Lagos Suspends Principal where Pupils seat on windows

         

A story on the dearth of good furniture in Ikeja Grammar School, Lagos, published by Saturday PUNCH last Saturday drew a wrong chord with the Lagos State Government.

Last Monday, it suspended the school principal for allowing this writer to gain access to the school premises and take photographs of classes where pupils sat on windows and concrete blocks while learning.

Even though it was reported in the story titled, “Lagos school where pupils learn sitting on windows, concrete blocks” that the principal was not around when this journalist visited the school, Saturday PUNCH learnt that her superiors have decided to hang the blame of the scandal on her.

Efforts to speak to the principal as the news of her suspension broke on Monday, were unsuccessful as she was nowhere to be found in the school. Teachers are not allowed to speak with the press in the state.

But an irked teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the principal was removed from her position as a punishment on Monday.

The teacher said, “This is more serious than you think; you have put this school in trouble. The education ‘oga’ (commissioner) and other state officials summoned the principal on Monday and she has been removed from her position.

“She was asked to start reporting to the office of the permanent secretary of the ministry of education as from Tuesday.”

Our correspondent, who paid an undercover visit to the school on Monday, noticed that the issue had put all the teachers in the school on edge as many of them were seen holding copies of the published report.

It was also learnt that the state government’s education top officials had gone a step further by querying a teacher who was teaching a class when photographs of an array of broken furniture the pupils sat on were taken.

Our source within the school said another teacher, a head of department, is also facing the ministry’s ‘fire’ in connection to the said publication. The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, had last week Friday admitted that her ministry was aware of the issue of the bad furniture in the school.

“Thank you for your observation; we are not unaware. As I write, chairs are being supplied and before too long, it will go round the schools,” a text message from her said on Friday. But by Monday when this correspondent visited the school, no new chairs had been supplied.

This correspondent got in touch with the Lagos State Chairman of the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools, Mr. Babatunde Philips, to find out if the state of furniture in secondary schools in the state had been a subject of discussion in the conference’s deliberations in the past.

But Phillips said he could not comment on the issue at the time.

“I heard about the suspension of the principal (of Ikeja Grammar School). It makes me very sad that she had to be suspended. But we are planning to make our findings about the issue. I cannot say anything about the issue right now,” he said.

The state government’s action after last Saturday’s publication seems to have become a trend in the way it handles issues relating to its responsibilities.

In August 2013, after Saturday PUNCH published a report on the state of an orphanage located beside a house owned by the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Orelope Adejoke-Adefulire, operated by Mrs. Rose Nwachukwu, the state government closed down the orphanage and arrested the woman even though experts said officials should have monitored the orphanage’s activities in the first place.

When a text message was sent to Oladunjoye on Thursday on the report that the principal was suspended, Oladunjoye replied simply, “Which report is that please? I know a report is already in the public domain.”

Lagos Suspends Principal where Pupils seat on windows

         

A story on the dearth of good furniture in Ikeja Grammar School, Lagos, published by Saturday PUNCH last Saturday drew a wrong chord with the Lagos State Government.

Last Monday, it suspended the school principal for allowing this writer to gain access to the school premises and take photographs of classes where pupils sat on windows and concrete blocks while learning.

Even though it was reported in the story titled, “Lagos school where pupils learn sitting on windows, concrete blocks” that the principal was not around when this journalist visited the school, Saturday PUNCH learnt that her superiors have decided to hang the blame of the scandal on her.

Efforts to speak to the principal as the news of her suspension broke on Monday, were unsuccessful as she was nowhere to be found in the school. Teachers are not allowed to speak with the press in the state.

But an irked teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the principal was removed from her position as a punishment on Monday.

The teacher said, “This is more serious than you think; you have put this school in trouble. The education ‘oga’ (commissioner) and other state officials summoned the principal on Monday and she has been removed from her position.

“She was asked to start reporting to the office of the permanent secretary of the ministry of education as from Tuesday.”

Our correspondent, who paid an undercover visit to the school on Monday, noticed that the issue had put all the teachers in the school on edge as many of them were seen holding copies of the published report.

It was also learnt that the state government’s education top officials had gone a step further by querying a teacher who was teaching a class when photographs of an array of broken furniture the pupils sat on were taken.

