MONDAY MIDNITE-1897

MONDAY MIDNITE-1897
From the campaign for the return of Benin's looted artifacts by British invaders in 1897 to the no-holds-barred condemnation of Nigeria's corrupt past and present leaders in tracks like PISSY PISSY, AZZHOLEZ ROCK and BRING BACK THE MONEY, this 1897 album is loaded with thought-provoking and inspiration songs. A click on the image will direct you to an online store where you can purchase the album or songs from the album.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gets a Transformative Gift for Its African Collection



 By RANDY KENNEDY
A work from Benin that was donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has received a major donation of Benin bronzes and ivories, a gift that promises to transform its African collection.
The works, from the collector Robert Owen Lehman, include 28 bronzes and 6 ivories, which will go on display at the museum in late 2013, joining the lone Benin work, aterra-cotta head, now in the permanent collection.
Mr. Lehman, a great-grandson of a founder of Lehman Brothers, bought the works from dealers and at auction from the 1950s through the ’70s. “Benin craftsmen produced some of the finest examples of bronze casting ever made anywhere in the world,” Mr. Lehman said in a statement. “I wanted the works to go into a gallery where they could be shown in a context that makes their power, beauty and technical sophistication evident.”
The kingdom of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, reached the height of its economic powers between 1300 and 1500, and the art produced by the kingdom is renowned for its beauty and idealized naturalism. In 1897, much of the art of the Benin court was destroyed or taken during a British military expedition, making it difficult or impossible for scholars to trace the history of the work.
In a statement announcing the donation, the museum said that “many works of art in the Lehman Collection are known to have left Benin in 1897, and the remainder likely left at the same time.”

Arts with Tajudeen Sowole: After Sotheby's controversial sales, grandson of another benefiary discloses over thirty of 1897 looted Benin art pieces

Arts with Tajudeen Sowole: After Sotheby's controversial sales, grandson of another benefiary discloses over thirty of 1897 looted Benin art pieces

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

UNITED STATE'S SECRET MEMORANDUM ABOUT MURTALA MUHAMMED immediately after the 1975 coup.


FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1969–1976
VOLUME E–6, DOCUMENTS ON AFRICA, 1973–1976, DOCUMENT 208


208. Briefing Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs (Reinhardt) to Secretary of State Kissinger, Washington, August 18, 19751


DEPARTMENT OF STATE
BRIEFING MEMORANDUM
August 18, 1975
To: The Secretary
From: PA - John E. Reinhardt
Nigeria After the Coup of July 28
This memorandum is presented in response to your request of August 14. It is concerned with the nature of the new government, its prospects, and continuing American interests.
The New Leadership
The leader of the coup against General Yakubu Gowon is an erratic, vainglorious, impetuous, corrupt, vindictive, intelligent, articulate, daring Hausa. BrigadierMURTALA MUHAMMED was a prime force in the Nigerian coup of July, 1966, which brought GOWON to power, and is one of the two principal plotters againstGOWON for the past two years. He commanded a division during the Nigerian civil war, was involved in the only documented cases of genocide, won one important battle, and thereafter coasted for upwards of two years until GOWON finally removed him from command and placed him in charge of Army signals, a position which he held until last month, though he combined his military role with the civilian position of Commissioner (Minister) of Communications from July, 1973, until the coup.
MUHAMMED inherits from GOWON vast petroleum resources (potentially 3-3.5 million BPD, based on known reserves), considerable but neglected agricultural wealth, tremendous but untapped natural gas reserves, other minerals (coal, tin, columbite, uranium), by African standards an excellently trained civil service, and the dubious asset of eighty million people.

