recent surge in attacks that have rocked the capital and northeastern parts of the country.

An Islamist group, known as Boko Haram, has staged several attacks mainly in the north and in the capital city this year, including a suicide attack on the UN headquarters which claimed 23 lives in August.

source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jB3LZuoZEFlY5TgTn0cH2T3ShZRg?docId=CNG.a74b73b5ae6d1ed2253441687f7eeda4.9e1

Rhino

Thanks for the wonderful piece. It is deep. However, you missed a point in the solution.

You captured my heart at the paragraph where you mentioned that Boko Haram is an expression of the failure of the nation state (not northern political oligarchy) to deliver education to the northern child. Its sad, but with the high level of illiteracy in the north i didn't expect less.

As far back as 1999, one of my organization colleagues wrote a paper analyzing the illiteracy crises in the north. He did a statistical comparison of school attendance (from primary to tertiary level) between the north and the south. The statistics in the piece were unbelievable. We drew up a program of action that we move into the northern region with "campaign for the educational development of the northern child". Unfortunately, our program never saw the light of the day. I look back and appreciate my friend's ingenuity.

The fundamental solution to Boko Haram is the direct opposite of the name. There is need for the Federal Government to draw up a 10 years program of action towards the educational development of the northern child. Anything short of that, is a mere cosmetic solution to the end we all dread- the break-up of Nigeria.

Following your perspective, i ask that we both do paper to one of the national dailies- as our small bit to correct this problem.

Cheers

Courtesy Late Night News with Loyiso Gola, South Africa

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdZ0W9bd0Os[/flash]

Some reflections on Holy Prophet Muhammad

In 628 C.E. Prophet Muhammad (s) granted a Charter of Privileges to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. It consisted of several clauses covering all aspects of human rights including such topics as the protection of Christians, freedom of worship and movement, freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their property, exemption from military service, and the right to protection in war.

An English translation of that document is presented below.


        This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
        Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.
        No compulsion is to be on them.
        Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.
        No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.
        Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.
        No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight.
        The Muslims are to fight for them.
        If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.
        Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.
        No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).

http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/charter1.html

http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/charter1.html



Mahatma Gandhi on Prophet Muhammad


“I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind… I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet’s biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life.”

http://navedz./2010/01/17/quotes-mahatma-gandhi-on-prophet-muhammad-pbuh/

http://www.articlesbase.com/mysticism-articles/what-mahatma-gandhi-said-about-muhammad-2878919.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0GfXLfQHNM

This is suppose to be in the art session, but Wale Soyinka has distinguished himself as a lone voice of truth in Nigeria's polity. Enjoy this poem, If an act can make a human immortal in his lifetime,…then,  this poem is Soyinka’s Immortal

I just watched the video, TB Joshua said the elections will be extended three times, ok oh, let us wait and see, If this happens, then i just might be convinced about his powers

Just like i hereby predict that PDP will rig the election

[img]http://newshopper.sulekha.com/nigeria-election_photo_1772339.htm[/img]