Our source within the school said another teacher, a head of department, is also facing the ministry’s ‘fire’ in connection to the said publication. The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, had last week Friday admitted that her ministry was aware of the issue of the bad furniture in the school.

“Thank you for your observation; we are not unaware. As I write, chairs are being supplied and before too long, it will go round the schools,” a text message from her said on Friday. But by Monday when this correspondent visited the school, no new chairs had been supplied.

This correspondent got in touch with the Lagos State Chairman of the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools, Mr. Babatunde Philips, to find out if the state of furniture in secondary schools in the state had been a subject of discussion in the conference’s deliberations in the past.

But Phillips said he could not comment on the issue at the time.

“I heard about the suspension of the principal (of Ikeja Grammar School). It makes me very sad that she had to be suspended. But we are planning to make our findings about the issue. I cannot say anything about the issue right now,” he said.

The state government’s action after last Saturday’s publication seems to have become a trend in the way it handles issues relating to its responsibilities.

In August 2013, after Saturday PUNCH published a report on the state of an orphanage located beside a house owned by the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Orelope Adejoke-Adefulire, operated by Mrs. Rose Nwachukwu, the state government closed down the orphanage and arrested the woman even though experts said officials should have monitored the orphanage’s activities in the first place.

When a text message was sent to Oladunjoye on Thursday on the report that the principal was suspended, Oladunjoye replied simply, “Which report is that please? I know a report is already in the public domain.”

Jos Crisis:My Plight, My Ordeal (PART 2)

                                                   

DAY 2

After our yesterday escapade, we were exhilarated and curious in our state of being, every occupant in my lodge tuned to their favorite radio station-rhythm fm, Ray power, PRTV fm, et al.  I, on my own side was totally oblivious and lackadaisical as to the political happenings in the state, let to talk of a low-key election as such.

I picked up my blue rubber bucket to go fetch water at a nearby well- you don’t need a drawer to fetch water from the well, all you have to do is to stoop and scoop the water with your bucket without any hurdle. I fetched my water and trudge to Bola’s lodge to get my note books, passed through a motor park that is always cramped with travelers but the park was deserted and I was a little bit perturbed but I shrugged it off until a woman in her 50s with a flaccid bosom and wrinkled face walk to me and started asking some question in her native language, Anaguta ,I smiled and told her in Hausa  that I don’t understand what she’s saying , that was when she code-switch to Hausa language, “don’t go anywhere my son, I heard that the city is in turmoil,’’ this what she told me in her words, trepidation crept in and I rushed back to my street as a matter of fact, I was about to pick my bucket when a man with stab wound on his back came rushing towards where I was standing narrating how he miraculously escaped mob action in Zololo, a densely populated muslim street-just about 200metres to Terminus market, I was shaking, half-listening as he narrated his ordeal, and before I could recollect my far gone memory in not less than twenty minutes the whole place went dead, and dark smokes can be seen enveloping the cloud from afar, I notified my good buddy, Chucks about the bizarre happenings and rushed back to my  lodge to convey the news to my house mates and also to save my documents by carrying them along. Fehintola  and Jennifer were already dressed and set for the day’s lecture when I shook them with the news, that carries fire and macabre, I scurried into my room to rummage some of my papers, before I could say the next word that was hanging on my neck the two girls were gone,  but to where? I asked around and no one saw them.  I asked for my friend, Chucks but he’s vanished, I tried desperately to reach his phone line but it was dead, before I know it waves had conveyed the news to my parents without my own consent, Mum called me on phone and I declined her call, then dad’s but this time I picked it an told him that my street was calm, again mum called for the second time and I did same by lying- white lie though.

