SHOCKING: Evangelical Church Minister Jailed For Sexually Assaulting His Family
A former evangelical church minister who subjected his family to long term cruelty and sex abuse was jailed for 15 years today by a judge who called him ‘bullying and tyrannical.’
The 40-year-old had been convicted earlier this month of raping his wife and stepdaughter and being cruel to both his stepchildren between 1995 and 2010.
At one stage, early on in the man’s relationship with the mother and two children, social services were involved with the family - but did not detect what was going on.
Jailing the man at Gloucester Crown Court today Judge Jamie Tabor QC said that by the time the man married his wife he had already developed into ‘a controlling husband and stepfather.’
Judge Tabor said the man had behaved in a tyrannical manner to the wife and her son and daughter, who were very young when the relationship started in 1995.
'You overcame your wife to the extent that she just sat there while you bullied your stepchildren mentally and physically,' said the judge.
'The so called discipline you imposed on them was no more than an excuse for you to lose your temper and beat them.'
The judge said the offences had gone on for a ‘long period of time’ - about 15 years - and it was regrettable that when social services were involved with the family at a relatively early stage the man’s behaviour was not uncovered.
'By the time your stepdaughter was 16 you were raping her on a regular basis and subjecting her to threats of violence if she disclosed what was going on.
'You were still enjoying a sexual relationship with your wife but during the latter stages of the relationship she became increasingly reluctant - and you became more and more demanding and forceful. On at least two occasions you simply raped her when she refused to have sex with you.
'You have left in your wake some deeply troubled people. You betrayed the trust instilled in marriage by raping your wife. The two children may never get over what took place during your time in their family. '
The man had denied 13 charges of sexual and psychological abuse of his family but was found guilty of all but one charge. The charges covered a 15-year period from March 1995 until January 2010 when the children were growing up.
During the trial at Gloucester Crown Court the prosecution said the man, a regular churchgoer who has previously been a minister, had a ‘particular understanding of the Scriptures’ which made him believe what he was doing was justifiable.
He had denied two charges of cruelty to the two children over a 15-year period, three charges of raping his wife, two of raping his stepdaughter, two of sexual activity with his stepdaughter, two of assaulting her by penetration and two of causing or inciting her to engage in sexual activity.
Ian Fenny, prosecuting, said 'This defendant used his particular understanding of the scriptures as a way of determining how his wife should behave towards him.
'He had clear ideas of obedience - that his wife should be obedient to her husband and the children to their father.
'He was of the view that by the time the lady became his wife there was effectively a Biblical precedent to say a wife would always have to submit herself to her husband and if she did not she committed a sin.
'There were many occasions when she did not want to engage in sexual intercourse with him but did so - where he overstepped the mark and pressed himself upon her sexually when she manifestly did not want it.'
Mr Fenny alleged that as well as inflicting physical punishment on the children and raping the girl he would also make them perform menial tasks - such as getting down on hands and knees to clean up specks of dirt left behind on the carpet after it had been vacuumed.
The man also used to wake up his stepdaughter in the early hours of the morning by throwing water on her face.
'Their lives were a total Victorian nightmare,” said Mr Fenny. 'This man established himself as a controlling Martinet - it is an old fashioned word but it describes how he behaved. He wanted everything done his particular way - how the house was kept, how people looked (in particular his partner), how she dressed, what everyone in the family could and couldn’t do.'
Mr Fenny said his behaviour towards his family was seen by another family who attended the same church and they had been appalled.
In 2004 there was a ‘rumble’ that something was going on in the family and the school and social services became involved, said Mr Fenny. But it went no further.
However, in 2008 the girl made a complaint and was joined by her mother and an investigation was triggered.
The man in evidence acknowledged that he had puritanical religious and Biblical beliefs but denied all the allegations made by his family.
Today his barrister, David Martin, conceded there was little to be said on his behalf following the conviction. He said the man still maintains a ‘blanket denial’ of all wrongdoing.
The jury had heard only about the bad things that happened in the family but there had been many good times too, he submitted.
Judge Tabor jailed the man for 11 years for raping his stepdaughter, three years consecutively for raping his wife and one year consecutively for cruelty.
"I Was Tortured And Raped By Large Groups Of Men"- 11-Year-Old Sex Slave Shares Her Encounter
A young girl has told a court how her sex attacker branded her with his initial.
The child was just 11 when Mohammed Karrar, 38, allegedly bought her and loaned her to abusers all around the country for £600 a year.
She told a court yesterday about being mutilated by a hairpin, saying: 'After heating it up for a little while, he stuck it on my bum.
'It was M for Mo and he said I belonged to him. He was branding me so people knew I was his.'
Over five years the girl, now 19, was repeatedly raped by large groups of men in what she described as ‘torture sex’, the jury was told last month.
Seven men of Pakistani origin and two from North Africa are accused of 79 offences against six vulnerable white British girls. The charges include child rape, sexual trafficking and child prostitution.
Noel Lucas QC, prosecuting, said Karrar – known as Egyptian Mo – bought the youngest victim from an unnamed man just after her 11th birthday.
He befriended her with gifts of perfume and hard drugs but then began to beat her up and raped her, the Old Bailey was told.
He branded her with one of her hair pins, which he had twisted into the shape of an ‘M’ and heated with a cigarette lighter. It left a scar on her left buttock.
