11 persons dead in Yobe flood, nearly 200 houses destroyed

A top government source has just informed SaharaReporters that at least 11 persons died two days ago in a flood that swept through Gashua, Yobe State. Our source said the flood “drowned some parts of Gashua town,” leaving hundreds of residents homeless. The flooding was caused by a heavy downpour that occurred in the area.

Our source added that nearly 200 houses were destroyed. He stated that property damage had not been estimated, but suggested that it would be substantial.

Our correspondent learnt that the torrential rainfall had also caused flooding problems in other parts of Yobe as well as in Bauchi and Jigawa states.

The traditional ruler of Gashua, Abubakar Umar Suleiman, disclosed that his aides were advising residents to refrain from discarding their garbage in drainages. In addition, he stressed the need for residents to keep their environment clean in order to reduce the severe effects of flooding after heavy downpours.

Abdullahi Bego, a spokesman for Governor Ibrahim Geidam, said the government had set up a committee on the flood. He said he was in no position yet to say the exact number of casualties, adding that the committee would soon submit its findings to the government.

13 Chinese prostitutes arrested in Lagos

 The girls arrested at Emina Crescent, Ikeja 

13 teenage Chinese prostitutes have been arrested and detained by the Nigerian Immigration Service following a raid of their base on Emina Crescent, off Toyin Street, Ikeja. The immigration service raided the apartment following a tip off.

More than 40 teenage girls were brought into the country and camped in an apartment for Nigerian politicians, business executives and expatriates to hire for sex at the cost of between $1,000 and $2,500. The cartel was run by Chinese couple named Sun and Yin Li.

They've been operating for a while and a source in the know said the business was booming and the couple were in the process of importing more girls before they were raided. Only 13 girls were picked from the apartment. The Chinese couple, along with some other girls, managed to escape from the apartment and are now in hiding.

 NIS spokesman, Joachim Olumba confirmed the arrest and said the girls are in their custody. He also said they are on the trail of the kingpin of the sex ring. And after investigations, they will either deport the girls or hand them over to their embassy here in Nigeria for appropriate action.

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Heir it is: When British prince brings shame on royal stool

 A copy of The Sun newspaper featuring a picture of a naked Prince Harry is seen in a shop in London August 24, 2012. The tabloid on Friday published photographs of Prince Harry naked in Las Vegas, becoming the first British publication to defy a request from the royal family's lawyers.

Neo-colonialists behind Boko Haram, says Arewa chief

FOREIGN interests hell-bent on destroying the soul of not only Nigeria, but the whole of Africa, may actually be sponsoring the Boko Haram insurgents. These forces however use local collaborators who promote and employ endemic corruption as a weapon of mass destruction against the county’s moral values and social structure.

These were the submissions of an Arewa Chieftain and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) National Legal Adviser, Mallam Aliyu Umar.

Umar spoke yesterday while reacting to the inauguration of the 40-man committee by the Northern governors to dialogue with the leaders of Boko Haram.

“The primary security challenge facing the North and Nigeria and that has been facing the North and Nigeria is corruption as the Boko Haram factor has since been hijacked by foreign desperate neo-colonial forces and their hired domestic agents who are determined to ensure the breakup of Nigeria by the year 2015 as the Americans have shamelessly predicted.

“ Corruption is the most devastating weapon of mass destruction (which) they unleashed on Nigeria for the purpose of attaining unrealisable neo-colonial objective. This is what has transformed a purely Nigerian security with Northern contents into an international issue with anti-African neo-colonial contents, which, of course, can as usual, be dismissed as a mere conspiracy theory at great expense to our lives and the soul of … Africa,”Umar declared. According to him, “corruption does not only kill humans but it also destroys the souls of nations...”

The PRP chief expressed doubts that the committee raised by the northern governors will be able to accomplish much.

“Corruption is the root cause of our failure to contain a purely locally based security crisis, which was transformed into a national challenge by those who ought to have reasonably and decisively attended to it.”

According to him, “the first step that must be taken in order to begin the effort of resolving the security challenges emanating from the North of Nigeria is to understand the nature of the challenges as they stand today as against how they initially stood”, noting that, “as things stand now, the so-called Boko Haram is not the primary security challenge.”

Umar stressed further that the local contents of the insecurity challenge can easily be tackled through a return to the fast-disappearing moral values of the Nigerian society using traditional rulers, religious leaders and community leaders and leaning heavily on the extended family, “which is the foundation of Africa’s family system.”

Gambia vows to execute all death row inmates by September, sparking outcry

Gambia plans to execute all death row prisoners by September, the president said this week, sparking condemnation from human rights groups worldwide.

The tiny West African nation last executed an inmate about 30 years ago.

It is unclear what prompted the change in stance.

By the end of last year, Gambia had 44 people on death row, including two women, according to human rights activists.

Death row convicts will be executed by mid-September, President Yahya Jammeh said in a speech on state media Sunday that was rebroadcast Monday.

"All those guilty of serious crimes and are condemned will face the full force of the law," he said. "All punishments prescribed by law will be maintained in the country to ensure that criminals get what they deserve: that is, that those who kill are killed ... By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter."

The nation imposes capital punishment for various crimes, including murder and treason, the latter commonly used to stifle dissent in some African nations.

Previously on CNN.com: Death row inmate leads authorities to hundreds of bone fragments

In 2010, British human rights group Reprieve said Gambia had introduced the death penalty for those found with more than 250 grams of cocaine or heroin. It's unclear whether the law still stands.

Amnesty International, the French government and other rights groups condemned the execution order.

"President Jammeh's comments are deeply troubling and will undoubtedly cause severe anguish to those on death row and their families," said Audrey Gaughran, the Africa director for Amnesty. "Any attempt to carry out this threat would be both deeply shocking and a major setback for human rights in Gambia."

International standards on fair trials are not followed in the country, according to Gaughran.

"Death sentences are known to be used as a tool against the political opposition," she said. "The number of grossly unfair trials is shocking and an especially serious concern in cases where the death penalty is handed down."

In 2009, Jammeh made a similar threat to resume executions, but did not act on it, Amnesty said. Nonetheless, the new threat raises concern in the nation, the group said.

The former British colony is surrounded by Senegal and has a population of 1.3 million.

Jammeh took power in a military coup in 1994, and was elected president two years later. The government represses political opposition groups, and the president has won all elections since he came to power. Most of the polls are tainted by allegations of fraud.

Gambia's human rights record has drawn steady criticism since his election, but the president has won supporters by building new hospitals, schools and other infrastructure.

At last, UK releases 2009 letter of “Ibori MP,” Tony Baldry

The British Government has finally released—but partly—the September 2009 letter on behalf of former Delta State governor James Ibori that it received from a Conservative Member of Parliament, Tony Baldry.

The letter, which ignited a Freedom of Information (FOI) controversy in 2010, demonstrates why Mr. Baldry did not want it in the hands of the public: while he did not make a direct case for Ibori or his associates, the letter was a disguised, intensely-sympathetic appeal to the government to intervene on their behalf.

The granting of the FOI request was made in a letter dated July 31, 2012, from Jonathan Drew, a Deputy Head of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, to author and blogger Richard Wilson.