This was how it started. The area boys mobilized themselves with whatever weapon they could lay their hands on and started setting shops that were owned by Muslims alight (they scampered and left their shops and some trucks in the park). In  time of crisis even the most virgin heart that can’t kill a rat turns into the most venomous snake, I pulled off my faded jean trouser with my phone in it and hurled it over a house I don’t know it occupant, picked up a long stick that has the shape of a hockey stick-curved  end, the  elders in kunga1 of Naraguta  village gingered us to move to the warfront  and protect the village and churches that it house, we matched forward hurling grenades, arrows and  shooting age-long guns, the other  opponents from Zololo are doing the same. Causalities were recorded, death toll increased, business centers turned into debris, houses were on fire; all from both sides. It was during this crisis that I got to know that Jos women  posses granite heart than their men- so turgid, some of the women were supplying stones and water for the thirsty while some are in the warfront chanting war songs, I also get to know that size is not might, inside cultists they ‘re cultism, most able bodied and giant students in kunga1 were nothing but chaff, they had no value as they ‘re scared to their pants they  left us, the miniature creatures to protect them whilst they  were hiding, clutch to their feeble minded girlfriends, only few of the over 20 cultist in the area came out with their short guns to repel the attackers. My friend, I.P lost his uncle to the fight that lasted for over 6 hours, his uncle has already told him about his mission-to protect a church and also pleaded with them to help pay his debtors the money he’s being owing them. I.P’s uncle left his kunga2 residence to kunga1 where the church’s located, he and some other men garrisoned the place but when the situation got intense they scamper and left him with the church of which the attackers burnt together with him. I.P swore to us when we went to commiserate with him that he would seek retribution of which of which he did because they were secret killings in the area in ensuing days. Jimmy and Emmanuel sustained different degree of injuries from a swollen knee (he’s struck by a stone) to a bullet wound on his shoulder. I was lucky to have escaped some stray bullets flying over my head because I was crawling so low. It took almost forever before intervention came from the Nigeria military force, and this was when dialogue that had a nix effort began, a b-b curfew was also put in place.

Gideon offered me a round -the -street tour where he showed me all the mess, the burning and the lootings, we later digressed to a more entertaining discourse, hence to divert my attention from the objects of reality. We passed a bend where shops were looted and burnt down, egg shell scattered everywhere, tins of peak milk that has already been used, ‘’Guy, look down, ’’Gideon said to me without any  sign of panic, I looked down as he commanded and I immediately staggered  behind him. It was a burnt man, we call him ’Aboki’ because that’s what Hausa people are fondly called in Jos and other

Non-Hausa speaking states. Narrating how Aboki got burned to death, Gideon told me that when his other fellow Hausa men were running for their lives he stayed behind in his warehouse garrisoning his raw yam and egg which he do fry to sell to us, student favorite, when the locals noticed him, he took to his heel, when he noticed they were coming for him.

Aboki ran to my friends lodge, khalito momento, khalito hid him in his toilet but when the locals came knocking at khalito’s door post, to khalito’s surprise his local friend threatened to kill him if he don’t produce Aboki, khalito in his mid- twenties cried like a baby and handed Aboki to them, they poured fuel on him and set him alight, he was dying slowly until khalito’s friend finally took his arrow, he was finally sedated. I was really an eye sore, seeing a man burnt beyond recognition with an arrow pricked to his chest.

When the dust settled, after two days of the comatose, I made up my mind to go home, because I was nostalgic. During the last two days we were forced to live indoor with no water and food except for the eggs in bags my friends loot from a full-to-beam trailer, so we all settled for the eggs, Sometimes we fry them but when our vegetable oil got finished we started boiling it, funny as it may sound we couldn’t differentiate the stench oozing from our room and the farts from our butts, I think all the eggs we ate broke down into bad air in our stomach because everyone of us developed a bulge stomach, we couldn’t visit the lavatory. Only farts.

News later got to us about chucks, while he was standing and waiting for me he saw an almost empty bus travelling to Gombe, he took that chance and boarded the bus, and it was almost a fry pan to fire experience for him because Gombe state was wearing a hostile face that morning.

For Fehintola and Jennifer it was a different story altogether, funny as it may sound, it was an escape embedded on exchange theory. They were running on their toes when they saw a muslim Fulani woman with her two year old daughter (her husband had fled that morning) also trying to evade the scene. Fehintola took the baby from her as they trudge towards zololo, a haven for the Fulani woman, but what about fehintola and Jennifer, how about their safety? The Fulani woman depicted her benevolence by taking off her hijab and gave it to Fehintola , pulled that of her daughter and gave it to Jennifer, Immediately they took a change of name. Fehintola became Halimat and Jennifer transfigured to Aisha, this was how they move freely in zololo in the guise of being a muslim, until they got to Abuja hostel of the university of Jos.