‘He regarded her as his property,’ Mr Lucas said. ‘He showed her no regard. If she had the temerity to resist, he beat her.
‘He branded her to make her his property and to ensure others knew about it.’ At the age of 12 she was introduced to Karrar’s brother Bassam, 33, who is also accused of raping her.
The girl ‘describes the Karrars as sick sex monsters’, Mr Lucas said. ‘They were always talking about sex and spoke about women in a vile manner.
‘Mohammed Karrar liked her to dress up and act out role play. Both brothers used to beat her.’
From the age of 12 the girl was sold to groups of Asian men who violently raped her in private homes and guesthouses around Oxford and elsewhere. Sometimes she was injected with heroin or given date drugs to ensure she complied with the gang’s sick demands, it was alleged.
Mr Lucas added: ‘It became routine for her to be taken to various locations, houses and hotels by the Karrar brothers so she could treat their guests. She would be made to dress up, wear very short skirts and a bikini top, do her hair and put on lots of make-up.
By the end of the evening she would have been sexually used and abused by all the men. She would be so drugged up as to be unable to feel the pain.’
Just after her 12th birthday the girl told Karrar she was carrying his child. He allegedly beat her up and then took her to a house in Reading where she was given a ‘backroom abortion’ using a crochet hook.
On other occasions Karrar raped the girl in the living room of her own home as her father slept in another room, it was said.
Sometimes his friends would arrive at her house and they would allegedly rape her too. The girl, who came from a troubled family, naively believed ‘Mo’ loved her and was going to marry her when she was 16, the court heard.
During a trip to the Lake District in 2007, when she was 14, she is said to have been called by Karrar on her mobile phone.
David Hughes, a social worker, answered and Karrar allegedly asked to speak to her.
When Mr Hughes refused, Karrar allegedly said: ‘If you don’t get her I’ll **** you up, I’ll **** her up and I’ll **** her mum.’ Later the girl told the social worker of ‘men who took her to houses’.
In January 2008, she told police a man called ‘Egyptian Mo’ had raped her in London nine months previously. Two years later the girl contacted her alleged attacker for an apology but was raped again, the court heard.
Kamar Jamil, 27, Akhtar Dogar, 32, his brother Anjum Dogar, 30, Assad Hussain, 32, Mohammed Karrar, Bassam Karrar, Mohammed Hussain, 24, Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, and Bilal Ahmed, 26, deny all the charges against them.
The trial continues.
The child was just 11 when Mohammed Karrar, 38, allegedly bought her and loaned her to abusers all around the country for £600 a year.
She told a court yesterday about being mutilated by a hairpin, saying: 'After heating it up for a little while, he stuck it on my bum.
'It was M for Mo and he said I belonged to him. He was branding me so people knew I was his.'
Over five years the girl, now 19, was repeatedly raped by large groups of men in what she described as ‘torture sex’, the jury was told last month.
Seven men of Pakistani origin and two from North Africa are accused of 79 offences against six vulnerable white British girls. The charges include child rape, sexual trafficking and child prostitution.
Noel Lucas QC, prosecuting, said Karrar – known as Egyptian Mo – bought the youngest victim from an unnamed man just after her 11th birthday.
He befriended her with gifts of perfume and hard drugs but then began to beat her up and raped her, the Old Bailey was told.
He branded her with one of her hair pins, which he had twisted into the shape of an ‘M’ and heated with a cigarette lighter. It left a scar on her left buttock.
‘He regarded her as his property,’ Mr Lucas said. ‘He showed her no regard. If she had the temerity to resist, he beat her.
‘He branded her to make her his property and to ensure others knew about it.’ At the age of 12 she was introduced to Karrar’s brother Bassam, 33, who is also accused of raping her.
The girl ‘describes the Karrars as sick sex monsters’, Mr Lucas said. ‘They were always talking about sex and spoke about women in a vile manner.
‘Mohammed Karrar liked her to dress up and act out role play. Both brothers used to beat her.’
From the age of 12 the girl was sold to groups of Asian men who violently raped her in private homes and guesthouses around Oxford and elsewhere. Sometimes she was injected with heroin or given date drugs to ensure she complied with the gang’s sick demands, it was alleged.
Mr Lucas added: ‘It became routine for her to be taken to various locations, houses and hotels by the Karrar brothers so she could treat their guests. She would be made to dress up, wear very short skirts and a bikini top, do her hair and put on lots of make-up.
By the end of the evening she would have been sexually used and abused by all the men. She would be so drugged up as to be unable to feel the pain.’
Just after her 12th birthday the girl told Karrar she was carrying his child. He allegedly beat her up and then took her to a house in Reading where she was given a ‘backroom abortion’ using a crochet hook.
On other occasions Karrar raped the girl in the living room of her own home as her father slept in another room, it was said.
Sometimes his friends would arrive at her house and they would allegedly rape her too. The girl, who came from a troubled family, naively believed ‘Mo’ loved her and was going to marry her when she was 16, the court heard.
During a trip to the Lake District in 2007, when she was 14, she is said to have been called by Karrar on her mobile phone.
David Hughes, a social worker, answered and Karrar allegedly asked to speak to her.
When Mr Hughes refused, Karrar allegedly said: ‘If you don’t get her I’ll **** you up, I’ll **** her up and I’ll **** her mum.’ Later the girl told the social worker of ‘men who took her to houses’.