In it, Mr. Drew said the decision to release Mr. Baldry’s letter followed an internal review of the events of 2010, and that disclosure of the letter would, in fact, enhance public understanding of the UK’s relationship with Nigeria. He also explained the decision to withhold certain portions of the letter, saying of those sections, “public interest in withholding this information is greater than the public interest in disclosing.”

Mr. Baldry’s infamous letter to the government followed a meeting with the then Nigerian President, Umaru Yar’Adua. At that time the MP for Banbury, Baldry, now Sir Baldry, the Member for North Oxfordshire, wrote it to the Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, at that time the Rt. Hon. David Milliband, MP, and it became quickly regarded in Nigeria as an effort to obstruct the trial of associates of Mr. Ibori.

The Himba: Namibia's iconic red women

For years, an ancient tribe of semi-nomadic herders known as the Himba has drawn photographers to Namibia's barren northwest.

As a result, the striking image of the Himba -- if not their name -- has become known far beyond the remote, unforgiving Kunene region where they eke out a living tending livestock.

The reason for this is otjize, a paste of butter, fat and red ochre -- sometimes scented with aromatic resin -- that Himba women apply each morning to their skin and hair, giving them a distinctive red hue. The sight of traditional Himba women has become an iconic image of Africa.

There has been much speculation about the origins of this practice, with some claiming it is to protect their skin from the sun, or repel insects. But the Himba say it is an aesthetic consideration, a sort of traditional make-up they apply every morning when they wake. Men do not apply otjize.
Searching for the Himba of Namibia

Although it is constantly jeopardized by development, including proposed hydroelectric projects, many Himba lead a traditional lifestyle that has remained unchanged for generations, surviving war and droughts.
The traditions of the Himba people

These customs can be glimpsed today in the village of Omarumba, where around 20 people live under the leadership of chief Hikuminue Kapika. The Himba are open to outsiders coming to witness their way of life, but ask for a contribution from visitors in return -- in this case, maize, coffee, tea, cooking oil and $25 donation.

As pastoralists, cattle are central to the lives of the Himba -- just like their relatives, the Herero, who are renowned for the headwear of their women, which resemble cattle horns.

In the center of the village is a pen where young cattle, sheep and goats are held, while more mature animals are left to roam the periphery. Every morning, after the women have applied their otjize, they milk the cattle, before the young men of the village lead them out to graze. If there is nowhere to graze, the village may relocate, or the young men set up a temporary village with their stock.

The past year has been dry, says Uvaserua Kapika, one of the chief's wives, and the village is concerned about the welfare of their livestock.

We pray for rain to come and our cattle to multiply
Hikuminue Kapika, chief of the Himba village of Omarumba, northern Namibia

"Last year, it rain(ed) a lot and I was very comfortable. This year, I don't know what to say... I pray to God as the animals are dying."

The homes of the Himba, who number between 30,000 and 50,000, are round structures constructed of sapling posts, bound together to form a domed roof which is plastered in mud and dung.

The most important part of the Himba village is the "okuruwo," or holy fire. Kept continuously alight, the holy fire represents the ancestors of the villagers, who acts as intermediaries to the Himba's god, Mukuru. The chief's is the only house whose the entrance faces the fire -- all the others face away -- and it is important for outsiders not to walk in the sacred area between his house and the fire.

At night, an ember from the fire is brought into the chief's hut, then used to kindle the flames again in the morning.

Chief Kapika said he would regularly sit by the fire to interact with his ancestors. "We pray for rain to come and our cattle to multiply," he said. "He must bless me with more followers as a chief."

Said his wife, Uvaserua Kapika. "This is the place we pray to our God in heaven. In this place, you can get healed. Everything is performed here."

Veteran director reveals secrets of Nollywood's success

The set of "Journey to Self," a new Nollywood movie about the friendship and hardship of four women

Nollywood, Nigeria's booming film industry, has grown in recent years into a mighty movie-making machine, capturing audiences with its universal themes and strong narratives of urban culture.

The mega industry, one of Nigeria's biggest employers, has been notorious for churning out more than 1,000 typically low-budget films a year, fusing a wide array of stories ranging from romance and drama to comedy and witchcraft.

It is currently the third-largest producer of feature films in world, ranking behind only Hollywood in the U.S. and India's Bollywood revenue.

And lately, instead of relying on shoe-string budgets, many Nollywood movies are attracting funding of a few million dollars, benefiting from the films' growing popularity.

But while the industry gets bigger, insiders say Nollywood has remained true to its recipe for success -- its connection with the audience.

Nigerian director Lancelot Imasuen, who is currently working on a $2 million film called "Invasion 1987," says Nollywood movies are made for Nigerians and the rest of the continent.

"People get in touch with [Nollywood's] direct realism," says Imasuen. "People are getting more and more interested, more and more involved in our productions because they can feel the pains, they can feel the excitement, it's so real to them."

Imasuen, a pioneering filmmaker with more than 10 years of experience, says that Nollywood's themes strike a familiar chord with the audience making them feel part of the stories.

And that, he says, is the industry's big advantage compared to the competition posed by Hollywood productions.

"For us in Africa, we just get entertained by American films," says Imasuen. "When I'm watching Spiderman or Batman and all that, its just for spectacle. I'm just having fun because I know its not realistic for the guy just to fly here and there -- there is nothing that relates to us as individuals."

Known in Nollywood's circles as "The Governor," Imasuen is one of the most sought after names in Nigerian filmmaking -- he once directed 29 movies in just one year, 27 of which were big hits.
People are getting more and more interested because they can feel the pains, they can feel the excitement, it's so real to them.
Lancelot Imasuen, director

"That's my job, that's the never say die spirit of the Nigerian man," he explains.

"If you can't get it this way, you have to do it this way and so I tried to do right. And for me that was a great challenge and when you're good at what you're doing, there is a tendency that people call you to do more," adds Imasuen.

"And before you know it, you don't have time to even lie on your bed for 30 days or 365 days of the year."

In fact, it is the hard work and dedication of people like Imasuen that have helped Nollywood to grow and become a thriving industry in the last two decades

"If you spend any time in Nigeria, it is difficult to come across a person who hasn't heard of Nollywood," says Jason Njoku, founder of iROKO Partners, an internet company that distributes Nollywood films to online viewers across the world.

"But at the same time, the pan-African nature of it -- from the Kenyans to the Ghanaians to Gambians to people in the DRC -- there's a massive base of people who really love this content."

The thriving industry is constantly attracting new talents -- aspiring film stars looking to follow in the steps of already established Nollywood names.

One up-and-coming actress is Uru Eke, a newer face in Nollywood who has followed an unconventional path to stardom.

Born in the UK, Eke went to university and began a career in information technology that lasted for five years before deciding to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an actress in Nigeria.

Eke, who is among the stars of Nollywood's latest hit movie "Last flight to Abuja," says her goal is to become one of the top names in the industry.

"I'm working hard and I'm very hopeful, it's just the positive attitude and the strength that I have to get there," she says. "Nigeria is by no means the easiest place to start a business or a career, but I think it's the tenacity, the spirit to succeed despite the odds, that can always drive you to reach your goal, actualize your dream. So with that spirit that I have, I know the sky's my limit."