To match his assets, MUHAMMED also inherits - and has contributed to - a tradition of corrupt civilian and military officials, urban problems second only to those of Calcutta, drift and inepitude in development, insoluble but containable ethnic problems, and a national temperament which combines pride, aggressiveness, arrogance and patriotism into a brand of xenophobia best labeled Nigerianism.
Prospects for Survival
Almost six years after the civil war, MUHAMMED is probably ushering in a period of coups. As a corrupt Hausa, he automatically attracts Ibo and Yoruba enmity, which he knows and has attempted to reduce by early appointments. As a Northerner and a Muslem, he will be expected to consolidate once and for all the leadership role which his fifty million brothers are certain is theirs. MUHAMMED will agree, of course, but will seem to the Hausas to vacillate as he sings "One Nigeria.”
While there is no reason to believe that he can approach GOWON's success in accommodating ethnic rivalries, there is also no reason to think that he will be any more successful in rapidly developing the country, and rapidity is the great need if he is to avoid GOWON's political problems stemming from stymied development. Money is obviously plentiful, but absorptive capacity is low (corruption, unrealistic planning, confused priorities, and a demonstrated reluctance to turn to the outside).
Finally, MUHAMMED and his co-plotter and now deputy, Brigadier OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, are the most militant of Nigerian military leaders on the Southern African question. GOWON and his principal lieutenants burned with the rage of all Africans when considering this issue, but they were realistic. MUHAMMED andObasanjo are advocates of a NATO-type military command within the OAU having the avowed objective of strengthening liberation movements. More responsibility may bring more realism. On the other hand, formidable ethnic and developmental problems could convince the new leadership that they should deal repressively with the domestic scene while joining militant Arabs and Africans in organizing a Pan African jihad for liberation. (A large Libyan delegation visited Lagos last week.) MUHAMMED and Obasanjo are unlikely to bring any more inspiration to this enterprise than Nkrumah and Amin. At any rate they do not enhance their prospects for survival by any launchings on this uncharted course. Yorubas and Ibos, at least, will be disinclined to travel with them.
Nature of American Interests
An early but undocumented and probably inaccurate assessment is that certainly MUHAMMED and perhaps Obasanjo are anti-American. I believe that this initial reaction is based on no more than an unfortunate U.S. visa restriction entered in MUHAMMED's passport and Obasanjo's impulsive move to evict our Embassy from prime Lagos property. Nigerian leadership is far more pro-Nigerian than anti-any cause or country, which is the essence of Nigerianism.
Still, we can probably do little or no political business with the new regime, which of course does not distinguish it from the old. We are simply too far apart on the political issues which they exalt, mainly Southern Africa and the whole range of UNcontroversies. (The Communist countries have no better political opportunities, unless they foment and become involved in the jihad scheme, which I believe to be as imprudent for them as for us.)
It is in the economic-commercial area that the USG will have greatest opportunities. Even in this area it is the private sector, motivated by the USG, which is in the best position to advance our interests. And it is in this area that MUHAMMED has demonstrated some responsiveness.
When the corrupt MUHAMMED succeeded the more corrupt J. S. Tarka as Commissioner of Communications, he immediately perceived that at least the telephones must operate properly if his fate were to be any different from Tarka's. American businessmen, in extended conversations with me, described MUHAMMED as being un-Nigerian in his acceptance of their proposals. Specifically GTE and ITT were close to multi-million dollar contracts whenMUHAMMED turned from communications to plotting. (These deals have all the earmarks of Ashland and Mobil Oil arrangements, which is another problem. The point is that they are deals in a country where Americans have not enjoyed much success outside the petroleum sector.)
MUHAMMED is intelligent enough to realize that he cannot survive unless he can convert oil revenues into tangible development. Among his considerable faults is not Idi Arminian stupidity. His questionable maneuverings as Commissioner reveal a respect for American technology and a realization that capital markets do not begin and end in London. (British and Canadian communications interests have absorbed Nigerian revenues for years without producing a workable system. Other fields point up similar examples, as USG policy has deferred to a British sphere of influence.)
What we badly need, to put it bluntly, is focused American investment and economic penetration of Nigeria. The planes between New York and Lagos are filled with American businessmen, most of whom return frustrated because their proposals are a part of no plan other than their own. Our AID program, even when it received substantial appropriations, demonstrated the same shortcoming.
It ought not be beyond USG ingenuity to organize appropriate sectors of American private industry to spend Nigerian money to gain perceptible development in response to Nigeria's economic and Muhammed's political (survival) needs. Emphasis is on the U.S. private sector: (1) USG foreign assistance funds cannot be appropriated and are not needed; (2) USG political closeness to the MUHAMMED regime is probably unobtainable and undesirable.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Determine critical Nigerian development areas in which American private industry can make unique and mutually advantageous contributions. Organize a high level economic-commercial mission with demonstrated technological skills in these areas, and send this mission to Nigeria, after proper advance preparations here and there.