In January 2008, she told police a man called ‘Egyptian Mo’ had raped her in London nine months previously. Two years later the girl contacted her alleged attacker for an apology but was raped again, the court heard.
Kamar Jamil, 27, Akhtar Dogar, 32, his brother Anjum Dogar, 30, Assad Hussain, 32, Mohammed Karrar, Bassam Karrar, Mohammed Hussain, 24, Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, and Bilal Ahmed, 26, deny all the charges against them.
The trial continues.
WOW! ATM Machine Spitting Out Free Cash
If you are the type that likes money then you should have been at the ATM machine that suddenly started spewing out free cash.
Police were eventually called to restore calm in eastern England after the ATM was constantly distributing twice as much money than customers were asking for.
A Lloyds TSB ATM machine in Ipswich began distributing “free money” to customers after the bank branch was closed for the night.
When news of the free cash spread, a crowd began gathering, causing arguments between those who sought to use the faulty machine.
Police were called to watch until the bank staff could take the machine out of service.
A Lloyds spokesman said the machine had been giving away free cash for only a “short time”. He added: “We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.”
About 30 people are believed to have benefited from the failure.
It is unclear how much money the bank lost, or if it will be able to recover the funds that the ATM machine gave away.
Emma Hutchinson said: “Word spread very quickly after my friend asked for £40 and the machine gave out 80 pounds.”
She told the news media that she went to see if the rumor was true, but decided not to withdraw the money herself.
Lloyds Banking Group, had to be rescued by the British government to the tune of £21 billion at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008.
Certainly, Mrs Nkemdilim Ilomuanya is currently having sleepless nights as the business she did with her niece has gone awry.
Mrs. Ilumuanya allegedly sold her niece, Onyinyechi when she was just two years old to her friend, one Mrs Chinyere Nwangwu who lives at 279 Aba-Owerri road, Osisioma, Aba, Abia State at the sum of N250, 000.
Onyinyechi’s mother, 32-year-old Onuabuchi Omata, was said have a mental problem. She is an orphan though she has two male siblings, but they were too young to take care of Onyinyechi. Nkemdilim is their step sister.
After Onuabuchi was delivered of her daughter on July, 2007, her younger brother, John, seeing that there was nobody in their family that could take care of the little Onyinyechi went and deposited her with a motherless baby home in their area – Amichi Motherless Baby Home, Amichi, Nnewi South local government area of Anambra state to ensure she was given proper care.
John is a Lagos-based commercial bus driver. So, having satisfied himself that he has placed his niece in safe hands, he went back to Lagos to continue hustling. About two years after, Nkemdilim, John’s stepsister convinced him that she would want to stay with the child and John obliged her.
Police were eventually called to restore calm in eastern England after the ATM was constantly distributing twice as much money than customers were asking for.
A Lloyds TSB ATM machine in Ipswich began distributing “free money” to customers after the bank branch was closed for the night.
When news of the free cash spread, a crowd began gathering, causing arguments between those who sought to use the faulty machine.
Police were called to watch until the bank staff could take the machine out of service.
A Lloyds spokesman said the machine had been giving away free cash for only a “short time”. He added: “We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.”
About 30 people are believed to have benefited from the failure.
Emma Hutchinson said: “Word spread very quickly after my friend asked for £40 and the machine gave out 80 pounds.”
She told the news media that she went to see if the rumor was true, but decided not to withdraw the money herself.
Lloyds Banking Group, had to be rescued by the British government to the tune of £21 billion at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008.
Woman Sells Niece For N250, 000
Certainly, Mrs Nkemdilim Ilomuanya is currently having sleepless nights as the business she did with her niece has gone awry.
Mrs. Ilumuanya allegedly sold her niece, Onyinyechi when she was just two years old to her friend, one Mrs Chinyere Nwangwu who lives at 279 Aba-Owerri road, Osisioma, Aba, Abia State at the sum of N250, 000.
Onyinyechi’s mother, 32-year-old Onuabuchi Omata, was said have a mental problem. She is an orphan though she has two male siblings, but they were too young to take care of Onyinyechi. Nkemdilim is their step sister.
After Onuabuchi was delivered of her daughter on July, 2007, her younger brother, John, seeing that there was nobody in their family that could take care of the little Onyinyechi went and deposited her with a motherless baby home in their area – Amichi Motherless Baby Home, Amichi, Nnewi South local government area of Anambra state to ensure she was given proper care.
John is a Lagos-based commercial bus driver. So, having satisfied himself that he has placed his niece in safe hands, he went back to Lagos to continue hustling. About two years after, Nkemdilim, John’s stepsister convinced him that she would want to stay with the child and John obliged her.
"I Am Scared Of Marriage"- Nollywood Actress, Ebube Nwagbo Confesses
Ebube Nwagbo’s parents would never
have supported her if they knew when she started acting. Today, her
family is proud of the star she has become in the highly competitive
Nigerian movie industry.
“My dad came back home one day and said he saw a poster of a girl that really looked like me and I feigned ignorance. I told him people look alike,” Nwagbo said, adding “I did not have the nerves to tell him it was me. When the movie came out, I had to leave home for a while because I did not know how they would feel. Luckily for me, the movie came out, I acted a good role. They liked the fact that I did something nice. I did not give them any reason to be angry, upset or disappointed in me.
