NIGERIA: UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FALLOUT: 7 fans die celebrating Chelsea

Seven Chelsea fans in Lagos were burnt to death on Tuesday in a fatal auto crash at Ojota shortly after the Chelsea's remarkable victory over Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League semi-final cracker. The fans in a jubilant mood had already moved out of the Ojota motor garage to celebrate Chelsea's victory when a bus carrying about 11 persons suddenly somersaulted while on top speed and immediately went aflame. The passengers in the bus could not escape from the burning vehicle as they were burnt beyond recognition.

According to an eye witness, passers by couldn't move near the bus, owing to the heat generated by the flames. The people at the arena, though helpless managed to pull out four of the passengers who were still alive and later took them to hospital.

A man who identified himself simply as Kasim alleged that the passengers inside the bus were celebrating Chelsea's victory before the ugly incident. He said those in the mini- bus attempted to escape but were trapped. Kasim said, at least, seven persons were burnt to death. Kasim alleged that the driver was on top speed when the accident occurred. He also said fire balls and smoke filled the air as the vehicle and some of the unfortunate passengers smothered in the flame.

A driver, who identified himself as Amadi, alleged that what worsened the plight of the burnt vehicle was unavailability of water to put out the fire. Amadi said that sympathizers used fire extinguishers to douse the flame, but to no avail.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Jaiyeoba Joseph, a Superintendent of Police, while confirming the story to Daily Sunsports in his office, said the vehicle was coming from Ojota moving towards Maryland Bridge when it somersaulted.

Joseph said the incident occurred about 11 pm. He said only two persons died. He also said the driver and conductor of the vehicle escaped from the scene and gave the registration number of the bus as XP 256 KRD. He further said policemen attached to the Rapid Respond Squad were later at the scene of the accident. “I was told about the accident. The bus somersaulted and caught fire. I can only confirm that two persons died in the accident. The driver and conductor of the bus escaped,” he said .

Meanwhile, in another development, tragedy struck at Shasha area, in Lagos on Tuesday when a man was stabbed to death over Chelsea versus Barcelona FC football match. The deceased was identified as John Idoko, 23. The Jurist gathered that Idoko and other youths were watching the football match at a viewing centre- cum-bar at Sikiru Bus stop, Boundary Road, Shasha when the fight broke out between the fans of the two clubs.
A man, who identified himself as Kayode Olumide, alleged that the fans attacked their rivals with fists, broken bottles and woods at about 10 pm. Many of the fans were injured.

Olumide also disclosed that it was Chelsea fans that first abused Barcelona fans. At a point, the rival fans could not tolerate the insult. Fight broke out and people in the area scampered for safety. Olumide disclosed that the fans damaged several items. The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Jaiyeoba Joseph, a Superintendent of Police said the killer (s) remained unknown but detectives were still trailing them. Joseph said the fans also destroyed several items at the bar. He said it was a makeshift bar which could best be described as a tent. The police spokesman also said Idoko was from Benue. State.

War crime: Court delivers verdict on Taylor, guilty of war crimes

A special court will deliver its verdict on Thursday on whether Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor is guilty of crimes against humanity by supporting and directing rebels, who pillaged, raped and murdered during the Sierra Leone civil war.

Reuters said the verdict will be the first passed on a former head of state by The Hague's international courts in what human rights advocates say is a reminder that even the most powerful do not enjoy impunity.

Yugoslav ex-president Slobodan Milosevic died in The Hague in 2006 before the war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia could reach a verdict.
The one in Taylor's case, the first test of international justice against a former head of state, will be watched closely in much of Africa and beyond.

Taylor, who was president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003, is accused of backing and giving orders to Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in the 11-year civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone that killed some 50,000 people.
The prosecution says the RUF undermined a ceasefire agreement in 1999, prolonging the war for another three years, and that Taylor financed their war effort from the proceeds of "blood diamonds" mined illegally in Sierra Leone.