2. Avoid even semblances of close political ties to the incumbent Nigerian leadership, until and unless it proves more durable than now seems likely.
3. Gradually phase small AID mission into Embassy Economic Section, which should be staffed with carefully selected State/AID personnel competent to foster and continue objective of Recommendation 1.
4. Maintain discreet, friendly State ties with GOWON, though avoiding commitments. After another coup or two, probably bloody, GOWON may seem more and more to be the indispensable military leader, or at least the only acceptable one.
1 Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box CL 202, Geopolitical Files, Nigeria, January-August 75. Secret. Drafted by Reinhardt without clearances

Monday, June 18, 2012

Murder in Malabo: How police in Equatorial Guinea killed Nigerian prince

bepo.jpg
Bepo being prepared for morgue



By: 
 AKIN ALOFETEKUN, Minna


For Prince Mathew Adekanmi Aderemi Bepo, 47, a Nigerian and staff of the Arab Contractors in Equatorial Guinea, May 23 started like any other day in Malabo, capital of the Central African country; quiet and peaceful. 


The peace and quietude of the day was, however, short-lived for Bepo when by 3p.m (just two hours to the close of work), four Guinean policemen allegedly stormed his office, dragged him out and took him to the outskirts of the town. He was battered, especially on the head, and later dumped in front of a police station where Good Samaritans saw him and helped him to his company’s clinic. 

 Four days later, Bepo gave up the ghost, leaving behind a wife, six children and other dependants But what could have been his offence? Well, the late Bepo, who hails from the Bepo Ruling House of Ilesa in Osun State, was said to have refused to “do a deal” with a Guinean national who had come to siphon diesel from the company’s fuel stock beyond the 200 litres contained in the approval paper he brought to Bepo. The deceased, until his death, was the store officer of the company. 

Arab Contractors, Bepo’s employers, were engaged in a road construction work for the Guinean government in Malabo. Some dubious activities happening in the company in Malabo compelled the company to transfer Bepo whose record of sincerity and integrity was said to be a common knowledge to his Egyptian bosses in the company. 

With his papers perfected and work permit from the authorities in Malabo issued, Bepo left his office in Lagos and headed for Equatorial Guinea to assume office as Stores Officer. Part of his schedule was to take charge of the company’s property in the stores and release items to staff and sub-contractors of the company only on the approval of his bosses. Since his arrival in Malabo, the deceased had adhered strictly to the rules guiding his job until last month when this strict adherence cost him his life in the hands of those who felt his continued stay in that office was becoming injurious to their selfish interests. 

Daily Sun exclusively gathered that around 3 p.m of the fateful day, one Mahmud, a Ghanaian subordinate of the late Bepo, had asked for the deceased’s signature permitting him to release 200 litres of diesel to one of the company’s sub-contractors. The authority letter was genuine and so Bepo wasted no time in appending his signature. 

Some 20 minutes later, however, Mahmud again returned with Don Rahman Fernando Nguii, the Guinean sub-contractor, telling Bepo that the sub-contractor was asking for additional 100 litres, but that he (Mahmud) told the Guinean that only a higher authority could grant such a request. 

Bepo was said to have told the man that he was not in a position to grant his request. At that point, the Guinean allegedly became furious and put a call to somebody whom he told in Spanish that Bepo was proving stubborn. “Leave him. I will let him know I am a Guinean,” he was quoted to have said furiously before storming out of Bepo’s office. 

Some 15 minutes later, the Guinean reportedly came back with four policemen who, without any introduction, went straight for Bepo. In a commando-like manner, the policemen was said to have dragged him away from his chair and pushed him into their car and sped off. 

By the time Bepo resurfaced at the company’s clinic in Malabo, his was a case beyond the capacity of the clinic. He was then transferred to another hospital where he spent a night before he was again transferred to Centro Medico, Lapas, said to be the best hospital in Equatorial Guinea. Here, Bepo was reportedly placed under the intensive care unit. He, however, could not make it, as he died four days after the attack. 

Daily Sun, however, gathered from sources close to the family of the late Bepo that the policemen were of the Bonas Esperance station in Malabo. By the time Bepo’s relations arrived Malabo after hearing the news of his death, the matter was yet to be reported officially to the Nigerian embassy. However, the Yoruba community in Malabo reported the matter to embassy officials. The company eventually communicated the news of Bepo’s death to the Nigerian embassy via a letter dated 31st May, 2012. 