When everything seemed like it has cooled off, I rummaged for my belongings, and some were intact while others has been stolen. I arranged them in a big Ghana-must-go bag and left for the park by 4pm (Just not to catch up with the curfew) for tomorrow early morning bus. There was nowhere for me to lodge, so I had to sprayed cartons on the floor and use my bag as a pillow, lying there with other folks in the middle of the night with hubbub of dogs barking, mosquitoes producing agonizing noise in my ears and sulking blood.

This is my story, this was how it turned sour and this was how something that was political turned into a religious ceisis within a wink of an eye.                                        

Jos Crisis: My Plight, My Ordeal (PART 1)

         

Day 1

It was during the rainy season in the city of Jos, Plateau State, located in the north central of Nigeria, with a relatively cold temperature, ringed by high mountains and valleys- a good reason people in Jos are athletic.

On 27th November, it was a public holiday in the whole of Plateau State due to the chairmanship and councillorship election that was scheduled on this day.  Me, my house mates and some fellows from other lodges made arrangement to go swimming since we are not eligible to vote because we didn’t register our voters’ card in the state.  Behind my Lodge, Mountains elicited it beauty, deep down the mountains there is a waterfall that produces sweet, cold and neat water with a very high current. We bought meat and juices, took our bags piled them with cream, combs, short wears and chocolate bars.    I and a friend, Miracle alias Akpako started hiking the mountain so we could swim as much as we could before the rest would come to join us.  When we reached  the peak of the mountain we took a view of miles, to see what our eyes could see, the  serenity of Jos metropolis, voters queuing up getting ready for the electoral proceedings, scanty security men milling around the whole places, we could even see some part of Bauchi state especially Yelwa, a bordering town.  After taking panoramic view of the whole scene, we started straight to the God-made swimming pool.  We pull off our shirts and trousers and left with only shorts with our manhood dangling in it.  Coming from the north-west region where things like this are uncommon, I had no dexterity in swimming while Akpako from a riverine area can even float  on water, after swimming for about 10 minutes, we agreed  to take a break before the others arrive, we  got out of the water shivering of cold, gnashing our teeth, when we scurried out of the water we went directly to where we kept our clothes but they have grown legs, they have vamoose, immediately fear gripped us, we became frightened as hell, short of words and devastated. We started quizzing ourselves as if that will help solve the problem, ‘’could it be that the monkeys in this mountain took away the clothes,” Akpako inquired, ’’no jor, it can’t be’’, I retorted. We couldn’t run back to the water or even make a move to get back to our lodge because we were all soaked in water  with our shorts clenching to our body thereby revealing the shapes of our manhood and the bisect of our backside. We summoned courage and started searching every nook and crannies, tree tops in case the monkeys to it there but all our effort to finding the clothes were futile. We almost gave up all hope of finding the missing wears by sun-drying our wet bodies, but something happened, we started hearing some jeering laughter behind us; it was my friends, the ones we have been waiting for.

We later learnt they have been around for over 30 minutes, that was when they cart away the clothes. We clustered in the little pool that was half the size of a standard swimming pool.  We lasted longer this time until we got exhausted, we made our way out of the water and settled for  meat, no one knew it was a dog meat until we consumed all of it, some of us tried to vomit the meat but we couldn’t, some even cursed the dude that brought the meat, but of what relevance? The deed has been done. We chatted about it and blamed it all on our gluttony too. We creamed ourselves, done our clothes and also performed the same ritual again, panoramic sight, it was the same in terms of serenity, voters are now dispersing with no sign of disappointment or hiccup. This must be a peaceful, free and fair election, the type we have been striving to have.

My Escapade with Aisha

I

 was just passing-by in a close-by cuisine on one unpredictable evening, I was bored all through the day- couldn’t think, couldn’t get excited and I won’t even laugh at what others finds funny.  Is not like I was hallucinating or suffering from asperger’s syndrome, everything I hurl at the wall comes back to me in bizarre. 

Feeding my eyes with flashes of people that flock into this cuisine and leaving after 30 minutes allotted to them for eating and that was how my eyes clamped on this Butter fly, a love at first sight, beautiful like she was made on Sunday.  Her laughs were so original to me, shiny white teeth that can easily blind the eyes, it can also show a blind man the right route to take when the sun shines on it, Butterfly was wearing nice cologne that almost made me to jump on her, I restrained because I will crease and stain her nice ashoke.  Her braided her was perfection for her beauty.