“I do not think I have given my family a reason not to be proud of me as an actress. I think I have made them proud in many ways and they have given me their love and support. I am not perfect, but I never forget where I am coming from or heading to, no matter the madness and craziness that comes with my profession.”
Ebube Nwagbo was 20 when she started acting, and that was the breakthrough she needed for herself and her family. Ten years on, and she waxes stronger. According to her, the industry moulded her into what she is today.
“I started acting when I was very young, I grew up in Nollywood. It was in 2003, I was about 20 years old then. I was still in school, so it was shuffling school and work. I learnt the good and bad things here. It has been a journey for me. It is like growing. I started fending for myself and my family at that age. I grew up like that and Nollywood kind of moulded me into what I am today based on where I am coming from as a person. It became the family I know because those early years I was always on set. All I knew at that time was making movies.
“The journey so far has been smooth, it has been rough, it has been sweet, it has been bitter, but so far, I am thankful to God for where I am today. At least, I am alive; I still have people out there that still love me. In as much as I do not expect everybody to love me, I can still boast of a lot of people that admire me for what I have become today. It has been a smooth and rough journey so far.
For Ebuube Nwagbo, the rough side of her Nollywood journey is dealing with the public as a star. She noted that the public sometimes forget that they are also humans, and so expect probably too much from them.
“Yes,
we have to be role models to people which I personally try my best to
be. But people should not condemn me when I do not live up to
expectation,” she said.
“As human beings, when we are in relationship or marriage, what we do affects it a whole lot. That is the basic true, we can’t pretend about it. I don’t think it is every man or woman that is with a celebrity that likes to be in the limelight. As much as a lot of them try to understand what their spouses do, at the end of the day, this is Nigeria, they might not understand all the time. It is all about getting the person that understands and make him believe that what you are doing is your job. It is hard, it is quite hard but we have to live.
It’s the scary part of being a star for her. Ebube would love to get married for love, and be in the marriage forever, but she’s scared; too many proposals that she’s confused who wants her for real…and that’s why she’s still single.
“Yes I am still single. The reason is that I am someone who has always believed in love. It is a big deal to me so if I have to do it, it has to be right. I am a strong believer of love.
“I get lots of proposals; it is so crazy I do not know who to give a chance to. I think it is a price I have to pay for stardom. Sometimes when anybody comes my way, I do not know who wants to be with me for the right reasons. I believe when that day comes, I will definitely figure out who that person is. It is not easy. What I should be talking about is not relationship but marriage. I want to go into marriage and be in it for ever. No one goes into marriage thinking of divorce, but it happens. We try our best. I think I am kind of scared, but I just have to give it a try whether I like it or not. It just has to happen and happen right; at the right time.”
No one can rule out the possibility of Ebube going back to her first love who couldn’t cope with her job; maybe he’d understand it’s just a job, and nothing that happens there is real. Ebube still thinks of him; he’s the first guy to show her the true meaning of love.
“We met in my first year in school, second semester. We won the best couple on campus. We had this bond and everybody wanted to be like us. I got into the movie industry and it didn’t work out again. I really liked him. So far, I think that is the first relationship I had that I can really call a relationship. That is the first time I actually knew what love is. That is somebody I still think about today and there is no regrets.”
Until June 16, 2011 suicide bombing was a distant phenomena few ever thought could occur in this realm. The harsh economic climate and heated geo-political space notwithstanding, it is very rare to see Nigerians, a people widely adjudged as the happiest on the face of the earth, take their own lives. It was even more unimaginable that someday, a Nigerian irrespective of whatever influence, will devise violent and extreme actions capable of brutally terminating his life, and extending the same deadly gestures to those around him.
So when Umaru Abdulmutallab, a 22-year-old Nigerian from an affluent background attempted to become the country’s first suicide bomber on a US-bound flight on Christmas Day 2009, many among his compatriots questioned his nationality, others his sanity.
Nigerians can’t be suicide bombers, it was reiterated.
Then the dreaded happened. Mohammed Manga, a 35-year-old Nigerian male, signed his name in the most gory of inks as the first suicide bomber ever to strike in the country. A recruit of extremist Islamic sect Boko Haram, Manga blew himself up in front of Nigeria’s police headquarters in Abuja, two and half years after Mutallab’s first unsuccessful attempt to set the record aboard the American airliner.
Here comes the multimillion dollar question, what could make a Nigerian volunteer to be a suicide bomber?
Could it be the prevailing unemployment situation in the country which has made the teeming able-bodied youths roaming the northern part of the country a potential breed for terror recruiters? Maybe it is the lure of a few thousand dollars that make potential volunteers throw reasons to the winds and get blown up. Perhaps it is in the hatred indoctrinated into these would-be suicide bombers by extremist Islamic preachers at an early age.
Like his counterparts in Arabia or elsewhere around the world, research has proven that money, education or the lack of both, is not a determinant factor that would either motivate or hinder a would be Nigerian suicide bomber. If it will be recalled, Abdulmutallab was from an illustrious home and had the best education money could offer. Mohammed Manga on the other hand was described as a fairly successful businessman.
In Robert Lamb’s How Suicide Bombers Work, both the glamorization of martyrdom and its establishment as a gateway to rewards in the afterlife are central, yet universal factors in the suicide bomber equation.