According to Mallam Bashir, a member of the Yoruba community, killing Nigerian nationals in Equatorial Guinea was a regular occurrence, especially the illegal immigrants. The Nigerian Head of Chancery, Alhaji Umar A Abdullahi, the Chiroman Lapai in Niger State, in a telephone interview with our correspondent said he would not respond to any of the questions put to him, saying: “I am a civil servant.” 

When reminded of the gravity of the issue at stake, Abdullahi, who was more interested in knowing how our correspondent got his telephone number than in talking about the matter that has capacity to cause diplomatic row between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, said he had said everything there was to be said to the relations of the deceased. 

“If you cannot get them to brief you, then go to the ministry in Abuja. I don’t know you and I cannot talk to you,” Abdullahi said with a tone of finality. Ezekiel Ajayi, a colleague of Bepo, confirmed to Daily Sun in a telephone interview that the president of Equatorial Guinea, Ngueso Nguema, had personally taken interest in the matter and has since ordered the immediate arrest and prosecution of all those involved. 

James Agum, another colleague of Prince Bepo, also in a telephone interview told Daily Sun that about five people, including Nguii, the sub-contractor and the head of the Bonas Esperance police station whose men picked the deceased, were already in detention waiting to be charged to court. The Head of the company in Malabo, Mallam Ahmed Abubakar, could not be reached on his mobile number, but unconfirmed sources revealed that the management of Arab Contractors is divided between insisting on justice being done on Bepo’s case and the need to maintain the existing cordial business relationship with the Guinean authorities that would not create embarrassment for the government in Malabo or be found to be responsible for diplomatic row between Abuja and Malabo. 

Funmi, wife of the deceased, Babajide, Seyi, Adeola, Mary, Tade and Bunmi, his children are presently mourning the loss of a husband and father who left Nigeria for Equatorial Guinea in a legitimate search of a means of livelihood, only to return home dead. 

Bepo was not an illegal immigrant in Malabo, and the company’s letter to the Nigerian Embassy confirmed this. In the letter intimating the embassy of Bepo’s death and signed by the company’s General Manager, Engineer Ibrahim Mabrouk, the company stated that Bepo “came to Equatorial Guinea by the company’s request and was working with us. He died on the 27th May, 2012 by an internal bleeding. It’s such a painful situation and we are sorry not being able to communicate it before. 

“Our lawyers are taking care of the case before the Equatorial Guinea justice department and that was why we were unable to pass on the information earlier.” 

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Murder in Malabo

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Femi Kuti @ 50: ‘My Pains, My Gains’-VANGUARD




Femi Kuti
By Vanguard Newspaper

Femi Kuti, son of the late legendary Afro-beat musician turns 50 on July 16, 2012. In this no holds bare interview, the only Nigerian based musician ever to be nominated thrice at the Grammy opened up on the day to day challenges of sustaining the legacies left behind by his late father. He also speaks on his relationship with women and how he was able to overcome the pains of separating from his ex-wife Funke. Excerpts:


What does fifty years mean to you; people say as a golden jubilee, it is supposed to make a man wiser?
Nothing, but I believe I’m wiser and more experienced in age and life but I’m indifferent towards it. Pertaining to celebration, some people are making it look like a glorious day because they appreciate my works, but to me, its just another day that will pass.



Regarding your career, can we talk about the high points of it?
There are so many of it. My first hit was ‘’Wonder-Wonder’’ which won a lot of awards in Nigeria. I was the first Nigerian to win ‘’KORA Award, ‘’World-Music Award and some others. I believe I was the most appreciated Nigerian at the Grammy award even though I haven’t won any yet. I have been nominated for a good number of awards too. I’ve toured extensively all around the world. I’m definitely in ‘the fore front of Afro-beat. The period when ‘’Bang-Bang-Bang’’ became an international hit, it opened so many doors especially to the new generations who did not know my father; they were  now able to relate me and my works to him.



Even regarding sales too?
Well, I can’t really say that about sales because it has dropped for everybody. One who used to have a sale of twenty million then should be happy and grateful if he can have a sale of two million now.