My intentions wasn’t to shag her, like most of the guys she told me about wanted to, “I am a virgin” I sheepishly said to her just to sound comical and make her feel safe.   Then she told me her name, after almost taking forever begging her to tell me, Aisha was her name, “what if I call you Butterfly?” I asked

“O that is a code name for gays,” she said

“Ahn ahn, must everything be link to gays,” I retorted

“Am just saying, I have lesbian friends and am fine with that anyway”

“Yeah, Butterfly, what if I tell you my best friend is gay? I asked hoping to see some changes in her face but she still remain calm “and I will like to meet him, we’re in for equality” she said grinning and sipping from her bottle of maltina.  We got to know the basic information of the both of us, from name to school we attend and from there we delve into family details and that’s where I got to know about her family, her dad is an Alhaji (a rich man but etymologically, it means a visitor in Mecca for hajj. Al hajj) that is happily married to a Syrian, an interracial marriage.  I upgraded my family profile by telling her my parents are into oil and gas, is selling palm oil and vegetable oil not the same as Oil and Gas?  Maybe she’s lying to me too.  We later exchange phone numbers and I promise to humour her with a call tomorrow, I paid her bus fare and watched the bus as it grew tiny and tinier until I can’t even here the noisy sound of it engine ringing in my ears.

I was waiting for her in that same cuisine, the next weekend, she had already told me she only have two weeks to spend before she could return to Glasgow where she’s is schooling, I and my best friend, Ola was chatting over a cup of strawberry ice cream that is not even ice enough to be called ‘ice’ when Aisha walked towards our table with her friend who was wearing a flashy pink Ankara with a pink lipstick.  Aisha gave me a half hug as introduce her to my friend, Ola, “you’re looking so gorgeous, especially on that glasses,’ she smiled admirably, “am falling head over heels, my friend here has got a good sight,” Ola teased back.  She introduced her butterfly friend to us, Osas-angelic and garrulous.  We chatted mostly about life in Nigeria and compared it to what Aisha told us about Glasgow, we drifted to politics- how it has divided the nation, plummet the modus Vivendi of the ragtag and bobtail, and how our hospitals has become a dump site of both the aged and sick ones waiting for medical attention of which is not forthcoming as a result of the strike action embarked by the NMA, Ola who is never interested in politics moved his attention to some Almajiris wandering hither thither waiting for leftovers and begging for money from those that came to patronize the cuisine, “men, I was thinking if these boys are products of unwanted pregnancies, because if they aren’t then I wonder how someone will push his kid into this horrible life of begging. Urchin,” he said with his face reddened with fury, we all shook our heads in unison to suggest that we all feel the same way.  When our one hour allotted to us for eating expired, Aisha brought out her purse and foot the bill while Ola dole out 200 Naira to the Almajiri children as they are already blocking our bath with their melodious tone of ‘Oga help me with food’ chants.  Aisha offered to drop my friend, so we sped in her father’s jeep with Owl City’s Fireflies playing over our heads, Osas took position in her stealing shows by keeping us alive with her talks, when Ola climb out of the car and bade us goodnight, Aisha gazing at me through the mirror told me that Ola is really cool and brave and sweet, ‘hope you are not having a crush on him because he doesn’t belong to the league,” Osas bellowed, “no, am crushing my crush,” she retorted immediately, we all laughed it away like we don’t really care.   

Isa Muazu Deported from U.K on a Private Jet

                                            


A man who spent nearly 100 days on hunger strike in immigration detention has been deported back to Nigeria after failed Court of Appeal attempts to remain in the UK.

Lawyers for Isa Muazu, 45, said they worked through the night to try to prevent his deportation, but an appeal judge rejected an injunction request in the early hours of this morning.

They said they would now consider an out-of-country appeal of behalf of Mr Muazu, whose weight has dropped to just 53 kilos, despite his 5ft 11in height, prompting fears that he will not survive the flight.

The Home Office confirmed Mr Muazu left the UK in a private jet this morning, but his lawyers said the department did not comment on his wellbeing.

Lord Roberts of Llandudno, who intends to raise the case in the House of Lords next week, said Mr Muazu's life was now in danger.

