Saturday, August 31, 2013

Drama as female passenger causes panic aboard Aero flight to Benin

undefinedPassengers were Friday thrown into confusion aboard an Aero Contractors aircraft scheduled to take-off from Lagos to Benin as one of the female passengers started screaming on top of her voice that she was no longer travelling, thus causing panic onboard.
The female passenger whose identity could not be ascertained at press time was said to have been ignored by members of cabin crew and passengers alike but her persistence led to suspicion among the passengers.


The strange behaviour, however led to the delay of the Benin- bound aircraft for two hours as all the passengers were asked to disembark while the plane was screened again.

It was further gathered that all the checked-in luggage were also off-loaded for proper screening by both Aero and Aviation Security, AVSEC, of the Federal Airports authority of Nigeria, FAAN.

But despite the re-screening of the already checked in passengers and their luggage, nothing suspicious was found on board.

It was also learnt that the passenger was handed over to security agents by AVSEC while the other passengers proceeded on the journey to Benin.

According to the source, “All passengers were already onboard and the pilot was preparing to take off before the woman started the strange behaviour.

“At first, no one took her seriously, but when the shouting and soliloquy continued, the passengers became apprehensive and ordered the pilot to abort the flight.

”The situation was not funny at all. In fact, the woman was speaking in a language which no one understood. But I can tell you authoritatively that all the passengers have been taken to Benin with the same aircraft and they landed in the airport safely.

”This was not the first time such an incident would be happening. In fact, it is common among first time travellers but no one knows the motive behind this act. However, I believe the security agents will do their work and reveal what led to the strange behaviour.”


Thursday, August 29, 2013

Supreme Court Affirms Mimiko’s Victory

The Supreme Court has struck out the appeal brought against Ondo state governor, Olusegun Mimiko by the former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Olusola Oke.
 
The Apex Court was unanimous in dismissing the petition for lack of merit.
According to Justice Sylvester Nguta and Mary Odili who delivered the lead judgments in the two cases, both the ACN and PDP candidates could not substantiate their claims, of injection of names into voters register.
Stating that if the names were injected, they could not prove to the court who the persons were and how many times they voted

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Mr. OKEY NDIRIBE Blasts Fani Kayode in his article title:Fani-Kayode and his naked dance.