The glamorization of matyrdom is appealing to the often young and naive Nigerian suicide bomber, whose average age bracket is put between 18 – 24. For this set of people, the thoughts that his name becomes immortal is overwhelming. The pride, prospect and glamour at the ‘sense of a holy mission’ is appealing, and this sadly, is a bait their manipulative handlers exploit to the fullest.
‘A gateway to rewards in the afterlife’ should not be ruled out as a motivating factor for the Nigerian suicide bomber. The thoughts of seventy-two virgins for martyrs who paid the supreme price for fighting Allah’s cause is too strong to be relegated to the background. Likewise are the quests to avenge perceived political tyranny and economic imbalances.
So how does the Nigerian suicide bomber justify the killings of innocent souls? Israeli psychologists eager to understand the mindset of militant Islamic extremists postulate that at this point in the mindset of the suicide bomber, no one perhaps except for members of his sect is innocent. He is not about killing the innocent, he is killing the enemy.
A two-month old baby was among 10 people killed, Friday, when
unidentified gunmen attacked Kogwom village in the Vwang district of Jos
South Local Government Area of Plateau State. Saturday Punch newspaper
reports that the suspected herdsmen allegedly stormed a lone compound
and slaughtered the family of 10 before escaping into the nearby
bush. Lt. Kingsley Egbo, Assistant Media Officer, [...]
Read More →
As the trial of the alleged killers of Cynthia Okosogu progressed,
Miss Vivian Amuneke, the receptionist of the hotel where the deceased
was allegedly murdered said she issued used receipt to the alleged
killers when they paid for the room. Amuneke according to the Nigerian
Tribune newspaper stated that she issued the receipt because the room
had earlier [...]
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Seven Internet fraudsters have been arraigned before the Federal
High Court in Benin City by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), on separate charges of conspiracy to commit felony and
obtaining money under false pretence. The Vanguard newspaper reports
that the seven suspects, Philip Agbodobri (alias Daniel Karlssom) Peter
Sunday (alias Richmon), Nnamdi Obinna, Amegor Ovenseri, [...]
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A report by Saturday Punch newspaper has said that terror groups in
the country have begun a recruitment drive in the South-West with the
aim of establishing cells in the zone. Boko Haram, and its breakaway
faction, Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis-Sudan, were said to be
identifying fundamentalists in the region as a prelude to attacks that
they are planning [...]
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According to reports by Italian media outlets, Pope Benedict XVI,
who announced his retirement earlier this month did so after an internal
investigation informed him about a web of blackmail, corruption and gay
sex in the Vatican. Reports said that Benedict had asked a team of
Cardinals to investigate the allegations of financial impropriety,
cronyism and corruption exposed in the [...]
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According to the Saturday Punch, Inmates at the Kirikiri Maximum
Prison are being subjected to inhuman conditions such that they no
longer want to eat the prison food for fear of the unknown. They have
also complained of the terrible quality of the food. A source within the
prisons also told Punch that the state [...]
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The Federal Government has told the newly appointed Registrars and
Vice-Chancellors of the three new Federal Government Universities to
uphold the integrity of the University structure. According to Professor
Ruqayyatu Rufai, the Minister of Education who issued the instruction
at Abuja on Friday, told the newly appointees to see their appointments
as a way of [...]
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Today in Benin, Edo state, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate,
castigated the Good Governance tour led by Minister for Information,
Labaran Maku and described the NUJ-backed arrangement as a complete
deceit.
Read More →
On Thursday the House of Representatives gave President Goodluck
Jonathan, February 27 as the deadline for signing the 2013 budget. They
told him to sign the budget on or before the given date or his veto
would be overruled. Mr. Solomon Olamilekan, the Chairman, House of
Representatives Committee on Public Accounts said on Thursday that [...]
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Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Friday,
denied allegations that his country trained suspects arrested in Lagos
on charges of planning attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets in Nigeria.
According to international news agency, Reuters, Amir-Abdollahian said
that the allegations are not true and were made up as the result of the
ill will of the enemies of [...]
The opening ceremony of the Eko Atlantic City had attendance top
public figures including former President of the United States, Bill
Clinton, President Jonathan, Governor Fashola, former governor of Lagos
state, Bola Tinubu, amongst others. Here are photos from the ceremony.
[...]
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Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laurete said in a speech
yesterday that spiritual and mental slavery is still in existent in
Nigeria, that instead of some clerics to go ahead and preach the gospel
that would appeal to people’s minds, they would rather enslave them.
Soyinka made the statement during the public presentation of a [...]
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According to The Punch newspaper, the Federal Government, Thursday,
signed the Share Purchase Agreement and 12 other documents with 14 core
investors that won bids for 15 successor companies carved out of the
Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) preparatory to their being
handed over to the investors. The signings of the agreements comes
with a demand for payment [...]
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Vitalis Dike, a 31-year-old Nigerian student studying in Malaysia,
Thursday, was arrested by the men of the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency(NDLEA), with 1.430kg of an illegal substance methamphetamine. The
Daily Post newspaper reports that Dike was promised $4,000 to deliver
the drugs in Malaysia, but was caught at the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport, Lagos, during the screening of outbound
passengers [...]