"Isa Muazu's removal from the UK and potential death on a flight or upon arrival in Nigeria is not only a tragedy but an end to the UK's reputation as a country with humane, civilised, just policies and government," the Liberal Democrat said.

"(Home Secretary) Theresa May must consider her position and her immigration control policies.

"Looking 'tough' on immigration simply must not descend to the low of allowing people to die to score a political point. We urgently need to review the systems of immigration detention, 'fast track' and enforced removal."

More than 120 people attended a vigil for Mr Muazu outside the Home Office last night.

Organiser Nancy Maller reacted to the news of his deportation by saying it would be the UK immigration system's fault if Mr Muazu died.

"This is a precedent setting moment in which the Home Office have failed to listen to pleas of mercy, justice, independent medical experts and legal arguments in order to show that they are tough on immigrants," she said.

"In flexing their muscles, they have shown how truly cruel and inhumane this government is."

Toufique Hussain, the solicitor from Duncan Lewis who put in the last minute injunctions overnight said Ms May went to "great lengths" to remove Mr Muazu from the UK, by not allowing him an in-country right of appeal against his asylum refusal and instead hiring a private charter plane to remove Mr Muazu at taxpayers' expense.

"We do not know how Mr Muazu is as we lost contact with him late last night," Mr Hussain said.

"We fear for his safety now on return but we will be looking at pursuing further appeals if we do make contact with him in Nigeria. He should not have been removed from the UK."

Mr Muazu told a Court of Appeal earlier this week that he would “rather die” than be deported. He first arrived in the UK on a visitor's visa in 2007 but overstayed, saying he faced persecution at the hands of Boko Haram, a hardline Islamist group. His application to remain was refused, and he was detained by the immigration authorities for removal on July 25 this year.

Mr Muazu was challenging a ruling by High Court judge Mr Justice Ouseley last week that Ms May was not holding him unlawfully as it was his own decision to refuse food and fluids.

However, the judge did say that Mr Muazu should be kept under review after it was argued that his death would defeat the purpose of his detention, which was to hold him pending deportation as an overstayer in the UK.

Mr Muazu's appeal against the judge's ruling was dismissed by Lord Justice Lewison, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Sir Stanley Burnton.

University Lecturer and Four Others Paraded as Boko haram Suspects

The State Security Service (SSS) today in Abuja paraded five suspected Boko Haram members alleged to hav planned deadly attacks on Igala, Kogi State.

Among the suspects were Dr.
Mohammad Nazeef Yunus, an
Assistant Lecturer in Arabic and
Islamic Studies at Kogi State
University. He was said to be the
Spiritual Leader and Coordinator for Boko Haram in the State, and the leader of the gang.
Nazeef, who was born in Idah, Kogi
State, attended the Arabic Central
Primary School in that town, and El-Kanemi College, Maiduguri.  He also studied at the Islamic School,
University of Medina, in Saudi Arabia and served in the National Youth Service Corp in 1995 at Al-Iman Secondary School, Dogon Dutse, in Jos.
Nazeef earned a Masters Degree in Arabic from the University of Jos.  Just last year, he earned a Ph.D in Islamic Studies from Kogi State University.
Also arrested by the SSS were Umar Musa (Instructor), Mustapha Yusuf, Ismaila Yunusa, Mohammed Nasir, and Ibrahim Isa.
SSS spokesperson Marilyn Ogar said the suspects were planning to carry out an attack on Igala Land but were arrested at Zuba white mosque near Abuja on their way to Zambisa in Maiduguri for training. They were also going to install Sharia in Kogi State.
Umar Musa (Head of Operations/
Instructor) confessed publicly that he was employed by Boko Haram as Instructor after he lost his job with the state teaching hospital, and was taken to the Sambisa camp of the sect for a week’s training on handling weapons. He said he was deployed to the education unit of the camp as
Munzi (instructor) and placed on a
monthly salary of N50,000. He further stated that he and Yusuf later returned from Sambisa and re-united with Nazeef in Kogi State where they plotted to carry out violent attacks in Igala land.  He maintained that Nazeef
appointed him the Head of
Operations and munzir.
Mustapha Yusuf (Armourer/Chief
Courier) and Ismaila Abdulazeez (Foot soldier) confessed that that Nazeef was their teacher who teaches them Jihad and Islamic Sharia.
Ogar told newsmen that the suspects will soon be charged to court.