"The Taylor verdict is a watershed moment, however it turns out," said Richard Dekker, head of the international justice programme at Human Rights Watch.
"As president, Taylor is believed to have been responsible for so much murder and mayhem which unfolded in Sierra Leone. His was a shadow that loomed across the region, in the Ivory Coast, in Sierra Leone and Liberia," Dekker added.

Taylor has denied the charges.

The  ex-president, Charles Taylor was convicted Thursday of war crimes for arming Sierra Leone's rebels in return for 'blood diamonds' during the 1991-2001 civil war.
"The trial chamber finds you guilty of aiding and abetting of all these crimes," AFP news agency quoted presiding judge Richard Lussick as saying at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

The verdict was the first against a former head of state by a world court since the Nuremberg trials.

B-R-E-A-K-I-N-G N-E-W-S: Bomb blast hits Thisday office in Abuja

A loud explosion rocked an area  Abuja on Thursday followed by smoke and ambulances headed in the direction of the blast, with injuries reported.
Reports have it that the bomb blast in Abuja Thisday office in Jabi was carried out by a suicide bomber who drove into the media house before detonating the bomb hence  blowing away the building ‘s roof.

But Mr Yushau Shuaib  a National Emergency Management Agency spokesman said the blast “occurred inside the premises of a national newspaper,” adding that “a preliminary investigation seems to indicate that the explosive device was planted somewhere within the premises, not likely a case of suicide bombing.”


An AFP correspondent heard the blast and saw ambulances heading towards a district where a bus station and newspaper office are located.
A police spokesman said “we heard something like that happened, but we don’t have the details yet.”
A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency said “it’s true there was an explosion at Jabi (district).”

“NEMA officials are on the ground,” said Yushau Shuaib. “They are trying to move those injured to the hospitals, but we don’t have any information on casualties yet.”

Reagan Ufomba reveals more on OUK

Reagan Ufomba, the defeated apga candidate in the last governorship polls in Abia has called on EFCC to fast track the trail of the former governor of Abia state Orji Uzor Kalu. In widely circulated statement from his hideout as he is been trailed by the police over the money he borrowed for his campaign, said that he is amazed that EFCC is pretending about Kalu's case. According to Reagan, Kalu looted the funds of Abia during the eight years of misrule which plunged Abia into a debt of N28 billion.

The ogoni born politician who claims to be from Abia said that now a new chairman of EFCC is on board he should act on Kalu's case alongside ex governors so as to restore confidence in the operation of the agency. Reagan maintained that Kalu whose businesses are going down, should be treated like Ibori who is in jail now. Ufomba said that as a special assistant to Kalu during his tenure he is aware that Kalu bought printing machines for Abia Newspapers which later relocated to lagos to start the SUN Newspapers.

As he puts it, no matter how long it takes Kalu must go to jail. He lamented that Kalu and the mother made it impossible for Kalu's wife to act as first lady through their diabolical means which made the lady mad till date.

OLD BENDE IN DIASPORA FORUM ISSUES 48 HR ULTIMATUM TO ABIA STATE GOVERNMENT TO REPORT DANIEL UBANI TO DANISH EMBASSY

Worried by the increasing number of fugitive NGWA PEOPLE, we are constrained to issue a 48 hour ultimatum to the government of Abia State to report Obioma Daniel Ubani to Danish Embassy in Nigeria or watch us take laws into our hands.

Obioma was accessory to and most of the kidnap incidents that happened within the Obingwa area of Abia State where he led a group of unscrupulous and dissident NGWA elements to cause hurt, untold hardship and untimely death of others.

At the heat of intervention by the Military, Obioma escaped through the help of notable NGWA politicians, though his family house and those of his immediate co – conspirators were torched. It was also gathered that this Abaribe’s cousin was quickly sponsored by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu and some others to flee the country and invariably escape being brought to justice.