How about the low points?
That would include bad press, especially from some particular National newspapers. Once I was called and asked where  I was in France, it was rumoured that I was running around the ‘’Eiffel Tower’’ naked. I didn’t bother to call them to clear the air; I think my sister (Funke) did. Also, my crashed marriage was as a result of the same bad press. I decided to keep quiet about it for the sake of my son but they fueled it by exaggerating the story.

The death of my sister would most likely be the lowest point of my life and my mother’s death too because on that day, I had to play at Okoya’s 60th birthday party. I was glad I was able to sail through but those two days were the worst days of my life.


How about the death of your father?
Not really, because my father was a celebrity. So it was more of celebration rather than a burial. The only sad thing is that he didn’t get to see his grandchildren and give them a piece of advice for their career but it was not as regretful as that of my sister. My father lived a rather fulfilled life with 27 wives, fame and fortune. He was nothing short of the biggest star Nigeria ever had. So his death was not a regret but a celebration.

Faced with the reality of your father’s death and as the first male of the family, how did things go for you?
His death was not something I was prepared for. Notwithstanding, he had been grooming me for a life after him so, I wasn’t shocked. But as the days went by, the burden of the legacy that had been passed on to me dawned on me because the African tradition emphasizes on the male son to take over everything but luckily for me, my sister was very helpful.



What were the initial challenges?
The initial challenge was trying to get the ‘’Shrine from the ‘’Burlington’s and when we could not get it, we immediately licensed his back-catalogue. If you remember then,  a lot of  his music was bootlegged because he was dead. We quickly convinced the family to  give Universal Music the license because that was the only multinational organization that could sue and stop the bootleggers. 



They took a fast decisions so we would not loose licensing to back catalogue.
Convincing and keeping the family together became a major challenge because a lot of people wanted to separate the family, using Seun as an excuse to cause friction. I had to keep my band, tour and music career together as well. It wasn’t easy but I learn that nothing good comes easy in life.


Talking about your Music, how much would you say it has grown in the last five years?
I think my next album would be a dynamite. From the Grammy nominations, you can see that if I wasn’t progressing, I wouldn’t have been nominated for that award. If ‘’Bang-Bang” won the ‘World  Music nomination in 2001, 2010 and 2012, it shows that it’s not the end of my career, I’m progressing and it is not just a flick. If it were to be that I had just one nomination, people would have said it was because I happened to be Fela’s son or that I featured American artistes, but it wasn’t so. I featured more of French artistes and had no American collaboration. The performances of  the French artistes on my album was done in Lagos.

There was no technological enhancement. It was live from the studio. That shows that people appreciate what I’m doing and it is not easy to be nominated for awards. Femi Kuti has taken the Broadway to a different level and here, where it started, nothing much is happening but in Europe. 



My fear is that we would soon have a situation whereby they may not have services of the original owners of the music…
We should understand that Afro-Beat has become a global thing; it doesn’t belong to just Nigeria anymore. The world appreciates the fact that it is Fela’s creation  and nobody runs away from that fact. So it can only keep growing. It is now going to have a new dimension and more branches.


The Afro-beat I play now is quite different from what Fela played and when my son (Made) who is being trained, makes his own album, whatever he plays is going to be different from what we both play but, he would still have the influence of his father and grandfather. As the years go by, it is not going to be done by Nigerians alone, other people would emerge.


I’m talking about the originators, nobody would be there to take over?
That’s not true. I’ve seen a couple of bands that play Afro-beat. I cant remember their names but I know a good number play the same.

They may not be as known as myself and Seun but they do exist. It is just because the critics are over-critical, insisting that you must be like Fela. I once had a problem with these critics due to the fact that Seun acted more like Fela but I refused to act like him and it took me years; that is over a decade to convince  Nigerians that you don’t have to be like Fela to play Afro-beat. It was ‘Bang-Bang-Bang’ that opened their eyes to the fact that you can do something else with the Afro-beat and it has opened a whole new market that people are capitalizing on now.


You seem to have come back to where you started from, was that an experiment?
No, its all part of the going. When I did the work with most of those Hip-hop artistes in America, an opportunity came and I seized it. If another one comes by and I have to work with classical musicians, I would not hesitate. It is all part of growth and development of music.