I HAD intended not to dignify Femi Fani Kayode with any response since he decided to dance naked in the market place. Somebody ought to have reminded him that those who live in glass houses don’t throw stones. He has only himself to blame about his unpalatable past which has  been on display  all over Facebook in the last few days.
In the first place, I no longer have any  iota of doubt that his articles are products of a sick mind. For instance, he claimed that all Igbos are vulgar.
My response to this is that Fani Kayode is not only vulgar and obscene but outrightly morally depraved. How can any sane man disclose the lurid details of his escapades  with the opposite sex on the pages of newspapers all in the name of  proving that he is not a tribalist?
Hear him: “I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Bianca Onoh, an Igbo lady, who many years later married Ojukwu and who is now our Ambassador in Spain. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Chioma Anasoh, another Igbo lady, who I almost took as a second wife. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Adaobi Uchegbu, another Igbo lady, who was exceptionally close to me and who is now at the National Headquarters of the ruling PDP.”
Kayode was also laughable when he wrote: “I was not a tribalist when I wrote an essay, just two years ago, extolling the virtues of Igbo women and telling the world about their sudden and meteoric rise and how far they had gone in the power circles of this country in the last 10 years.”
The  complete  illogicality of his argument was further exposed when he wrote:
“I was not a tribalist when many years ago I attended and gave my life to Christ in a church called TREM, which was established by a great Igbo man by the name of Bishop Mike Okonkwo.”
He further exposed his irrationality by presenting another position which could at best be described as non-sequitor in logic.
According to him: “I was not a tribalist when my grandfather, Justice Victor Adedapo Kayode, taught Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe at Methodist Boys High School in Lagos and when my father, Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode, was appointed as the leader of the predominantly Igbo NCNC in the Western Regional House of Assembly”.
Pray, what is the relationship between Femi’s religious beliefs who once worshipped in Bishop Mike Okonkwo’s church and his attempt to deny that he is a tribalist? Was he trying to say a tribalist could never attend Bishop Okonkwo’s Church or what?
Again,  of what relevance is the fact that his grand father Justice Victor Kayode  taught Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, to the issue at hand?
Another evidence that the man is a very poor example of what a graduate of Cambridge University should be, was his response to some of the rejoinders that have been written about his  “scholarly” articles.
The self-acclaimed blue-blooded Kayode stated:  “The shameless and emotional thrash and disjointed verbiage that have been described as rejoinders so far are just not up to scratch. They are bereft of any scholarship and intellectual content. They also invoke (sic) pity in me for the faceless plebeians that wrote them and those they claim to be speaking for.”
In his effort to whip up anti-Igbo sentiments, he was very effusive in his emotional outbursts. According to him Igbos hate Yorubas  “and only pretend to believe in one Nigeria as long as they can always have their way and laud(sic) it over others. Worst of all, generally speaking, they have no restraining factors because money and the acquisition of wealth is their sole objective and purpose in life.”
He continued: “They have labelled the Yoruba as tribalists and Igbo-haters simply because we have refused to accept their claims to our land and territory and even though we were more charitable, hospitable, accommodating and generous to them than any other nationality in Nigeria after the civil war.
“They have labelled the Northerners as tribalists and Igbo-haters simply because the North has refused to tolerate their excesses and accept their complicated ways. They have labelled the Niger Deltans as tribalists and Igbo-haters simply due to the ”abandoned property issue” and because historically many of them have always resisted the idea of Igbo domination.”
Another evidence which clearly indicates that Femi  is  not only possessed of a confused mind  but lacks good education, came few days after his  first article claiming he had intimate relationships with some Igbo ladies.
The statement which was  issued on  his  behalf  indicated that he never meant to convey  the impression that he had slept with the Igbo ladies whose names he mentioned earlier.
For Femi’s information,  among the entries  for the word ‘intimate’ as contained in the  Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of English is: “having a sexual relationship especially outside marriage”.
So, how can a so-called graduate of Cambridge not know the meaning of words he used in an essay he claims is a scholarly article?
Worse still, what explanation  does he have for engaging in the  use of malapropism like’ invoke’ in the place of  ‘evoke’?
Now to address Femi’s claim that Igbos are not only strangers in Lagos but  have made little or no contribution to the economic development of  the state.