Obioma who currently resides in Denmark with personal phone number +49170237608 and email obi@ubani.info has been paid heavily by Abaribe and other authors of confusion to destabilize the government of Abia State, cause disaffection, rancor and acrimony amongst Igbos. He was basically directed to set up social network pages like Abia Awakening, Abia Tower and Abia Peoples Voice to achieve this purpose.

We as a people are committed to unity and can no longer watch this fugitive NGWA SON further truncate the peace in our State. He is either called to order, prosecuted for his involvement in kidnapping or we would be compelled to take justice to him.

Character of a typical ONYE NGWA revealed

Recall that the parable of talents that was told by Christ in the bible. Assuming they were Nigerians, it would be very easy to identify which among them is Ngwa. The one who hid his talent, accusing his master of reaping where he did not sow and how he is known to be a high – handed man must be NGWA. Ideally, ONYE NGWA looks at everybody around him with clinical suspicion, is always in the habit of betraying trust and deriding the confidence reposed in him. Just imagine this:

1. They will sell a portion of land to you and take a one off fee. As soon as they sense your business is sprawling, they would begin to demand for all sorts of miscellaneous fees including mandating you to contribute to the burial of their late parents, sponsoring their children’s trade efforts and funny enough demanding you contribute to their acquisition of new wives. The Nigerian with most no. of wives is NGWA not because he is enterprising but because he holds a degree in covetousness.
2. He politely requests that you give him a portion of the same land he sold to you (they sell lands more than any other group in Nigeria, that is why they have sold off everywhere in Aba and usually feel comfortable being tenants to their former tenants) for farming. Several years after, by reason of death or relocation; your children or relations will fight with their last breathe because you were generous to a cunning, crafty and lazy friend.

THEY ARE NATURALLY LAZY
Their women give themselves so cheaply to petty material things. It is only in NGWA LAND that a sixty year old woman will still be bleaching and proudly tell you that her IKO (boyfriend) works IN A COMPANY. These companies are medium scale blue chip companies that employ them (NDI NGWA) as casual workers, security men and unskilled labourers. They are not interested in adventure. If you argue they are not lazy, how come with massive markets in Ariaria, Ahia Ohuru, Ekeoha and Cemetry; Ngwa men are missing in action. What popular shop in any of these markets is owned by ONYE NGWA? How come they are always comfortable as menial workers and unadventurous fellows? Mbaise is popular in Aba for being the best butchers, Enugu controls the cattle market; Orlu holds sway in drugs and patent medicine, Onitsha is leading in importation, food vending and tobacco business, Ideato are gurus in tourism, Transport and Haulage, NDI OGBO had long made a mark in second hand clothes and importation etc. Just where does the lazy NGWA MAN come in? No where!

NDI NGWA ARE CHEATS AND UNFAIR BUSINESS PEOPLE
Their brothers (?) from UKWA would attest to this fact. NDI NGWA have always given the impression that the struggle is for UKWA NGWA. This false spirit of camaraderie fizzles out as soon as the spoils of war arrive. It automatically becomes OHA NGWA, systematically deleting the UKWA and replacing it with OHA. There will be no need overemphasizing this age long fact. See the page on THE FARCE CALLED UKWA NGWA. Have you wondered why of all the five or more times given UKWA NGWA the opportunity to produce the Deputy Governor, no single UKWA man had ever made the list. That is the NGWA man for you. Your union with them thrives as long as they are calling the shots or cheating you. Watch out, the man who you meet in a bar, who shamelessly begs you to buy him a bottle of beer is ONYE NGWA. That is their style.