What are those basic things in Afro-beat that makes it distinct from other genres of music, particularly when you do a collaboration with a Hip-hop artiste?
First, you must remember that Hip-hop came out of Afro-beat, so there are a lot of similarities between the two and merging is not a difficult task. The difference between Afro-beat and the rest is finding melodies for your rhythm and being political and sincere with your lyrics.



Is it really compulsory?
No it’s not. ‘Bang-Bang-Bang’ showed it is not compulsory but that should be the major factor. If you want to hear a love song, people want the sincerity of that music kept in place, so when I play ‘’Sorry-Sorry’’, people want to hear the frustrations of a young man regarding bad government.

You are looking very good, honestly, I’m quite impressed
Well, thank you. I try as much as possible not to stress myself at my age. Notwithstanding that I’ve been through so much, I have tried to live and stay healthy in the toil surrounding my life.



How has it been keeping a band together?
I’ve had to start up a new band for over five times now because of indiscipline among my band members. Sometimes, they refuse to understand the political message behind my music; building and maintaining the ‘’Shrine’’ also. In all these cases, if you don’t try to comport yourself, you might lose your head (laughing).



Lets talk about romance, is it dead?
No. You can see one of my beautiful girlfriends over there.

I mean ‘wife’, not ‘girlfriend’…
I don’t have to be married to be happy and I’m not getting married again. I can actually say I’m married and I don’t necessarily have to call a Pastor to serve as a witness to it. I even consider that a low point on my integrity.

If I live together with a woman who has a child for me, in the African tradition, she is already my wife-that’s common sense. I can say I’m married only that it is not documented which is preferable because if we start a fight, we don’t have to go to a court; we can settle it amicably or just walk away from the relationship. I just got off the phone with Funke before you walked in. We talk  about our son and other issues like we are still married but not legally married anymore.


But why is she not here?
She does not have to be here. She stays at her own house.



Asking as a friend now, do you sometimes miss her?
Like I said, I have no regrets and we are no longer married. But sometimes, I miss her. I’m the kind of person that gets up and picks his life back after a problem or else, it will kill you; not physically but mentally or psychologically.  There were times we tried to come back together but it just didn’t work. There were stronger forces against our coming back and I did not have the energy to keep on pleading for understanding.  A lot of things changed but it is something nobody is bitter about now. We talk about the past but nobody accepts responsibility for the mistakes, so we just let it die down.



If she comes to you for sexual pleasure now, would you succumb?
Most likely not. (laughing)



What is your perception of the talent hunt show,’Next Afro-beat Star’?
I think it would be wonderful and fantastic if it is focused.



Saturday, June 9, 2012

Fresh scandal brews over Farouk Lawan’s $600,000 bribery scandal


BY OKEY NDIRIBE AND EMMAN OVUAKPORIE
ABUJA-There are indications that fresh trouble is brewing  at the House of Representatives over allegations that Chairman of the House’s Adhoc Committee on Petroleum Subsidy Hon. Farouk Lawan was involved in a bribery scandal worth $600,000 last month.
Already there are speculations that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may have invited Hon Lawan over the bribery allegation which sources say have already resulted in the Speaker of the House Hon. Aminu Tambuwal disowning the legislator over the messy incident.
It was gathered that Tambuwal had confronted Lawan over the issue in a meeting of Principal officers of the House where the Chairman of the Adhoc Committee on Petroleum Subsidy was summoned to defend himself over the allegation.
Sources said  that Hon. Lawan had initially denied the allegation when it was put to him by the Speaker but froze in shock when he was confronted with details of what transpired at the  address where officials of an unnamed oil company had  given him the huge amount of foreign currency which had been marked.
It was further gathered that unknown to Hon Lawan, the entire incident was recorded by video after which copies were sent to a former Head of State who handed it over to Tambuwal.
It would be recalled  that in the wake of the controversy that was generated over the Federal Government’s planned total withdrawal of subsidy from  petroleum products last January,  the House of Representatives set up  the Adhoc Committee to probe how the subsidy fund that was appropriated by the National Assembly in the past had been disbursed.
Among the findings of the House was that despite the fact that only N400 billion was appropriated for payment of oil subsidy in 2011, over one trillion naira was spent.  It was also alleged that a lot of the payments were made to phoney companies.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