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Dandong Atikpi, leader of the former militant group known as the
Bakassi Salvation told News Reporters on Thursday in Calabar, Cross
River state that the group are prepared to fight the Cameroon gendarmes
over accusations of degradation and attack given to Bakassi indigenes
who still live within the surrendered peninsular. He told reporters that
he [...]
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First Lady and wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs. Dame
Patience Jonathan, Thursday, said that not even 100 opposition parties
can defeat the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015
presidential election. Mrs. Jonathan, who spoke at the presentation of
the PDP Women in power” calendar 2013 in Abuja, added that she is more
[...]
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Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, the Managing Director, Shell Petroleum
Development Company (SPDC), Thursday, in Abuja, alleged that
‘principalities and powers’ in high places are responsible for the oil
theft in Nigeria. Sunmonu according to The Citizen newspaper explained
that the small criminals in the creeks of Niger Delta bursting pipelines
and stealing crude oil are not working for themselves, [...]
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Following the murder charge against “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius,
Sports giant, Nike have decided to suspend it’s contract with the South
African athlete. The sporting company have been criticised in the past
for their sluggish reaction when any of their sporting ambassadors got
into trouble; it was not therefore surprising when Nike came out openly
[...]
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On Thursday, a suicide bomber suspected to be Boko Haram, stormed a
Customs location just beside the popular and ever crowded Gamboru
Market in Maiduguri in a car without a plate number full of explosives,
with the intention of hitting a JTF vehicle stationed in the area. Just
before he hit the vehicle, the car [...]
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At a meeting in Abuja, Professor Jerry Gana, the Chairman of the
University Council revealed that President Goodluck Jonathan had
reversed his decision to change the name of the University of Lagos,
UNILAG to Moshood Abiola University of Lagos, MAULAG. The University
would obviously still retain its name.
“My dad came back home one day and said he saw a poster of a girl that really looked like me and I feigned ignorance. I told him people look alike,” Nwagbo said, adding “I did not have the nerves to tell him it was me. When the movie came out, I had to leave home for a while because I did not know how they would feel. Luckily for me, the movie came out, I acted a good role. They liked the fact that I did something nice. I did not give them any reason to be angry, upset or disappointed in me.
“I do not think I have given my family a reason not to be proud of me as an actress. I think I have made them proud in many ways and they have given me their love and support. I am not perfect, but I never forget where I am coming from or heading to, no matter the madness and craziness that comes with my profession.”
Ebube Nwagbo was 20 when she started acting, and that was the breakthrough she needed for herself and her family. Ten years on, and she waxes stronger. According to her, the industry moulded her into what she is today.
“I started acting when I was very young, I grew up in Nollywood. It was in 2003, I was about 20 years old then. I was still in school, so it was shuffling school and work. I learnt the good and bad things here. It has been a journey for me. It is like growing. I started fending for myself and my family at that age. I grew up like that and Nollywood kind of moulded me into what I am today based on where I am coming from as a person. It became the family I know because those early years I was always on set. All I knew at that time was making movies.
“The journey so far has been smooth, it has been rough, it has been sweet, it has been bitter, but so far, I am thankful to God for where I am today. At least, I am alive; I still have people out there that still love me. In as much as I do not expect everybody to love me, I can still boast of a lot of people that admire me for what I have become today. It has been a smooth and rough journey so far.
For Ebuube Nwagbo, the rough side of her Nollywood journey is dealing with the public as a star. She noted that the public sometimes forget that they are also humans, and so expect probably too much from them.
“As human beings, when we are in relationship or marriage, what we do affects it a whole lot. That is the basic true, we can’t pretend about it. I don’t think it is every man or woman that is with a celebrity that likes to be in the limelight. As much as a lot of them try to understand what their spouses do, at the end of the day, this is Nigeria, they might not understand all the time. It is all about getting the person that understands and make him believe that what you are doing is your job. It is hard, it is quite hard but we have to live.
It’s the scary part of being a star for her. Ebube would love to get married for love, and be in the marriage forever, but she’s scared; too many proposals that she’s confused who wants her for real…and that’s why she’s still single.
“Yes I am still single. The reason is that I am someone who has always believed in love. It is a big deal to me so if I have to do it, it has to be right. I am a strong believer of love.
“I get lots of proposals; it is so crazy I do not know who to give a chance to. I think it is a price I have to pay for stardom. Sometimes when anybody comes my way, I do not know who wants to be with me for the right reasons. I believe when that day comes, I will definitely figure out who that person is. It is not easy. What I should be talking about is not relationship but marriage. I want to go into marriage and be in it for ever. No one goes into marriage thinking of divorce, but it happens. We try our best. I think I am kind of scared, but I just have to give it a try whether I like it or not. It just has to happen and happen right; at the right time.”
No one can rule out the possibility of Ebube going back to her first love who couldn’t cope with her job; maybe he’d understand it’s just a job, and nothing that happens there is real. Ebube still thinks of him; he’s the first guy to show her the true meaning of love.
“We met in my first year in school, second semester. We won the best couple on campus. We had this bond and everybody wanted to be like us. I got into the movie industry and it didn’t work out again. I really liked him. So far, I think that is the first relationship I had that I can really call a relationship. That is the first time I actually knew what love is. That is somebody I still think about today and there is no regrets.”