THEY ARE NOT ENTERPRISING
It is believed that geographically and culturally, Aba metropolis belongs to NDI NGWA. In the same ESAU SPIRIT, they long traded their birthright over a pot of stew. Today, the docility of the NGWA MAN is made manifest with the composition of ownership and control of resources in NGWA LAND. In case you did not know:
1. All the hotels within Aba metropolis are owned by NDI OHUHU (a derogatory name coined by NGWA people for non – indigenes which unreasonably include UKWA people).
2. The tallest building in Asa Road is owned by a rich business man from Ideato Imo State
3. The best and most sophisticated Pharmaceutical shop in Aba is owned by a non – indigene
4. 98% of all fuel stations in NGWA LAND are owned by non – indigenes
5. It is hard to see a well equipped hospital that is 100% controlled by an NGWA MAN.
6. All they do is to hallucinate over how someday NDI OHUHU would abandon their properties for them, reenacting sad tales of the Nigerian Civil War

THEY ARE CUNNING AND CRAFTY
If you like, call them tricksters. Remember the OTU ONU debacle. Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe had failed in his bid to outshine Orji Uzor his master, the then Governor. Abaribe soon coined the famous OTU ONU (meaning he is advocating for a single term for political aspirants). That was his own method of displaying the cunning character of the NGWA MAN. He was given a single term as Senator. At the expiration of his first term, he also cunningly returned. Even when an UKWA man Chris Nkwonta reminded him of his pact with the people; Abaribe did everything (yes, everything) to return to the Senate. Where lies the honor of NDI NGWA?

Some have jocularly referred to them as being generous. That is being economical with the truth because by the time NDI OGBO were perfecting the art of importing second hand clothes and stockfish, when ANAMBRA people were dominating the tobacco business, just like the Maduakos were building hotels, NDI NGWA were land speculators and sellers; willfully taking the rear seat in the scheme of things. That is their style of generosity. Interestingly, they sold off even their OKPULOR and gardens to a more introspective NDI OHUHU. The result is what you see today – they have been relegated to the background.

BREAKING NEWS: SENATOR NKECHI NWAOGU TAKES SENATOR ABARIBE TO THE CLEANERS OVER SPONSORSHIP OF ABIA AWAKENING, ABIA PEOPLE’S VOICE etc

It was a show of shame yesterday at the local wing of Nnamdi Azikiwe Int’l Airport Abuja as an obviously enraged Senator Nkechi Nwaogu enagaged in verbal war with Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe over the sponsorship of politics of calumny, hate and acrimony using Abia Awakening, Abia People’s Voice and other dirty social network pages.

Nwaogu described Abaribe as a greedy, gluttonous and violent politician who has paid his OBINGWA kinsmen heavily to use Abia Awakeining and others to promote hate in Abia State. The Senator from Osisioma challenged Abaribe to name one single OSISIOMA person in that their Abia Awakening.

She reminded Abaribe that blackmail will not work for him again as his OTU ONU outfit is known for political violence and rancor. Nwaogu threatened to report Abaribe to NGWA traditional rulers over what she called his (Abaribe’s) insatiable quest for power.

Abaribe sensing that the game is over, asked that the matter be discussed in private. It took the intervention of the diminutive, big headed UMUOSU (land of outcasts) man – Uzor Azubuike to avert physical war.

OUR OBSERVATIONS:
1. The sponsorship of Abia Awakening and the others by NGWA PEOPLE is no longer in doubt
2. All the noise about non – performance is a ploy to blackmail the govt. and cause disaffection
3. Nkechi Nwaogu is simply distracting from the main issue. We expect her to use her personal facebook page to denounce the miscreants in Abia Awakening
4. Senator Abaribe is truly an author of confusion but he must be kind enough to tell us his other co – conspirators – in – chief.
5. The war of attrition being promoted by OHA NGWA will consume them first.
6. Abians are watching with keen interest as the plot thickens

Owerri indigenes protest land acquisition by Imo govt

Scores of angry Owerri indigenes have shifted their homes to “Area K”, a piece of land, near the World Bank Housing Estate, which Imo State government allegedly appropriated to itself without due consultation.
Similarly, the indigenes yesterday applied the same system in respect of the former Timber Market along Wetheral Road, Owerri, which was returned to Umuoyima people by the immediate past Ikedi Ohakim’s administration.