The Exposition of Indian Quack Doctors Nigeria


     Indian Fake Doctors in Nigeria who sends people to their early graves


True Story, please make sure you read,like  and share It!Indian Fake Doctors Operating In Abuja Nigeria Exposed!!!!
I am hurt and I wish to spread this news fast. If you had listened to the network news in FRCN this morning, this issue was seriously broadcasted and analyzed by the Reporter. It was also broadcast Monday last week.
The Indian operated Specialist hospital in Karu Site, Abuja are Quacks, Fake, 419 and exploiters of Nigerians. If you know anybody going or planning to go to that hospital, please stop the person immediately.
The hospital was built by FCT as Karu General hospital but all of a sudden it was leased to this killer Indians to operate as specialist hospital.Charges in this hospital is exploitative, only registration alone in N25,000.00.
MAIN ISSUE
In November 2011, my sister went to the Indian Hospital for Fibroid operation. The Indian thieves diagnosed her and said her case is very complex. She was charged a total of N700,000.00. On the day of operation, she was taken to the theatre and was Open up. What do I mean. She was torn OPEN-UP and stitched back without removing any fibroid. When she recovered from the effect of the Anastasia, they congratulated her for successful operation and that lumps of fibroid had been removed from her. My sister requested from the doctors to see the lumps which is a normal practice in every hospital, the Indian thieves said the lumps had been taken to lab for analysis, that they will show her later. Till today my sister have not sighted the fibroid lumps that was removed from her.
From the night after the operation, my sister started feeling serious pains than what she had before. She complained to the Indian thieves, they said it will be okay and discharge after three days with the pains. She went home and had more pains than ever aside the torn wound.
 We decided in December 2011 to go for scan in another lab. The scan result shows that there are heavy lumps of fibroid in her and that there is absolutely no sign that any removal attempt had been carried out even though there is evident that she was opened up for surgery. We tried the scan in another specialist hospital in Asokoro, Abuja. It was the same result. My sister then disguised herself with another name and went for scan in the same Indian specialist hospital Abuja and they confirmed that she was open up but not an iota of fibroid was removed from her. 
My sister lied to the scan officers that the operation was done in Benin hence she will require a comprehensive report from the Indian Killer hospital and the they did a beautiful job in putting the whole report in black and white.
January this year, my sister went for the same fibroid operation in another hospital in Asokoro, Abuja and she was operated successfully and the lumps of fibroid removed were shown, the operation was videoed and pictures of everything were taken and are well kept.
She has written petitions to Medical and Dental Council of Niger, Nigerian Medical association, Minister of Health, and we making effort to present it to the National Assembly. Many media reporters have interviewed her, Some have written already. FRCN has carried twice as main news item.
Investigation by media reveals that those Indians are quacks, they do not posses basic medical credentials. The Head of the hospital an Indian woman is not a medical doctor. The deputy is her son and not a medical doctor as well. A specialist hospital operating in a Nigerian Government Built Infrastructure do not have a medical director!
Nigerian Medical Council have confirmed that this Indians were brought during the former Minister of FCT and were horridly given temporary permission to operate without passing through the normal registration procedure by the council.
DONT BE A VICTIM, BE WARNED. SPREAD THE NEWS TO ANY NIGERIAN YOU KNOW. AVOID INDIAN SPECIALIST HOSPITA, KARU SITE, ABUJA. BY Azubueze Pedro

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Senate Orders FG To Ground DANA Planes, Asks NCAA Boss, Demuren To Step Aside

Senate Orders FG To Ground DANA Planes, Asks NCAA Boss, Demuren To Step Aside


The lawmakers say the airline should be barred from operating flights until investigations are completed. The Senate has asked the Federal Government to ground all planes belonging to DANA Airline until investigations are completed into Sunday's deadly crash which killed 153 passengers and crew and unknown number of people on ground. 


At plenary Tuesday morning, the upper legislative chamber also ordered the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Harold Demuren, to step down. 


Monday, June 4, 2012

The Real Reasons Behind The Dana Air Crash!