Going forward, Imasuen says that raising funds to develop story ideas and train new talents is still one of Nollywood's biggest challenges.

"The intellect, the inspiration, the creativity, they all abound, but the truth of the matter is the challenges almost exceeds the goodness," he says.

But despite all the difficulties, Imasuen says that he and his peers will continue doing what they love in order to help Nollywood grow even further.

"We've been able to build a profile over the years," he says. "We're ready for the change, we're ready for the time and we still want to maintain the Nigerian way of making film, but globalizing it."

Force inevitable if Mali talks fail, says Nigeria

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday warned that regional troops would definitely intervene in the occupied area if negotiations with extremists in Mali failed to yield a solution.

This came days after Mali’s new Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly said that winning back the Islamist-occupied north was the top priority of a unity government which was formed on orders from West African mediators.

The armed Islamist groups have openly allied with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) and are enforcing strict sharia law.

On Wednesday they banned all secular music from radio waves in the north, the latest move after recently cutting off the hand of a thief and stoning to death an unmarried couple.

In the fabled city of Timbuktu they smashed ancient Muslim shrines, declaring them “idolatrous” just days after the UNESCO World Heritage site was put on an endangered list.

Jonathan, who was on a 24-hour visit to Senegal yesterday after talks with his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall, said: “Diplomacy or negotiation is the first, military intervention is extreme. When negotiation fails that is the time you can talk about military intervention.”

He said the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would also need a United Nations mandate before stepping in.

“ECOWAS will definitely intervene militarily, but ... first and foremost we are negotiating. We must stabilise the government ... I believe through negotiation we will be able to resolve the crisis, we don’t necessarily need military intervention ... but if that fails we will have no option.”

Mali this week formed a new unity government on orders from ECOWAS in the hopes it would be better able to deal with the country’s crises, and make an official request for military backup from the regional troops.

The new government, announced by presidential decree on Monday, saw six ministers booted out of their positions in an administration formed to take over from a military junta that took power in a March coup.

Once one of the region’s most stable democracies, Mali has crumbled into despair since President Amadou Toumani Toure was overthrown by the military.

The new government was formed after an order from Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mediators. Embattled interim authorities stood by helplessly as the Islamists deepened their hold on the north.

Controversial Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra remains at the head of government despite calls for his resignation from much of Mali’s political class who accused him of incompetence and having no plan to win back the north.

Interim President Dioncounda Traore in August declared his confidence in his prime minister, a renowned astrophycisist and former chairman of Microsoft Africa.

The ensuing political chaos allowed Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels to seize control of the vast desert north, an area larger than France or Texas, where they have enforced strict sharia law.

The option of a military intervention from a 3,300-strong Economic Community of West African States standby force has been on the table for months but “very little” has been done to implement this, Mali’s Defence Minister Yamoussa Camara admitted recently.

Mali’s army chief of staff Ibrahima Dembele has said the Malian army - which is sorely in need of training and equipment - will play the lead role in ejecting the jihadists.

“No-one will fight this war in place of Mali, but the others will provide support, above all in the air and in logistics,” he said on Tuesday.

The UN has asked for more information on the size, means and plans of the proposed force before granting it a mandate.

ECOWAS on Wednesday urged the new government to swiftly organise elections and re-establish “territorial integrity”.

48 killed in Kenya territory clash, official says

Tensions between semi-nomadic cattle herders and farmers in southeast Kenya sparked an attack on the herders Wednesday that left 48 people dead, officials said.

A majority of those killed were women and children, police said. Only six were men.

The tensions and rivalry that resulted in the violence have been ongoing for decades in the Tana River area, said Joseph Kitur, deputy provincial police officer in Kenya's Coast Province.

The most recent clashes began last week when the Orma, a community of semi-nomadic herders, invaded farms belonging to the Pokomo.

The Pokomo responded by attacking Orma huts Wednesday morning, killing 31 women, 11 children and six men, Kitur said.

The farmers also captured 200 cattle belonging to the Orma.

Police were patrolling the area to prevent any further clashes, Kitur said.

U.S Consul-General Habu and his Islamness

THE inter-continental rage over a glib comment credited to the Consul-General of Nigeria to the United States of America, Hon. (why the title for the occupants) Habib Abba Habu is justifiably deafening. Mainstream and on-line American media quoted Habu as saying that he refused to be involved in any way whatsoever in the global empathy on display over the grim road carnage of 21st July, that consumed five Nigerians in New York—three women and two kids— which ghastliness shook the entire America, because the dead and bereaved were Christians, with the African Sun Times a publication in America quoting him verbatim that “I am a Muslim, I can never enter a church” in apparent assumption that all the burial rites would take place in church. His assumption was however off mark because the service of songs for the dead—all Igbo—reportedly took place at Coop City in Bronx, New York.

If the account of Mr. Nnamdi Akamnonu, President of the Arondizuogu Patriotic Union National Congress of North America—the body that coordinated the burial—was to be a guide, he claimed that a letter which was never replied was sent to Habu, intimating him of the wake-keep arrangement including the Coop City’s venue of choice, which could be interpreted as Habu just using his not entering a church because of his Islamness as a mere decoy.

The issue could be against Christianity itself. The statement could be a slip; a regrettable betrayal of a mind-set, being tormented by a clash between personal conviction and officialdom. Being conclusive at this point however, would be hasty though the exchange between Habu and the reporter which is being re-produced below verbatim is as illuminating as instructive.

“For sure, Mr. Habu called back. I explained to him the reason for my call, that I wanted to find out what Nigerians in the New York area were saying, that the Consulate did not react to the tragic death of five Nigerians which made national news in America, that he didn’t visit or send his representative to visit the surviving victims of the accident, and that he didn’t participate in the wake-keeping on Friday, July 10th. Before I could even finish, Mr. Habu shot back at me and angrily stated, “Mr. Onyeani, I am a Muslim, I can never enter a church.” I couldn’t believe my ears. I said to him, “Mr. Habu, you are the Consul-General of Nigeria, not the Consul-General of Nigerian Muslims, and your predecessors, whether Muslims or Christians or any other religion, have taken time to visit Nigerians whether in the church or in the mosque.” He replied, “Well, they are they, and I am me, I can never enter a church. I said to Mr. Habu, “I don’t really believe you are saying this to me, and I am going to be writing about this.” “Well,” he replied, “I don’t really care if you write about it, Chief Onyeani.” Then he thought again, and said to me, “Maybe I didn’t say it the right way.”

Weeks after the publication of this encounter, Habu’s rebuttal (if any) ought to dominate the airwaves by now, considering how weighty the content appears, but I had networked the internet without any traces of such. Habu might be too busy for a rejoinder or consider the issue unworthy and undignified of his precious time. In both scenarios, he would be confirming those words as his, because a rebuttal in over-due arrears would be deemed an after-thought and his perceived golden silence would mean consent.

Given the undisguised indignation of the reporter which appeared to compromise his objectivity a bit in the discharge of his professional duty, the report might have benefitted from a little brush-up to stir emotions at targeted quarters including Habu’s main employer; President Goodluck Jonathan, but those quoted and yet-to-be denied words are the main issues here.