Already, the villagers have built make-shift tents in the open air, where they eat and sleep, as well as hoisted banners and placards that expressed their grief.
Some of the placards read: “We need our land not compensation or relocation”, “Owelle, leave our inheritance alone”, “We have given so much to Imo State”, “Rochas: A Governor or land speculator”, Owelle nakwa echeki ihe ime ga Nde Owerri (Owelle recount what you are doing to Owerri people)” and “Area K is our property”.

Some of the indigenes of Owerri, including Sir Macdonald Ebere, Chief John Igwe and Obinga Emmanuel Mbanu, who spoke to newsmen, recalled that previous administrations never tampered or confiscated the people’s land indiscriminately without consultation and dialogue.

Appealing to Governor Rochas Okorocha to rescind his decision to take the land by force, the people also reasoned that doing so was a serious violation of their fundamental human rights.
Meanwhile, the state government has revoked hundreds of land allocations made to some beneficiaries by previous administrations in three layouts.

Northern CAN backs Oritsejafor; asks Christians to defend selves

Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the 19 Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, yesterday said it was in support of the National President of the association, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor,  urging Christians in the country to defend themselves against provocations by religious fanatics in the north.
Northern CAN said  Oritsejafor’s advice to Christians on self defence was twisted to mean that he was encouraging them to revenge the spate of bombings and killings against them in some parts of the North, saying it was not what he meant.

New General Secretary of association, Prof. Daniel Babayi, who clarified this position while taking over from Elder Saidu Dogo  said: “Oritsejafor never said that Christians should carry weapons and go and attack anybody. He did not even say that Christians should retaliate. He said we should defend ourselves”.
Babayi, who lamented  problems faced by Christians in the North, said, they had been going through oppression, subjugation and attacks.

According to him, “it is even worse now. The Kingdom of Satan has declared war on us. It was the same with Jesus. He was ridiculed, spat at, insulted and beaten up. They did not stop there. They killed him. We cannot be immuned from these experiences. But the day they killed Jesus, that was the day the kingdom of Satan suffered defeat. He rose from death and declared victory. There is no doubt that we shall win. We must be strong and prayerful.
“Northern CAN will continue to insist on good governance and the rule of law.  We are going to speak against injustice and corruption. But most of all, we shall harp on the need for our members to receive genuine salvation.”

Commenting on the CAN Preside the backing of the Bible as well as the 1999 Constitution. “The authority for that is in Romans Chapter 13 verses 1 to 3 which says, ‘’we must respect constituted authority.’’
We are making use of the constitution given to us by the nation, called Nigeria.
It says, everybody has a right to defend himself or herself; his or her property This is what the CAN Prsident said. But sometimes people want to manipulate things to suit their themselves and their causes. They are saying that he has been telling us to go and revenge; go and attack. No! What he has said is exactly what the Bible tells us to go and do.’’
Babayi, a professor of Theology who was the immediate past CAN Chairman in Adamawa State, however, praised the founders of CAN which started as northern Christian forum in Jos, Plateau State,  64 years ago in 1948.

According to him, the forum was rived in 1964 and then formally registered as the Christian Association of Northern Nigeria, CANN, in 1974, before the formation of the umbrella CAN in 1975.
The outgoing General Secretary, Elder Dogo, had earlier called on all members to extend the same cooperation the past executive had received to the new helmsmen.

South-East politicians intensify moves for Igbo presidency

THERE are political moves by the South-East zone to ensure that somebody from the area becomes the country’s president in 2015.

Political bigwigs from the zone, including First Republic Aviation Minister, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, and former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, among others, met behind closed-doors at the weekend to evolve strategies that would enable it actualise this objective.
The Juristlaws gathered that the major agenda of the meeting was the issue of Igbo presidency and how to get Ndigbo united on the project.