Racism Still exist, Detroit man Charged for Murder

Theodore Wafer charged in
Detroit death of Renisha
McBride

McBride was interred in Detroit,
Michigan, on 8 November
A Detroit homeowner has been
charged with murder in the
shooting death of a black teenager
on his front porch.
Theodore Wafer, 54, shot Renisha
McBride, 19, in the face on 2
November.
Ms McBride's family says she was
disoriented and seeking help after a car crash. She was drunk at the time of her death, a post-mortem showed.
Mr Wafer has said he feared she was breaking into his home, but that he shot her by accident. The case has sparked racial tension.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym
Worthy said on Friday she would
charge him with second-degree
murder and manslaughter, as well as with possession of a firearm during the attempted commission of a felony.
Ms Worthy said Ms McBride was shot in the face after she approached Mr Wafer's home for help.
Evidence shows the teen knocked on the locked screen door and there was no indication of forced entry, she said.
"These are the appropriate chargesand he did not act in lawful self-defence,'' Ms Worthy said.
Mr Wafer is not currently in custody, but prosecutors will ask him to turn himself in, Ms Worthy added. An arraignment date has yet to be set.

A toxicology report on Ms McBride
released on Thursday indicated she had a blood alcohol level of 0.218%, well above the state's drink-driving limit.
She was also found to have
marijuana in her body, although it
was not clear she had used the drug the day of her death.
A lawyer for Mr Wafer has said his
client was "torn up" by Ms McBride's death, but that he had feared for his life at the time.
Michigan is one of several US states with a so-called stand your ground law, which allows the use of deadly force if a person feels his or her life is in danger, though it is unclear whether that will be argued in this case.
She was shot as she stood on the
porch in the predominantly white
Dearborn Heights area shortly before 04:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Saturday 2 November.
The Detroit Free Press reported
that a car registered to Ms McBride's family had crashed into a parked vehicle about two hours before the shooting, a few streets away.
It is unclear what happened in the
intervening time.
The case has attracted the attention of civil rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) and Michigan
congressman John Conyers.

Thisday Newspaper bomber Jailed for Life

Mustapha Umar, a self confessed
Boko Haram member arrested
and tried before a Federal High
Court siting in Abuja in connection
with the 26th April, 2012 bombing
of SOJ Plaza in Kaduna state
occupied by ThisDay, The Moment
and The Sun Newspapers, was on
Friday found guilty of the one
count charge of terrorism and
sentenced for life.
The convicted terrorist was alleged
to have driven a white Honda
Academy car with registration
number AL 306 MKA with
improvised explosives devices into
the premises of SOJ plaza with the
intention to detonate improvised
explosive devices within the
premises.
The incident claimed the lives of
three persons and caused several
degrees of injuries on others.
The convict had pleaded not guilty
during his trial but the court
placed heavy reliance on his
recorded interview which he
granted to investigators during
interrogations where he claimed
to be a member of the deadly
Islamic fundamentalist group,
Boko Haram, as well as the
testimonies of ten witnesses
comprising of police officers who
participated in the investigation
and were led in evidence during
the trial.
The prosecution drew the court’s
attention to section 4 (2) of the
Terrorism Act and asked the court
to consider the deaths recorded at
the incident and to pronounce a
death sentence on the accused
but the court declined that
invitation and pointed out that the
convict was charged against
section One of the Terrorism
Prevention Act which provides for
a life sentence upon conviction.
The court also found that the
convict demonstrated no remorse
for his actions throughout the trial
and observed that the souls of
those whose deaths were caused
by his actions are crying out for
substantial justice noting that no
one’s life is more important than
that of others.
Furthermore, the court held that
the convict’s reason for attacking
ThisDay newspapers which he said
was because the newspaper was
denigrating Prophet Mohammed
was unattainable and noted that
as members of the fourth realm,
nobody should be allowed to
muzzle the press, an objective
which the terrorist act was
calculated to achieve .
Pleadings by the defence lawyer
for the court to temper justice
with mercy as the convict is a
youth whose family and aged
parents depend on for their
livelihood fell on deaf ears as the
court slammed a life sentence on
the convict with a fine of One
Hundred and Fifty Million Naira.
His sentence is to be served with
hard labour.
The court further noted that the
state of mind of the convict with
which the terrorism attack was
planned, coordinated and
orchestrated reinforced its
determination to remove him
from the public for life.
To the families of the victims of
the terror act, the court awarded
the sum of One Hundred and Fifty
Million Naira, noting that their
deaths should not just go like that.
This will be forwarded to the
Committee set up by the President
on the resolution of the Boko
Haram insurgents actions for
payment.