Empathy; a promoting belt of humanity, is generally a choice but could become statutory when one has certain responsibilities towards those in need of it. Does Habu owe the affected bereaved Christian Igbo community in New York one? What he stands for as a Nigerian representative in America would appropriately situate the answer.

The official website of the Nigerian Consulate tells its story thus “As one of the four Nigeria’s diplomatic representation in the United States of America, the Consulate General of Nigeria, New York, has amongst its mandate, protection of its nationals (emphasis mine), rendering consular services, and promoting economic relations with the United States of America”. The Consulate has under its jurisdiction the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York (emphasis mine), Nebraska, Ohio, North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont and Pennsylvania. The Consulate General performs the usual consular functions including visas; passports; immigration; welfare of Nigerians (emphasis mine); notary; trade inquires; promotion of trade, commerce, and investment ; as well as educational, cultural, and information services”.

This is what the system is to Nigerians living in those 20 American states including New York where the auto-accident and the incident happened, with Habu who has 13 predecessors of both religions as their names suggested, as its face.

Habu surely has a statutory responsibility to empathise with the bereaved irrespective of their religion, because there was no foot-note to the broad responsibility on religion compatibility. Or is welfare not about general well-being which includes times of sorrow? In fact, concern for welfare is better pronounced and appreciated in times of challenges. Habu did not get it right.

By Lanre Adewole

Origin of corruption in Africa and way forward

Presentation made to the Parliament of Rwanda and other participants, during the international conference to mark the nation’s 50th Independence Anniversary in July 2012.

Transparency International has defined corruption as “the abuse of power for private gains.” Corruption can occur in several forms, but this paper focuses on what Hellman and Jones call ‘administrative corruption’, or the use of “private payments to public officials to distort the prescribed implementation of official rules and policies.”

When specifically viewed with Africa’s history in mind, administrative corruption, thought rampant across Africa today is an alien culture. Pre-colonial Africa, for the most part, was founded on strong ethical values sometimes packaged in spiritual terms, but with the end result of ensuring social justice and compliance.
Colonialism introduced systemic corruption on a grand scale across much of sub-Saharan Africa. The repudiation of indigenous values, standards, checks and balances and the pretensions of superimposing western structures destabilized the well-run bureaucratic machinery previously in existence across pre-colonial Africa. The end result is what is rampant across Africa today; conspicuous consumption, absence of loyalty to the state, oppressive and corrupt state institutions, to mention few.

Corruption in Pre-Colonial Africa
In both centralized and decentralized pre-colonial African communities, governance was conducted with the utmost seriousness. As the laws were mostly unwritten in nature and therefore prone to being easily forgotten, they were often couched in supernatural terms to instill fear and be instilled in the subconscious.
Examples abound of the heavy emphasis on accountability and good governance across several pre-colonial African communities. In West Africa, the Asante confederation was a kingdom that thrived on strict rules and regulations. Established by seven clans close to the city of Kumasi, the Kingdom was held together by the symbolic Golden Stool of Asante-Hene. With strong cooperation from all groups the leadership of the Asante kingdom was known, according to Emizet Kisangani, to have “implemented several modernization policies in administration that included promoting advancement by merit and the development of state enterprise through public investment.” The Asante were able to “build roads and promoted agriculture, commerce, industry and education through self-help and self-reliance.”

Among the Yoruba of south western Nigeria, the institution of Oyo-mesi the king making body, acted as a check against the abuse of power by the Alafin (the Oba) or the King of Oyo. The Alafin was constrained to rule with caution and respect for his subjects. When he is proven to have engaged in acts that undermined the interests of his subjects, such as gross miscarriage of justice for personal gains, the Oyo-mesi would, in the words of Yunusa Salami “present him with an empty calabash or parrot’s eggs as a sign that he must commit suicide” since he could not be deposed, according to tradition.

In the Igbo acephalous society, the absence of any form of overarching authority, by itself, placed leadership in the hands of the people – the very epitome of accountability and good governance. The titled chiefs sat together to address the more difficult issues of governance, and there is a saying among the Igbo that a “titled man does not lie.” If one wanted to hear the truth, to be granted pristine justice according to the prevailing standards, s/he only needed to get the impeccable body of titled men to hear the case in question.

Pre-colonial Rwanda had a highly organized, efficient and centralized system of administration. Although an autocratic and hierarchical system presided over by the king, there were systems of checks and balances among those who ruled at the clan level. A variant of the land ownership, Ubukonde permeated pre-colonial Rwanda. It was a custom of mutually beneficial exchange of labour between the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, set on agreed principles. At the time it existed, Ubukonde was accepted by all parties involved and those who tried to amass land wealth in a corrupt manner outside of the Ubukonde system incurred the wrath of the King.

Numerous examples abound across sub-Saharan Africa, but in all, what held these communities together and brought administrative corruption down to the barest minimum was a set of rules and regulations, agreed principles and moral values that guided human interactions.


Colonial Origins of Corruption in Africa

There are several ways that colonialism contributed to the prevalence of corruption across sub-Saharan Africa. Space will constrain this discussion to only a few salient examples.


Direct and Indirect Rule

Indirect rule turned leadership in Africa into a corrupted enterprise where instead of holding power in trust for the people, the rulers held power in trust for the colonial authorities. Government became an antagonistic platform for forcefully extracting obedience from the people. In several instances, the dregs of the society, the rejects, the ones that hitherto had no say in the community were promoted as warrant chiefs by British authorities. Individuals without character who demanded money in exchange for manipulating the colonial masters enthroned corruption at the highest echelon of governance. To avoid being punished for the grave crime of being citizens, the people saw bribery as a first and last resort, if at all they were to be granted access to the most basic rights.


Taxation

With little or no knowledge of the economic earnings of potential tax payers, colonial masters imposed flat-rate taxes known as hut tax on the colonies. The mode of tax payment was often steeped in violence, whereby district commissioners or warrant chiefs were empowered to arrest any defaulter.

The hut tax was mainly used in paying salaries and emoluments for colonial officers and in running the colonial office. There were very little benefits the people could see in the form of social services, in return for the taxes they paid. The result was the evolution of a latently corrupt system, devoid of accountability, and which pitched citizens against themselves and against the ruling class.

The Police and Military
The history of police and military formations in several parts of the world can be traced to the need to protect citizens and ensure territorial integrity. Conversely, in the case of Africa, the police and military were established primarily to crush civilian opposition to colonial rule. Police engagement with the populace was founded on the need to enforce hateful and debilitating colonial laws, including forced taxation, segregation, and quelling of anti-colonial uprisings.

At the end of colonialism, the newly independent African government inherited institutions that had internalized a culture of citizen oppression and extortion. The immediate post-colonial police and military were designed to inflict terror on innocent citizens, and citizens had internalized the art of buying their way off unwarranted harassment.

The major challenge for immediate post-colonial African leadership was how to embark on massive reorientation exercises. This challenge was not taken seriously by successive administrations across the continent. Even in cases where the need was recognized, resources was lacking that could bring about internally generated transition.


Conspicuous Consumption

Pre-colonial Africa as earlier indicated was known for emphasis on strong moral values. Those who were circumstantially rendered unfit as a result of age, ill-health or physical impairment were well taken care of. Colonialism destabilized the prevailing pre- colonial system, uprooted men from the farms to work for the white man as houseboys, miners, clerks and in other menial capacities. The monetization occasioned by this exercise introduced a form of greed, unknown in the culture of most pre-colonial African societies.