Boko Haram: Inside the Mindset of a Nigerian Suicide Bomber
Until June 16, 2011 suicide bombing was a distant phenomena few ever thought could occur in this realm. The harsh economic climate and heated geo-political space notwithstanding, it is very rare to see Nigerians, a people widely adjudged as the happiest on the face of the earth, take their own lives. It was even more unimaginable that someday, a Nigerian irrespective of whatever influence, will devise violent and extreme actions capable of brutally terminating his life, and extending the same deadly gestures to those around him.
So when Umaru Abdulmutallab, a 22-year-old Nigerian from an affluent background attempted to become the country’s first suicide bomber on a US-bound flight on Christmas Day 2009, many among his compatriots questioned his nationality, others his sanity.
Nigerians can’t be suicide bombers, it was reiterated.
Then the dreaded happened. Mohammed Manga, a 35-year-old Nigerian male, signed his name in the most gory of inks as the first suicide bomber ever to strike in the country. A recruit of extremist Islamic sect Boko Haram, Manga blew himself up in front of Nigeria’s police headquarters in Abuja, two and half years after Mutallab’s first unsuccessful attempt to set the record aboard the American airliner.
Here comes the multimillion dollar question, what could make a Nigerian volunteer to be a suicide bomber?
Could it be the prevailing unemployment situation in the country which has made the teeming able-bodied youths roaming the northern part of the country a potential breed for terror recruiters? Maybe it is the lure of a few thousand dollars that make potential volunteers throw reasons to the winds and get blown up. Perhaps it is in the hatred indoctrinated into these would-be suicide bombers by extremist Islamic preachers at an early age.
Like his counterparts in Arabia or elsewhere around the world, research has proven that money, education or the lack of both, is not a determinant factor that would either motivate or hinder a would be Nigerian suicide bomber. If it will be recalled, Abdulmutallab was from an illustrious home and had the best education money could offer. Mohammed Manga on the other hand was described as a fairly successful businessman.
In Robert Lamb’s How Suicide Bombers Work, both the glamorization of martyrdom and its establishment as a gateway to rewards in the afterlife are central, yet universal factors in the suicide bomber equation.
The glamorization of matyrdom is appealing to the often young and naive Nigerian suicide bomber, whose average age bracket is put between 18 – 24. For this set of people, the thoughts that his name becomes immortal is overwhelming. The pride, prospect and glamour at the ‘sense of a holy mission’ is appealing, and this sadly, is a bait their manipulative handlers exploit to the fullest.
‘A gateway to rewards in the afterlife’ should not be ruled out as a motivating factor for the Nigerian suicide bomber. The thoughts of seventy-two virgins for martyrs who paid the supreme price for fighting Allah’s cause is too strong to be relegated to the background. Likewise are the quests to avenge perceived political tyranny and economic imbalances.
So how does the Nigerian suicide bomber justify the killings of innocent souls? Israeli psychologists eager to understand the mindset of militant Islamic extremists postulate that at this point in the mindset of the suicide bomber, no one perhaps except for members of his sect is innocent. He is not about killing the innocent, he is killing the enemy.
Gunmen Wipe Out Family of 10 in Plateau
A two-month old baby was among 10 people killed, Friday, when
unidentified gunmen attacked Kogwom village in the Vwang district of Jos
South Local Government Area of Plateau State. Saturday Punch newspaper
reports that the suspected herdsmen allegedly stormed a lone compound
and slaughtered the family of 10 before escaping into the nearby
bush. Lt. Kingsley Egbo, Assistant Media Officer, [...]Read More →
Cynthia Okosogu: Hotel Receptionist Admits Lying to Police
As the trial of the alleged killers of Cynthia Okosogu progressed,
Miss Vivian Amuneke, the receptionist of the hotel where the deceased
was allegedly murdered said she issued used receipt to the alleged
killers when they paid for the room. Amuneke according to the Nigerian
Tribune newspaper stated that she issued the receipt because the room
had earlier [...]Read More →
EFCC Arraigns Seven Yahoo Boys in Benin
Seven Internet fraudsters have been arraigned before the Federal
High Court in Benin City by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), on separate charges of conspiracy to commit felony and
obtaining money under false pretence. The Vanguard newspaper reports
that the seven suspects, Philip Agbodobri (alias Daniel Karlssom) Peter
Sunday (alias Richmon), Nnamdi Obinna, Amegor Ovenseri, [...]Read More →
Terror Groups Begin Recruitment in S’West, Target Lagos, Others
A report by Saturday Punch newspaper has said that terror groups in
the country have begun a recruitment drive in the South-West with the
aim of establishing cells in the zone. Boko Haram, and its breakaway
faction, Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis-Sudan, were said to be
identifying fundamentalists in the region as a prelude to attacks that
they are planning [...]Read More →
Pope Benedict XVI Resign over Corruption, Gay Sex Scandals – Reports
According to reports by Italian media outlets, Pope Benedict XVI,
who announced his retirement earlier this month did so after an internal
investigation informed him about a web of blackmail, corruption and gay
sex in the Vatican. Reports said that Benedict had asked a team of
Cardinals to investigate the allegations of financial impropriety,
cronyism and corruption exposed in the [...]Read More →
Prisoners at the Kirikiri Prison Now Reject Food
According to the Saturday Punch, Inmates at the Kirikiri Maximum
Prison are being subjected to inhuman conditions such that they no
longer want to eat the prison food for fear of the unknown. They have
also complained of the terrible quality of the food. A source within the
prisons also told Punch that the state [...]Read More →
FG Orders VCs and Registrars of New Universities to Preserve the University’s Integrity
The Federal Government has told the newly appointed Registrars and
Vice-Chancellors of the three new Federal Government Universities to
uphold the integrity of the University structure. According to Professor
Ruqayyatu Rufai, the Minister of Education who issued the instruction
at Abuja on Friday, told the newly appointees to see their appointments
as a way of [...]Read More →
Soyinka Critisizes Good Governance Tour
Today in Benin, Edo state, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate,
castigated the Good Governance tour led by Minister for Information,
Labaran Maku and described the NUJ-backed arrangement as a complete
deceit.Read More →
House of Reps Warn President Jonathan over Signing the 2013 Budget Before Feb. 27
On Thursday the House of Representatives gave President Goodluck
Jonathan, February 27 as the deadline for signing the 2013 budget. They
told him to sign the budget on or before the given date or his veto
would be overruled. Mr. Solomon Olamilekan, the Chairman, House of
Representatives Committee on Public Accounts said on Thursday that [...]Read More →
Iran Denies Operating Terror Cell in Nigeria
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Friday,
denied allegations that his country trained suspects arrested in Lagos
on charges of planning attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets in Nigeria.