The court presided by Justice
Ademola Adeniyi also praised the
Nigeria Police Force for the
expertise and professionalism
demonstrated in the trial which
led to the quality prosecution of
the matter by the team of lawyers
led by Mr. Shuaibu Labaran, a
senior state counsel from Nigeria’s
Ministry of Justice.

The case is the first conviction
recorded under the amended
Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011.

Obama's Havard Professor on his Failures as President

Brazilian Roberto Unger is a
leading political philosopher and
an advocate of progressive politics.
He has taught at Harvard Law
School for about 40 years and US
President Barack Obama was one
of his students in the 1980s.
Asked why he moved from
welcoming Obama's election in
2008 to calling him a "disaster" for
the Democratic party, Mr Unger
told HARDtalk the president had
failed to "come up with a sequel to
Roosevelt's New Deal" of the
1930s.
"There is no project in the United
States responsive to the needs and
aspirations of the broad working
class majority of the country," said
Mr Unger.
"Obama and his collaborators have
mistaken conformism for realism,"
he added.

Rich dad; bullied son

Udo is a middle age man in his mid twenties, brown in complexion and slim, always longing for things that always elude him: being free from oppression, to love and being loved, material ideolology.

Udo was the only son in the family of five, "when will I av a brother," Udo would ask his mum when he was 9-11year old but his mum, a fair and sanctimonous woman, brought up in catholic teachings will pat his shoulder telling him those words she always respond with "don't worry God's time is the best."  Udo would cry all night,praying and asking God for a brother but time wound up and Udo realised that that's God wish- to be the only son.  Udo grew up amongst his younger sisters, they showed him love but sometimes the love has limitations, sometimes they wont share their things with him, "who want," Ada would ask but when he raised his finger up she would snub him and instead give it to the other girls who still have theirs with them.  When Udo turned 12 he started asking for a bicylcle so he could ride around the house just like how his age mates does, 'mama buy me bicyco' he would ask his mum in a broken english but mum will instead scold him to go tell his dad, knowing that he couldn't because he was brought up to fear instead of respect his elders.  Udo throughout his teenage years never get the bike because his nefarous and avaricious dad had never added that to his would-do list. Udo lost almost everything about teenage life- the wholeness of being a teenager: folklores, bicycle riding,playing with other kids of his age.  Mum always tell him that the patient dog eats the fattest bone,but how come I haven't seen even the thinnest bone, he would ask himself.

Life never smiled at him and he never smiled at life, the struggle of adjusting into a normal adolsecent life troubled him when he clocked 19.  He couldn't communicate without fear, as if the other recipient will smack him down with a wood.  It took time for him to kind of readjust but life at home keep getting worst, his dad always look at him as a bad boy just because he hangs around and play football with friends in the evening, his dad never think positively about him- he takes hard drugs, his friends are cultist, all this he will pour out when he came back from his beer parlor. 
Udo started thinking about what the future holds for him growing up being hated by his father and living a quasi house arrest life, he was never allowed to go look for a vocational job or even a paying work where he could earn but always forced to stick around the family business when the university is on holiday or forced to go on holiday by industrial action of the universities, albeit going to his father workshop is not the problem, the problem is that he was never payed or given some kind of allowance to take care of himself, the only option he has was to buy a bread and mineral in the afternoon and save the remaining 165 Naira for himself whilst his father eat good foods and live a good life. 

Udo is now 24, denied the liberty and freedom to move around-he don't dare come bak home by 8:30pm else he will go look for an uncompleted building to go sleep in as he has done in the past, he was never given the opportunity to own or learn how to ride a bicycle, can't ride a motorcyle even when his father has two Jincheng motorcyle he abandoned in his lot, he don't know his medical state as he consume sugary drinks all day long, Udo has been mentally traumatise anytime he thinks about his ugly past and his yet to come future encounters.

Wat advice do you have for Udo?