Rather than hard working and morally upright members of society acting as role models for the younger generation, colonial masters, who lived in ‘big’ houses, drove ‘big’ cars and treated Africans with disdain were who most Africans aspired to become like.

The prevailing culture of acquisition of alien tastes, a culture of consumerism rather than production, and the oppression of the less endowed are the natural outcome of idolizing usurpers and people who reaped where they did not sow.

Sixty years later, Africans, for the most part, remain enchanted with the trappings of modernity, without the character to cultivate it. Fast cars, big houses, expensive vacations to the west, Brazilian wigs and others are only some of the manifestations of a generation mentored by pilferers and oppressors in the form of colonial authorities.

The above are some of the means through which the unfortunate incident of colonialism engendered a culture of indifference to nation building, and a penchant for corruption across much of sub-Saharan Africa.

This essence of this summary introduction is not to play the blame game or bring about the wringing of hands in regret, but to understand the past – a luxury which the continued dominance of western thoughts in the academia and media has denied Africa – in order to mend the future.


The Way Forward

A brief introduction is made below of only a few of the several means that African leadership could utilize in calling the minds of Africans back to the values, which most of their communities extolled prior to the destabilization heralded by colonialism

 Restoration of indigenous values and institutions: Africa’s indigenous values and systems were for the most part debunked by first, the missionaries, then the colonialists in a much more forceful manner. Indigenous solutions to corruption must once again be explored followed by the rediscovery of indigenous systems of administration. Rwanda has successfully done the latter through the Gacaca, Abunzi, Umuganda, Umudugudu and other indigenous systems.

The above is by no means a call for African Christians and Muslims to revert to African traditional religion as is often perceived whenever the indigenous is mentioned. Far from it. The merging of Africa’s social, cultural, and moral values with its religion was the handiwork of some over-zealous missionaries and racist colonialists. Africans have come of age to separate between religion and other causes and to realize that one can be fully functioning in his chosen religion and still abide by several positively rewarding indigenous African values.

 Formal, Informal and non-formal Education: The greatest vehicle for cultural transmission towards a transformation of prevailing social paradigm is education. In its formal form, the curriculum of learning across sub-Saharan African countries must be overhauled to make for real mental and intellectual independence. In its non-formal manifestation, conferences, workshops, camps, and other non-formal learning situations must be widely utilized to re-educate citizens on the fact that real living occurs only when individuals have sound moral values, or at least, consistently and seriously aspire to it. Informally, the media will be mobilized as a crucial element of mass mobilization towards an appreciation of the African’s authentic social, cultural and economic environment.

 Religion as a nation building institution: Africans listen to their spiritual leaders, much more than they do politicians and policy makers. The pulpit ought to be mobilized as a knowledge and faith-based platform for reaching the souls of Africans and in directing them towards nation-building.

 Promotion of the “African” nation state: For the past 50 years, Africans have been struggling in vain to assimilate the artificially imposed colonial boundaries. It is time to promote the greater African nation-state and de-emphasize the cosmetic divisions that is filled with antagonistic ethnic groups.

Africans must be encouraged, motivated and facilitated to travel widely across the continent in order to overcome the ethnic animosities that was ignited by colonialism, established by the post colonial tussle for power among ruling elites, and strengthened by geographic claustrophobia.

 Strengthening of anti-graft institutions: Strong anti-graft institutions are a necessity across sub-Saharan Africa as in any other part of the world. Governments across Africa should appoint credible and determined individuals who may even be nationals of other African countries, to take up the fight against corruption in the high and low places. A strengthened judiciary is a necessity in this respect.

 Economic growth: Poverty breeds vice. African countries should embark on not just the deceptive increment in Gross Domestic Product, but real development in terms of standard of living. Health, education, food security, and infrastructural growth must be given prominence.
Conclusion

There is no genetic code that predisposes Africans to corruption; neither does the C shaped sickle cell in the African’s blood stream stand for corruption. The prevalence of corruption in Africa today is a process of socialization, which commenced with the excessively corrupt colonial government. The present challenge is for African governments to search out ways to restore the values and ethical principles that previously existed among the people. Re-orientation is critical in this instance, other avenues include spirituality, strengthened anti-corruption watch dogs, pan-Africanism and an emphasis on economic development.

By Dr. Chika Ezeanya

IBB @ 71: Can a leopard change its spots?

Right in the middle is a boy who later became Nigeria's president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida; first (right) is another Minna, Niger State-born boy, Abdulsalam Abubakar, who ruled Nigeria for 11 months.

South African Police massacre 35 mine workers

South African police opened fire on striking miners armed with machetes and sticks at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine on Thursday, killing at least a dozen men in scenes that evoked comparisons with apartheid-era brutality.

No fewer than 35 miners were said to have been killed in the shooting incident.

President Jacob Zuma said he was "shocked and dismayed" at what appeared to be one of the bloodiest police operations since the end of white-minority rule in 1994 in Africa's biggest economy.

"I have instructed law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to bring the situation under control and to bring the perpetrators of violence to book," he said in a statement.

Police have refused to confirm the death toll from the operation to disperse 3,000 protesting drill operators who had massed on a rocky outcrop near the mine, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.

Ibori moved to maximum security prison with terrorists and violent criminals outside London

SaharaReporters has confirmed that James Ibori, the convicted former governor of Delta State, has been transferred to a maximum-security prison, the Worcestershire Long Lartin Prison outside London.

UK prison officials in the United Kingdom confirmed the transfer to our correspondent, but said they could not tell what informed the move. “Yes, Mr. Ibori is now serving his prison term in the Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire,” said an official of the UK prisons.

The maximum-security prison houses terrorists, rapists, drug barons and other violent criminals. A recent report in The Guardian, a major UK newspaper, portrayed the prison as a rough, lawless facility where gangsters reign supreme.

In April this year, Mr. Ibori was sentenced to 13 years in prison for using UK financial institutions to launder hundreds of millions of pound sterling he stole from public funds in Delta State. The looted funds enabled Mr. Ibori, his family and mistress to live lavish lifestyles that included purchase of private jets, luxurious cars and to own plush homes as well as apartments in some of the swankiest areas in London. Mr. Ibori is expected to serve at least seven years in the UK since he received credit for his detention in the United Arab Emirates as well as the UK prior to his trial.

The US Department of Justice recently restrained assets belonging to the former governor in Texas and Massachusetts. A US attorney told SaharaReporters that the action means that Mr. Ibori is in legal trouble in the US whenever he serves out his prison term in the UK.

One of Mr. Ibori’s lawyers, Bhadresh Gohil, his wife, Theresa Nkoyo, sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie, and mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo were all sentenced to prison terms for aiding and abetting the former governor in his money laundering activities.

Meanwhile, several sources in Abuja and Asaba, the Delta State capital, have told SaharaReporters that Mr. Ibori has now perfected plans to reclaim the $15 million with which he tried, but failed, to bribe Nuhu Ribadu, the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Delta State government, led by Ibori’s cousin and money laundering accomplice, Emmanuel Uduaghan, recently stepped forward to claim the $15 million bribe which has been deposited at the Central Bank of Nigeria for several years.