To this end, the zone is finalising arrangements to start an Igbo Corporate campaign that would take it to all the zones and groups in the country to let them know why the Igbo should be allowed to produce the next president and solicit their support towards actualising this course.
Ezeife told The Guardian that equity, justice and fairness demand that the South-East zone produce the president by 2015 or whenever Jonathan completes his tenure.
He observed that the only way to destabilise the country is to deny the Igbo their turn of producing the next president of the country.

He said: “Injustice creates problems, and if you tell a people that they do not count and annoy them beyond boundary, they would react. If you deny the South-East their turn, the reaction would be enormous and even the elite may not control it”.
According to him, by 2015, five out of the six geo-political zones must have produced the president and only the South-East has not.

He went on: “This is an argument that is very straight. Any way you look at it, it is the turn of the South-East to produce the next president. Let the South-East take its turn after which we can now say no more rotation or zoning. Let it now be on merit.
“In the South-East, we inherited egalitarianism from our grandparents and that social system has mobility in it.”

He contended that no other part of Nigeria has demonstrated vested interest in Nigeria than the South-East, dismissing insinuations that the Igbo, if allowed to occupy the number one position, would break up the country.

He added: “Since after the civil war, the Igbo are the only people who voted for one Nigeria and embraced it in its totality. That is why they have their investment all over the country. Do you think that after all these huge investments the Igbo have made, they will think of dividing the country? It is a propaganda that other zones are using against the Igbo. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is not different from the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and other forces fighting against injustice.”

Breaking News: Anti-Farouk Lawan Protesters march to the National Assembly

A group of anti- Farouk Lawan Committee report protesters in branded T-sh...irts and caps seen marching to the National Assembly on Tuesday morning. Despite obstructing traffic on the Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja, the group which calls itself The "National Youth Movement For The Removal of Fuel Subsidy" enjoys police protection and music from a band. The group is protesting against the Farouk Lawan Committee that uncovered the N 2.3 trillion fuel subsidy fraud!

However, the pro-Dieziani protesters at the National assembly gate have attracted a large number of police, SSS officials and bomb squad.

More details as the story unfolds 

IMO STATE THE NEW HEAVEN FOR KIDNAPPERS

Kidnappers Of Ex-Minister Ihenacho Demand N20m Ransom: 

Kidnappers of the former Minister of Interior, Captain Emmauel Iheanacho and Mrs Rachael Nkwuorgu have demanded for a ransom payment of N20m for each of them.

Meanwhile fresh facts have emerged on the circumstance that led to the kidnap of the former minister and Mrs. Nkwuorgu by the gunmen.

LEADERSHIP investigations revealed that the gunmen numbering over five and armed with sophisticated weapons had targeted  Mrs.  Racheal Nkwuorgu from Ogbaku in Mbaitolu Local Government Area of the state, who returned from the United States for a funeral ceremony.

But sensing that their vehicle was not moving fast enough to accomplish their mission, they laid ambush at Orogwe, along Onitsha/Owerri road where they stopped one Mr. Udochukwu Okpe who was driving in a Suv-jeep at about 7pm.

An eye witness said that the kidnappers jumped inside the jeep after forcing Okpe out, and tried unsuccessfully to get away with the car which has a security device that restricts usage of the vehicle to only the owner.

And seized with rage, the hoodlums shot Udochukwu on the head.  He died before help could come his way.  The kidnappers thereafter, flagged down another vehicle that took them to their prime target at Ogbaku.

Another eye witness at Ogbaku told LEADERSHIP that the gunmen deceived Mrs. Nkworgu, by claiming to be policemen sent by their purported superior officers to bring her to a nearby police station.

A man who suspected foul play opted to accompany Nkworgu to the police station, but he was reportedly shot dead by the kidnappers for allegedly preventing them from carrying out their operation. It was at this point that the kidnappers took Nkworgu to an unknown destination alongside the retired navy captain, who came on a condolence visit to the home of the Nkworgus.

Culled: Leadership