FEMI FANI KAYODE
In the first place, there are historical accounts which indicate that Igbos have been present in Lagos  since the 16th century. The Aros- a sub group among the Igbos- were said to have settled in Oyingbo in those early days.  The Binis who colonized Lagos and the Aros had a long historical  association.  Ancient Igbo history indicates that the Aros occupied a prominent place in the ancient Bini Empire which extended to Lagos and present day Benin Republic.
Secondly, it is an incontrovertible fact that Igbos are heavily involved in the  contemporary commercial life of Lagos State. For instance, it is indisputable that Igbo traders  are not only well represented in all the major markets in the Lagos metropolis, they are clearly dominant in several of them.  Even though ours is a society that lacks records, there is abundant evidence to convince all the Femis of this world if they want the truth on this matter.
For instance, the Minister of  Communications  Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson reportedly  said  not too long ago that the Computer Village Market in Ikeja-Lagos, which is heavily dominated by Igbo traders  generates about  two billion dollars (?N300 billion ?) for the Nigerian economy annually.
Other markets where Igbo traders dominate overwhelmingly  include ASPAMDA Market-which was built on the site of the old International Trade Fair-;  Alaba International Electronics Market and Ladipo  Motor Spare Parts Market. Igbo traders constitute not less than 50 percent in Balogun, Mandilas,  Idumota and other markets within Lagos Island.  Other markets with heavy presence of Igbo traders  in Lagos include  those located in Oshodi, Yaba, Ajegunle and  Agboju.
Although, I cannot give an accurate estimate of what these markets collectively  generate in the economy of Lagos State,  there is no doubt that they generate more than triple what is generated by the Computer Village Market,  that is N900 billion annually.
How can Femi dismiss those who presently generate  a conservative amount of N900 billion annually  in the  economy of Lagos  as inconsequential?
In terms of physical development of Lagos, Igbos have also contributed massively.
Media reports indicate that  most  of Ikeja, Ojo, Anthony, Maryland and Okota were essentially swampy and bushy until Igbos moved in. For instance,  Ekene Dili Chukwu  Motors was  one of the first companies to move into Allen Avenue in the early 1980s .
The late Igwe J.O. Obi,  was by the late 1970s,  reported to be the first to move into Ire Akari Estate in Isolo, when the whole area was a complete bush.
He  was also  said to have moved his company, Interland Transport, into the Amuwo Adofin Industrial Estate first and brought telephone lines there when it was a vast area of sandy-muddy soil. Presently,  a well-developed industrial estate sits in that area. Igbos in fact developed Isolo and Okota areas; they single handedly developed the whole of Olodi-Apapa, Coker and Ojo areas.
Indeed, the  history of  the economic development of Lagos nay that of the entire country cannot be complete without a prominent mention of the role of the Igbos.
In case Femi doesn’t know, the likes of the  Late Sir Louis Ojukwu
contributed immensely to the development of Lagos. He was the founding president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange  which still has its headquarters in Lagos.
It is also worthy  of note that during Queen Elizabeth’s first visit to Nigeria in the year 1956, Sir Louis Ojukwu  made his Rolls Royce car available for the Queen’s carriage as the Nigerian government could not afford a Rolls Royce at that time.
Despite their  massive contribution to the economy of Lagos State, Igbos have never at anytime laid claim to ownership of Lagos land.  The phrase “no man’s land” which Femi accused Igbos of using to refer to Lagos may have been a fall-out of the fact that Lagos was Nigeria’s federal capital until 1991. It is within this context that I believe former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu used this phrase.
Just like Abuja of today, a large chunk of Lagos land belongs to the Federal Government up till now. Indeed, it was the status of Lagos as a federal capital for many years  that attracted large numbers of Igbos to settle there.  Natives of Lagos just like those of Abuja today, lost a lot of their land during this period.  It might interest Femi to know that many Nigerians refer to today’s FCT with that same phrase.
Femi exhibited his Igbophobia in the manner he twisted the nation’s history as it relates to the crisis that led to the civil war. His narration of that dark era of our nation’s history reflects his belief that the Igbos were to blame for what befell them.
However, the truth of the matter is that the January 15, 1966  coup d’état was a spill over of the political crisis which erupted in the Western Region.  Indeed, Femi’s father Chief Remi Fani Kayode played a major role in that crisis as Deputy Premier of Western Region under Sir Ladoke Akintola.
The crisis actually began in 1962  when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was jailed for treason. It got worse with the massively rigged  federal elections of 1964 and the  equally rigged Western Regional elections of 1965.  The Awolowo /SLA Akintola political feud was at the epicenter of this crisis which eventually led to  the declaration of a state of emergency in the region.
The officer corps of the military  was dominated by Igbos at the time  the soldiers intervened to sack a very corrupt civilian administration.  It is therefore not surprising that among the five majors who planned and executed the military putsch of January  1966, four  were Igbos and one was Yoruba. The young officers had actually planned a revolution. Some accounts of the incident even indicated that they had planned to free Awolowo from Prison and hand over the  reins of government to him. However, they failed to accomplish their mission.
The five Majors  as documented by many authors were Emmanuel Ifejuna,  Chukwuma Kaduna  Nzeogwu,  Christian Anuforo, Timothy Onwatuegwu and Wale Ademoyega.
Some authors also mentioned Major Donatus Okafor as one of the plotters.
There is no doubt that given the pattern of killings they carried out, the impression was created that it was an Igbo agenda to seize power by force.  However,  it took Major Wale Ademoyega, the only  officer among the five -who survived  the civil  war-to debunk the propaganda that what they executed was an Igbo coup. All these are contained in Ademoyega’s book entitled “Why  We Struck”.
Assuming, Femi was right,  that it was a coup carried out by Igbo officers who perhaps hired Ademoyega to cover up,  shouldn’t  Murtala Mohammed and his comrades  who carried out the counter coup of July 29  1966, have been contented  with slaughtering the Head of State Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi and  almost all the Igbo officers in the Nigerian Army in just one night?  What was the justification in extending the killings to hundreds of thousands of the Igbo civilian population including pregnant women and children?  Femi’s belief that the Igbos deserved to be slaughtered like chicken because they were loud in their celebration of the January  1966 coup reveals his deep-seated hatred for the Igbos.
Finally, if the Igbos who were in majority in  the National Council for Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) were so bad as Femi painted them in his write-ups, why did his father,  the late Remi Fani- Kayode defect from  the Action Group to the NCNC in 1959 and remained there  until the collapse of the first republic?
Why did his father rebel against Awolowo and went ahead to serve as Deputy Premier of Western Region under the much demonized  Akintola?
Mr.  OKEY NDIRIBE, a  journalist, wrote from Abuja