Several sources had told SaharaReporters that Mr. Ibori frowned at the state government’s move, worried that an open admission that he gave the bribe would complicate things for him.

However, Saharareporters further learnt yesterday that the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, who initiated a lawsuit in which the federal government sought to take over the money from the Central Bank, had struck a deal with Delta State Governor to enable Mr. Ibori to ultimately reclaim the money. The deal was communicated to Ibori to calm him down.

Our sources revealed that claims by Mr. Ibori’s associates which will be planted in several Nigerian blogs to the effect that the cash was not intended as a bribe were part of a series of complex schemes to clear the way for Mr. Ibori to reclaim the money.

“Adoke and the Delta State government are now on the same page and working in tandem,” said one source. He added, “Once the state government obtains a court order awarding the cash to Delta, Chief Ibori will get a Delta State high court to rule that the money was not a bribe but Ibori’s contribution for an undisclosed political purpose. The state court will argue that the former governor was never convicted for any crimes in Nigeria, and order the state to return the cash to its rightful owner, Chief Ibori. The state government will quickly comply.”

Another source close to Mr. Adoke told SaharaReporters that the country’s attorney general and Minister for Justice has rubberstamped the deal, after officials of Delta State and associates of Mr. Ibori promised him a cut of the $15 million.

The source added that it was Mr. Adoke who came up with the legal scheme to enable Mr. Ibori to eventually take possession of the seized funds. He reportedly stated that since a Nigerian court presided over by Justice Marcel Awokulehin had dismissed all money laundering and corruption charges against Mr. Ibori, it would be easy for a Delta State court to rule that it was “impossible to accuse Chief Ibori of stealing from Delta State to bribe Ribadu.”

A leader of an activist political group in Delta State told SaharaReporters that his group had heard rumors about the planned deal between Mr. Ibori, the state government and Mr. Adoke. “I can tell you that we are vigilant and will resist any attempt to hand back money Ibori stole to the man to enjoy when he comes out of jail. We plan to take him to court again in Nigeria to explain what he did with our people’s money,” said the source.

Birth control pill for men is on the way

DOCS think they may have come up with a male contraceptive pill.

They hope the drug will make men temporarily infertile without being a flop in the bedroom.

Scientists discovered JQ1 compound while searching for a cancer cure.

And while it’s not effective at treating cancer cells, it was found to disrupt the development of sperm in male mice.

A sample group had lower sperm counts and their sperm was less mobile than those not given it, according to research published in the journal Cell.

Researchers also found the ‘pill’ did not affect testosterone production, mating behaviour, or the health of offspring conceived. Sperm production also went back to normal when it was discontinued.

Dr James Bradner of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, US, said: “Our findings demonstrate that, when given to rodents, this compound produces a rapid and reversible decrease in sperm count and mobility with profound effects on fertility. These findings suggest that a reversible, oral male contraceptive may be possible.”

Bradner, who is also on faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute, added: “While we will be conducting more research to see if we can build on our current findings, JQ1 shows initial promise as a lead compound for male contraception.”

A trip back to pre-1960

THE fable behind the pre-independence four-star prison in Ilesa suggested a poignant warning to the equally-fabled stubborn streak of the stock. Nothing disparaging here; I am ancestrally connected. From pre-history, befitting prisons have always been the colonial masters’ aroko (coded message) to those they plan to conquer their souls, spirits and lives and they keep re-jigging the strategy to match changing times, coating the chalice with honey since the dawn of the suspicious campaign for a freer world by the same western world which is always seeking to take prisoners by different but all means. The prisoner-seekers have always found a willing captive in many African countries especially Nigeria who rush at anything packaged in form of aids without second-guessing possible motives that could be everything but altruistic. I think they used to say that there is no free lunch in London and being our colonial masters who didn’t leave by choice, I still can’t see the attraction for the Nigerian government in the offer by United Kingdom to revamp Nigerians jails with Britons’ taxes and then deport 594 Nigerian prisoners in UK, (guess the number included James Ibori) to complete their terms here. UK government said the gesture was “to deport the prisoners without breaching their human rights”. Another segment of the project according to the UK government is “human rights training for prison officers”.

UK said the motif was to plug the £420m hole to its purse by caring for the 11,127 foreign inmates behind its bars, by helping the highest contributors-but poor nations- (importation mine) like Jamaica with highest 900 inmates and Nigeria to house their criminals.

The importation was due to their choice of needy countries. Why picking Nigeria and Jamaica out of others for prison rehabilitation help when countries like Poland-750 and Republic of Ireland-737 were not included?

Jamaica’s story with the English bears resemblance with Nigeria’s. Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, the fifth largest in the Caribbean became an English colony in 1655 and achieved full independence on 6th August, 1962. But with its entire global brand in Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake et al, it is still an island of 2.8 million people, though third most populous in Americas after USA and Canada. It is remarkable that Osun State’s population is now put at almost 4.2 million. So everything points to Jamaica needing help, especially its possible nuisance proximity to “those controlling global show”. But do we really need UK to refurbish our prisons for us before we can accommodate 594 prisoners when over 25,000 inmates are awaiting trials. What significant increase would the transferees make in the already over-crowded prisons that we are opening a yawning security gap in the system to foreigners? I know our love for hand-outs is legendary because it allows for the operators of such system benefitting from those suspicious interventionist programmes, to simply shovel the funds originally appropriated into personal pouch. Such predilection has turned us into full-blown beggar-nation. Or how does one explain the Central Bank of Nigeria accepting $200,000 computerization aid from United States of America when it probably provided the $620,000 suspicious sting operation fund involving Femi Otedola and Farouk Lawan.

With the prison rehabilitation already on-going, I can place a bet on the Britons supervising the critical aspect, possibly using our huge appetite for corruption as an excuse to do direct monitoring of its investment. Would you blame anyone for putting his mouth where his money is? It would be simple thinking for our leaders to think that our former Lords of Manor just love us and help without any attaching interests and even when it is just a normal free meal, our voracious ways of devouring such free meals, leaves much to desire. Does it occur to the prison managers in Nigeria that the interventionists could also explore security advantages like using hidden security cameras that could further expose our underbelly? What does the intervention even say about our attitude to our citizens; even if they are prisoners? Does it mean we cannot provide prison accommodation for just 594 Nigerians, considering that the prison system has not really be the ideally? I am sure we can receive and keep those prisoners even if they are serving life sentences, without compromising the system. I know there are mega-prisoners who must use comfy arena in the prisons given their large heartedness towards warders but we can still continue with the skewed system without further exposing our filth even if a certain James Ibori is on his way to Nigeria.