According to international news agency, Reuters, Amir-Abdollahian said
that the allegations are not true and were made up as the result of the
ill will of the enemies of [...]Photos from the Eko Atlantic City Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony of the Eko Atlantic City had attendance top
public figures including former President of the United States, Bill
Clinton, President Jonathan, Governor Fashola, former governor of Lagos
state, Bola Tinubu, amongst others. Here are photos from the ceremony.
[...]Read More →
Prof. Wole Soyinka Accuses Nigerian Clerics of Spiritual, Mental Slavery
Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laurete said in a speech
yesterday that spiritual and mental slavery is still in existent in
Nigeria, that instead of some clerics to go ahead and preach the gospel
that would appeal to people’s minds, they would rather enslave them.
Soyinka made the statement during the public presentation of a [...]Read More →
FG Signs Agreements, Hands over PHCN to 14 Bid Winners
According to The Punch newspaper, the Federal Government, Thursday,
signed the Share Purchase Agreement and 12 other documents with 14 core
investors that won bids for 15 successor companies carved out of the
Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) preparatory to their being
handed over to the investors. The signings of the agreements comes
with a demand for payment [...]Read More →
NDLEA Arrests Malaysia-bound Student with Drugs
Vitalis Dike, a 31-year-old Nigerian student studying in Malaysia,
Thursday, was arrested by the men of the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency(NDLEA), with 1.430kg of an illegal substance methamphetamine. The
Daily Post newspaper reports that Dike was promised $4,000 to deliver
the drugs in Malaysia, but was caught at the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport, Lagos, during the screening of outbound
passengers [...]Read More →
Ex-Militant Group Bakassi Salvation Threaten Confrontation with Cameroon Gendarmes Over Bakassi Indigenes
Dandong Atikpi, leader of the former militant group known as the
Bakassi Salvation told News Reporters on Thursday in Calabar, Cross
River state that the group are prepared to fight the Cameroon gendarmes
over accusations of degradation and attack given to Bakassi indigenes
who still live within the surrendered peninsular. He told reporters that
he [...]Read More →
100 Opposition Parties Cannot Defeat PDP, Patience Jonathan Boasts
First Lady and wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs. Dame
Patience Jonathan, Thursday, said that not even 100 opposition parties
can defeat the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015
presidential election. Mrs. Jonathan, who spoke at the presentation of
the PDP Women in power” calendar 2013 in Abuja, added that she is more
[...]Read More →
Principalities, Powers in High Places Responsible for Oil Theft – Shell MD
Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, the Managing Director, Shell Petroleum
Development Company (SPDC), Thursday, in Abuja, alleged that
‘principalities and powers’ in high places are responsible for the oil
theft in Nigeria. Sunmonu according to The Citizen newspaper explained
that the small criminals in the creeks of Niger Delta bursting pipelines
and stealing crude oil are not working for themselves, [...]Read More →
Nike Halts Contract With Oscar Pistorius
Following the murder charge against “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius,
Sports giant, Nike have decided to suspend it’s contract with the South
African athlete. The sporting company have been criticised in the past
for their sluggish reaction when any of their sporting ambassadors got
into trouble; it was not therefore surprising when Nike came out openly
[...]Read More →
Suicide Bomber’s Attack Takes Out Gamboru Market, Maiduguri
On Thursday, a suicide bomber suspected to be Boko Haram, stormed a
Customs location just beside the popular and ever crowded Gamboru
Market in Maiduguri in a car without a plate number full of explosives,
with the intention of hitting a JTF vehicle stationed in the area. Just
before he hit the vehicle, the car [...]Read More →
President Jonathan Reverses Decision on UNILAG’S Change of Name
At a meeting in Abuja, Professor Jerry Gana, the Chairman of the
University Council revealed that President Goodluck Jonathan had
reversed his decision to change the name of the University of Lagos,
UNILAG to Moshood Abiola University of Lagos, MAULAG. The University
would obviously still retain its name. 