Monday, August 26, 2013

Obiano emerges winner of APGA Anambra primary election.

After ten hours at the Women Development Center in Awka, Mr. Willie Obiano, from Anambra North Senatorial Zone emerged the governorship candidate with 870 votes.

He was closely followed by Honourable Uche Ekwunife who polled 150 votes.
Before the voting commenced, one of the aspirants, Mr. Patrick Obianwu, announced his withdrawal again from the contest and urged his supporters to go for his counterpart, Mr. Willie Obiano.
Chairman of the electoral panel, Mr. Martin Agbaso, commended the resilience of the aspirants saying each one of them is capable of winning the general election but was only necessary that the best be chosen.
The aspirants included Honourable Uche Ekwunife, Paul Odenigbo, Honorable Emeka Nwogbo, John Nwosu and Willie Obiano. Prince John Emeka had earlier withdrawn in protest. Voting commenced.
While many commended the transparency and credibility of the party, there were others who condemned the whole process citing irregularity in the delegate list and faulty accreditation process.
The state governor, Mr. Peter Obi who had always wished to hand over power to a successor from the north in the spirit of equity and fairness, urged the candidate and the party to work as a team and deliver Anambra for APGA come November 16.

President Goodluck Jonathan sacks the Minister of Youth Development

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday sacked the Minister of Youth Development, Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, from the cabinet.

However, a statement signed by Special Assistant (Media), Sam Nwaobasi, on behalf the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, did not give reasons for the termination of the minister’s appointment.


Jonathan sacks Minister of Youth DevelopmentThe statement entitled: “Termination of the appointment of the Honourable Minister of Youth Development” reads: “His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR President and Commander –in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria has relieved Inuwa Abdul-kadir, Esq of his appointment as Honourable Minister of Youth Development with effect from the 26th of August, 2013.

“The former minister is to hand over to the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Youth Development.

“Mr. President expresses appreciation to the former minister for the time he put in the services of the nations and wishes him success in his future endeavours.”

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Anambra: Andy Uba Wins PDP Factional Primary Election

 

Sen. Andy UbaSen. Andy Uba on Saturday emerged the winner of one of the two factional primary elections of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Awka for the Anambra Governorship election.

Uba won with 645 votes, while Emma Anosike came second with 110 votes.

The other contestants for the primary election were Patrick Ugboma, 88 votes, Jerry Ugokwe, 86, and Mike Okoye, 22.

There were a total of 15 aspirants who contested the one hour primaries.

Speaking after the exercise, Uba expressed satisfaction toward the peaceful conduct of the election and commended the delegates for their peaceful conduct.

Also, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in-charge of Zone 9, Tambara Mohamed, told newsmen that the state was peaceful and the police provided adequate security for the primaries.

Meanwhile, the John Emeakayi factional primaries scheduled to hold at Dr Alex Ekwueme Square was still in progress.