Written by Lanre Adewole

Rodents, cockroaches cause asthma - Prof Awotedu

Prof. Awotedu

Professor Abolade Ajani Awotedu is a professor of pulmonary medicine and head of Internal Medicine, Walter Sisulu University, South Africa. He speaks with EMMANUEL ADENIYI on asthma in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, submitting that poverty and other trigger factors are responsible for its high prevalence on the continent. Excerpts:

HOW would you compare the practice of medicine in Nigeria with South Africa where you currently work?
The practice of medicine when I graduated was very good and I can give credit to my teachers, though the facilities were not as elaborate as we have now, with what we had then the training was excellent. Unfortunately, due to economic considerations, one could say that the practice went down a little bit. But I’m happy to note that there has been an improvement in both material and human resources over the past five years, so it is not all gloom and doom, things are getting better. Comparing the practice of medicine in Nigeria with South Africa is like comparing an apple with an orange, because the resources and personnel are different. Don’t let us forget that South Africa is a country of two worlds; first-world technology and third-world technology as we have in Nigeria. South Africa pioneered heart transplantation ahead of Britain and America, that says something about the skills they have, especially among the white population. Medical services and training in South Africa in some centers: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban are at par with services offered in most leading centers in Europe and North America. However, if you go down to some of the towns in South Africa too, you will find out that some of the services are just like what we have in some of the hospitals in Nigeria. It is a contrast that you have first-world technology on one hand and just 100 kilometers down the road you have third-world technology, but with the end of apartheid people are able to access health care wherever they are without too much cost.
In what areas of health care delivery do you think Nigeria can learn from South Africa so as to improve on what it has presently?
The areas we can learn include that of sub specialty and specialty training. Some Nigerians are already making use of that facility by coming for the training, we call them supernumerary, they are trained for three months or a year in whatever they specialize on and then go back home. South Africa does not want to drain human resources from other parts of Africa, this is because many people when they come for such programme want to stay on, but South African government always discourages it.
You think government should be more involved?
Government should be more involved. Health care has moved from mainly government to private public partnership (PPP). It should be a partnership; government should provide the infrastructure, private sector too should come in. I grew up in the era of free education, free health services, but things have changed in terms of sophistication of health care, no government can provide absolutely free health services without going bankrupt. There are so many competing diseases now that were not present in 1950s and 60s, that time it was only malaria and a little bit of infections, but right now there are multi drug-resistant TB and HIV/AIDS which is very expensive to treat and there are other non-communicable diseases too. If the government says it is going to devote its attention to health care, then it would not be able to run other services. Government should be honest and come up with what it can do, while individual citizens should also partner with the government to jointly intervene in the sector.
Asthma has been described as a global challenge and a disease causing inflammation of the airways in humans, can you expatiate on this?
Asthma like you rightly said is a global disease. Many people in the past did not recognize whether what they had was asthma or not. Anybody who coughed for a period of time was considered to have tuberculosis and given treatment for tuberculosis. Few people were dying because they were not given early diagnosis and proper treatment; there was this fear that if anybody coughed or wheezed, he/she would die. It is not an uncommon disease, in any community between eight and 10 per cent of the population has asthma. There is no doubt that the prevalence has been increasing gradually over the years in most communities. A good example is the study that was done in Gambia. 45 years ago, there was no case of asthma after diligent search in the community under study. 20 years ago another study was done, and it was discovered that about five per cent of the population has asthma. Asthma is an inherited disease, once you have a gene that promotes it, you just need to come in contact with the trigger factor and you experience the symptoms of asthma.
A research study carried out recently in the US among African-American communities established the susceptibility of African-Americans to asthma. It also associated African ancestry with asthma through ancestry informative markers (AIMs). How true is this claim?
That cannot be correct because all communities, be it Caucasians living in Europe or North America and blacks living in Africa and US as well as aborigines in Australia have asthma. It is not in any way higher among blacks, in fact the highest incident of asthma is in Australia, and they are white there. So, it is not an African disease. What we can say, however, is that poverty and lack of access to health care services, even in the US, makes many blacks to suffer the brunt of asthma than the white population. If you are living in inner parts of New York with cockroaches and rodents, you are likely to have the disease. There is what we call urban/rural difference in asthma; it means that asthma is more common in the urban areas, especially poor urban areas. In the urban areas, pollution and exhaust from vehicles predispose one to asthma. Also in poor urban areas, rodents and cockroaches and all other things come into play to cause the disease, that is why African-Americans are said to have higher prevalence of asthma than the white population. South Africa gives the best example because you have blacks, whites who have been there for the past 300 years, coloured and everybody living in the same environment and community, the genetic pool is not the same either. Why it seems to be higher among the blacks has to do with the issue of poor access to medical care and poverty.
What is the prevalence of asthma in Nigeria?
It has been put between four and eight per cent, though there are variations in towns, villages, North and South; we need to do a comprehensive study to map out the prevalence of asthma in the country.
The president, Asthma and Chest Care Foundation, Professor Greg Erhabor, was said to have put asthma sufferers in Nigeria at 50 million. Could this be true?
Not in Nigeria, the figure is for Africa. What is the population of Nigeria? Nigeria is 150 million, if 50 million are asthmatic, which is 30 per cent, that will be the highest in the world. He must have been misquoted. Be that as it may, we need to conscientise our people.
50 million figure of asthma sufferers in Africa? That is alarming, what could be wrong or responsible for this?
There is nothing wrong genetically, though there are environmental factors that trigger it. In Africa, we don’t have a body of clinicians devoted to the care of asthma. We just have general practitioners that are treating people, and they can only treat people based on what they know.
You launched a book recently, what is its thrust?
It is to establish a pattern for Africa as an African. What I did was to ask different contributors to tell us their experiences in each of the geo-political areas, in West, East, Central and North Africa. We have a basis stating that as at 2012, this is the case of asthma in Africa, with the hope that it will ginger up governments in those sub-regions, to say we now know what is happening in our sub-regions, what can we do about it? It is to create awareness about the disease and about what is on ground, what is available and what we should be aiming at, because in many parts of Africa, the management of asthma still calls for concern.
2012 World Asthma Day’s theme was “You can control your asthma”, how do you think asthma sufferers can achieve maximum control of this health challenge?
It is just like what I said earlier. Let them recognise what triggers their asthma, this differs from person to person, they should make sure they have their medication with them. Management of asthma is a partnership between doctors and patients. It does not preclude you to do whatever you want to do, provided you take your medication.

'I'm not a bad guy': Nigerian fraudster apologises after conning new bride out of £300 wedding dress

Sarah-Jane Green

Sarah-Jane Green during her wedding

  Conman tricks mother-of-four with fake Paypal email

  She spent £105 on posting the dress to Africa

  He promises to return it claiming he has a 'conscience'

A devastated mother-of-four has received an apology from an online fraudster who conned her out of her £300 wedding dress.

Sarah-Jane Green, from North Yorkshire, had wanted to keep her dress after marrying fiancee David last month, but decided to sell it because she needed money to pay household bills.

After she realised the African conman had used a fake PayPal account and she had wasted £100 on postage, Mrs Green emailed him to express her fury.

The 33-year-old was amazed when she received an apology from the Nigerian for tricking her into giving away the handmade dress.

He wrote: 'Am sorry, (I) am not a bad guy. I don’t know why am doing all this and I want to change, but it’s difficult to do... who is gonna feed me?

'I have a conscience for what am doing and I fear God.

'I know if I don’t stop I will end up in hell.'

Mrs Green, from Catterick Garrison, had posted her dress on the Gumtree website and was then contacted by the conman who claimed he wanted to buy it.

He sent a fake Paypal email saying the money had been deposited and would be released into Mrs Green’s account once the item had been posted.

It was only after paying more than £100 to post the dress overseas that the mother-of-four realised she had been conned.

However, officials refused to stop the dress being sent to Africa, despite the package remaining in the branch.

She said: 'I feel absolutely heartbroken.

'It was such a hard decision to sell it in the first place and now I have got no dress and have spent £105 on postage.

'I contacted the police and the Post Office, but nobody was able to help me.'

In frustration, Mrs Green emailed the fraudster telling him what she thought of him.

The conman has said he will return the dress, although Mrs Green is not hopeful the pledge is genuine.

Police said officers contacted the post office to stop the package, but were told they needed a Home Office warrant.

The officer was told a warrant was unlikely to be issued for a wedding dress.

Pretty babe, hard to find

President Goodluck Jonathan with Jamaica's Culture Minister, Lisa Hanna. Could President have asked her,"Where were you when I was searching for a woman"?

North may drag Nigeria backward – Maku

Minister of Information, Labaran Maku

The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, has said the insecurity problems in the northern part of the country may not help Nigeria to move forward.

He also said it was regrettable that the northern part of the country, which he said was once leading in peace and tranquillity, had become the theatre of war.

The minister spoke on Monday night at the First Dialogue and Peace Iftar Dinner organised by Ufuk Dialogue Foundation in Abuja.

Maku said Nigerians must be worried that a region once known for its peaceful atmosphere and co-existence was already having dwindling fortune due to incessant terrorist attacks mostly by the Boko Haram sect.

He said, “Unless we are able to stop the fire, development will continue to elude the North. If the North lags behind, the whole country may not move forward.”

He called on Nigerians to embrace dialogue as the best option to settle their differences, adding that since almost all Nigerians believe in God, they should not resort to self-help when there were grievances among them.
He said, “If there are two religions that share the same ancestors, they are Islam and Christianity. These two religions not only share the same prophets, what you say in Quran is what you read in the Holy Bible. If there are two peoples that share same values, they are Muslims and Christians.

“I see no reasons why Nigeria cannot succeed. The way of Nigeria is important for all Africa. What we do today (the dialogue) is what we must do often.”

Also speaking at the event, the Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwanbo, said suspicion remained a contributory factor fuelling insecurity in the country.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding, a lot of suspicion not only along religious lines but among individuals, the only way we can clear this misunderstanding is through dialogue,” he added.

Archbishop of Catholic Diocese of Abuja, Rev. John Onaiyekan, said he was happy that such dinner was organised during the Ramadan.

He said he and other religious leaders would continue to “go all over the world and say ‘if you want to see where Christians and Muslims are living together in peace and mutual respect, come to Nigeria’.”

He added, “The average Nigerian Muslims and Christians want to live together and they are doing so.  This two great religions – Islam and Christianity, we are able to manage our difference; above all we are able to exploit them to maximum our commonalities.”

The President of Ufuk Dialogue Foundation, Oguzhan Dirican, said the foundation’s aim was to promote peace and dialogue, cultural coexistence and mutual understanding among every nation.

He said the sustainable contribution would continue with a series of conferences and events in different states of Nigeria.

Gunmen kill evangelist in Maiduguri

Gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect on Monday evening killed an evangelist with a Pentecostal church in Maiduguri, Ali Samari.

Evangelist Samari, 57, was with the Good News Church (GNC) Maiduguri and was reportedly killed at his Mafoni residence at exactly 6.30pm.

An eyewitness said the evangelist, who equally repairs wrist watches at the Post Office Area of the town was trailed to his house by two gunmen, after closing from work.

The witness also said the evangelist had sometimes this year received a stern warning from men suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect, asking him to vacate his residence.

He said though the evangelist discussed the threat to few people that were close to him, but he however dismissed it, saying “it is the Almighty God that protects. I leave everything in the hands of God.”

Confirming the incident, the Borno State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Gideon Jibrin, said the reports of the killing in Mafoni ward was received on Tuesday morning.

He said Mafoni is one of the black spots identified by the joint task force and police.

“It is a place where some members of the Boko Haram sect use as a hideout and from where they launch attacks on other parts of Maiduguri metropolis, “Jubrin stated.

I won’t meet Boko Haram's demands, Jonathan says

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has said he will not meet the demand of Boko Haram that he embrace the Islamic faith and become its ardent member, or resign from office.

He said the demand amounts to both blackmail and rude intimidation.



Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, Jonathan said he would not resign as president as he was in power based on the mandate given to him by Nigerians in the 2011 presidential poll.



Abati said it was laughable for any group in the country to hand down such a condition to a president who was elected by both Muslims and Christians in last year's presidential poll even when it was not in contest that he was a Christian.



The presidential spokesman said, "When Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for President Jonathan in the 2011 general election, they knew they were voting for a Christian.

"

He continues to enjoy the goodwill and support of the good people of Nigeria. As president, Dr. Jonathan is the leader of both Muslims and Christians; in fact he is the leader of persons of all faiths.

He said it amounted to sheer blackmail for any individual or group to ask the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to convert to Islam.

"The president cannot be intimidated by any group or individual,” he said.

“The President will never resign. He has the mandate of Nigerians to serve his father land and nobody should imagine that he will succumb to blackmail"

Fela Anikulapo Kuti: The Re-making of Bolekaja Critic through Photos

Fela Anikulapo Kuti (October 1938---August 2, 1997)

Nigeria may disintegrate if… –Tofa

Tofa

Presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the aborted third republic and founding member of the All Nigerian People Party (ANPP), Alhaji Bashir Tofa, yesterday expressed fear of possible disintegration of the Nigerian nation on account of the spate of bloody conflicts in parts of the north and other security issues threatening its corporate existence.

Alhaji Tofa, who was ANPP’s elders’ committee chairman, lamented the state of insecurity in the country, especially the bloody gun and bomb attacks in parts of the country, which to him constitute serious threat to the country’s progress and the peaceful co-existence of the Nigerian people.

He spoke with National Mirror in Kano, during which he highlighted some of the factors that have contributed in promoting conflict in the country to include poverty, growing unemployment, especially among the nation’s graduates, adding that they all joined to create an atmosphere of uncertainty.

The elder statesman also berated the government, traditional, religious and political leaders for what he described as their insensitivity to the security challenges confronting the nation.

In the opinion of Tofa, these categories of leaders have not done enough to help this country out of its present predicament.

In his words: “I have my fear that what is happening in the country now may be a prelude to the country’s disintegration, we have fought a war in this country in the late 60s when the South-East wanted to secede because they felt they were not being justly treated, there was resentment in the region, but today the resentment is all over the country, everybody is angry about the way things are going, especially the way government is being run.”

“Government is not functioning properly, opportunities are not there to enhance commercial and business activities; and we keep going backward. So the fear of disintegration of the country is high and I entertain that fear too that if we don’t do something quickly and positively, this country may end up splitting into different components.”

The northern leader also noted with concern that the lack of commitment by stakeholders and government is systematically paving way for the country to break up.

“So, what is happening is enough to bring about fear that if we do not do something now, and quickly too, the situation might lead to the disintegration of the country and that will be very serious.

“This country cannot afford to separate, we are so intertwined now with one another and we have people who are either born or have lived outside their ancestral homes for decades.”