Boy flies Arik Air from Benin to Lagos, hiding in tyre hole


A teenager beat airline and airport security at the Benin Airport and sneaked into the tyre compartment of a Lagos-bound Arik plane, where he flew safely to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on Saturday morning.
Stowaway: Pix 1: A teenage boy, Daniel Ihekina, who hid in the tyre hole of Arik Air  flying from Benin to Lagos. Pix 2: The boy being led away by security agents.There was, however, pandemonium at the airside of the Lagos airport when passengers disembarking from the aircraft saw the teenager as he emerged from the undercarriage (aircraft tyre hole) to join fellow travellers.
The adolescent stowaway, identified as Daniel Ihekina, was immediately arrested by security officials at the airport.
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and Arik Air confirmed the incident.
Although the General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said full and urgent investigation had commenced into the mysterious circumstances that led to the huge breach in airport and airline security, the situation has continued to beat the imagination of aviation authorities in the country.
The situation, which has become a major source of worry among the authorities, has also led to a blame game between FAAN and Arik.
FAAN, in a statement on Saturday, said it held “Arik Air liable for the circumstances leading to the stowaway of a teenage boy on its aircraft at the Benin Airport.”
In a statement signed by Dati, FAAN, said, “Arik Air acted with impunity by not stopping the aircraft to check when the crew and ground personnel’s attention was drawn to an abnormality on the tarmac.”
According to the FAAN spokesman, the procedure for such infraction is for the crew to abort the flight and return to the apron for check-up.
He blamed the airline for the alleged impunity, warning that the airport authority would not tolerate such infraction from any operator.
He said, “This is arrant display of impunity. The aircraft should not have taxied further, but return to the apron until a proper check is carried out on all parts of the aircraft. FAAN will not tolerate such impunity henceforth from Arik or any airline. Any violation would be met with applicable sanctions.
Dati, however, said the teenager was already giving useful information to unravel this ‘misnomer.’
In a swift reaction, Arik, in a statement, blamed FAAN for the huge breach in security, noting that the incessant cases of security breaches at the nation’s airport had become a major source of concern to the airline.
The statement quoted Arik’s Managing Director, Mr. Chris Ndulue, as saying, “We are worried by the incessant security lapses at our airports. We are appealing to the management of FAAN to immediately address the problem.
“The management of Arik Air has expressed shock over the incident, wondering how the teenager beat the aviation security personnel at the Benin Airport to get to the runway.”
Arik said its pilot had reported to the control tower the presence of a strange boy in the bush about 200 – 300 metres at the end of runway before leaving the airport.
Ndulue said the control tower had told its pilot that they were sending security men to the place to arrest the boy.
Ndulue, however, said, “As the captain was making his final turn, preparatory for take-off, a cabin crew called his attention to the information by some of the passengers that they saw a boy running towards the airplane. The First Officer confirmed that they had observed it earlier and alerted the control tower which responded that they had sent the patrol team to arrest the boy. The captain again reported to the control tower and was informed that the situation was under control and that he had been cleared for take-off.
“On arrival at the domestic wing of MMA, Lagos, a teenage boy, who apparently had sneaked into the aircraft main wheel well jumped out and was arrested by Arik personnel and handed over to FAAN security.”
The Arik aircraft with registration number, 5N-MJG Flight 44, which left the Benin Airport around 9am for Lagos, was said to have on board top officials of the Edo State Government.
A passenger aboard the flight said, “We felt the signs in Benin when the plane was about leaving and as it was moving slowly, we heard a loud noise as if the tyre crushed somebody on the ground and we all started shouting. It means the boy was already inside that tyre compartment before we left. We left for Lagos, but when we landed at Lagos Airport, the boy came out from the tyre hole, everybody started shouting.
“But speaking seriously, this shows that we have a serious problem as regards securing our airports. This is a serious security breach. If that boy was carrying bomb, it means he would have succeeded in blowing up the plane. How can somebody be in an aircraft without being detected; we are in trouble in this country.”
Though no official at the Benin Airport volunteered comment on the issue, it was gathered that the teenager may have gained entrance into the airport from the Akenzua road axis, where perimeter fencing is non-existent at different points.
In 2010, a desperate young Nigerian, Emeka Okechukwu Okeke, who tried to smuggle himself to the United States, died in the tyre compartment of a Delta Airlines aircraft and was discovered on arrival in New York.
Okeke, sneaked into the place at Lagos airport.
In 2012, the dead body of a young Nigerian man was also discovered in the wheel well, the undercarriage compartment of a domestic airline, after it returned from South Africa.

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