 


. How Staff Were Forced To Fly The Plane Despite Complaints
. The Plane’s Catalogue Of Faults
Inside sources have revealed that the Dana Airline crash that killed over 150 people and rendered many homeless in Lagos could have been avoided if the airline’s management had listened to its staff.
Reports monitored on Channel’s TV on Monday morning indicated that the management was informed that the plane developed a fault shortly after it left Lagos and stopped over in Calabar. 
The Dana Air staff who spoke revealed that instead of sending the aircraft back to Lagos for repairs, the owners decided that it should go ahead to Abuja to pick passengers. The lady also stated that in the recent past, the plane had a number of problems with its hydraulics. 
The official said “the plane has being giving faults for a very long time. There was a case when it was on ground in Uyo for over six hours, because of delayed flight, it had a bolt. And then in Abuja it happened a few days ago, then some people went with the aircraft but they could not come back, because it had a fault there and it couldn’t leave Abuja.”
Speaking further, the official said “yesterday, it (the aircraft) was not supposed to leave Lagos at all, but it left and then got to Calabar, gave fault and it was fixed and then they took it to Abuja, when they should have returned to Lagos but because they didn’t want to part with the little money they will make, they took it to Abuja, loaded full passengers, and then it couldn’t get to Lagos. 
It has being having faults over time, continuously, hydraulics or one thing or the other. That aircraft kept having problems and they were not ready to park it” she stated.
Street Journal has also found out that the aircraft was faulty and the faults it gave made the original owners sell it. The plane was sold to Dana Airlines in February, 2009 by Alaska Airlines.
Checks from the Aviation Safety Network revealed that that particular plane, an MD-83 was manufactured in 1983 and it had its maiden flight on December 17, 1984. Alaska Airline bought the plane on the 13th November 1990 and it had the registration number N944AS.
It was found out that the plane had its first fault on November 4, 2002 when it had to undergo emergency diversion due to smoke and electrical smell in the cabin area, which engineers said was because light ballast had over heated.
The plane’s cabin area developed another fault on August 20, 2006, and it had to be evacuated after landing in Long Beach, California due to a chaffed wire bundle that discharged and produced smoke in the cabin area.
Street Journal gathered that Alaska Airline had the aeroplane parked in Victorville after the August 20, 2006 incident and it was in that state until maintenance was carried out on it in Miami on September 11, 2008 before its eventual sale in February 2009 after which it was registered as 5N-RAM.
The first issue the plane had in Nigeria was on April 19, 2010 when it had an emergency landing following loss of engine power after bird strike on take off in Lagos.
Meanwhile, in February 18, 2012, Street Journal published a story titled “America’s Damning Report on The Rot In Nigeria’s Aviation Sector”, the story was a sequel to a report on Nigeria’s aviation industry by an American agency. 
It reads “A few days ago, Street Journal reported on the substandard services in Nigeria’s aviation sector which have forced numerous travellers to complain about several airlines. At times flights are delayed for hours and on several occasions, passengers’ have had to cope with another stress as their luggage are sometimes forgotten at the point of departure by airlines. And to cap up the insult, neither apologies nor explanations are offered by the airlines for such developments.
Though the Nigerian aviation authorities have not released full reports of the three air disasters that occurred between 2005 and 2006, Street Journal got a copy of the reports on the crashes which were obtained by the American agency, AP. The revelations in the reports were damning and they went a long way to expose the rot within Nigeria’s aviation sector.
For instance, the report made it clear that before Lambert Imasuen, the pilot of the Bellview plane that crashed in 2005 was engaged by the aviation company, he had not flown any aircraft for 14 years. He worked at a popular dairy company in Ibadan and he only got to Bellview after he quit the dairy company. 
It was also discovered that during the 14-year break from flying, Imasuen was shot in the head by armed robbers, yet he was allowed to work as a pilot.
It was also discovered that safety regulations in aviation circles are rather loose.
The American Federal Aviation Administration requested the documents about the crashes through a Freedom of Information Act.
A report on the Oct. 22, 2005 crash of a Bellview Airlines flight that killed 177 people showed that the plane nose-dived into the ground at high speed. Investigators reportedly found only human remains that were “nothing bigger than toes and fingers,” the report read.
The summary of the report also stated that the plane’s captain, a 49-year-old former pilot, had been hired by Bellview after he had been working at a dairy for about 14 years. The pilot also had been “shot in the head during a robbery attempt” while he worked at the dairy. Surprisingly, “medical records do not contain any medical or hospitalization history of the event”. Though it was also stated in the report that follow up investigations would be carried out on the issue, there was no evidence that it was done.
At the Bellview crash site, deep in rural Nigeria, villagers looted the few pieces of what remained from the plane, likely including its “black box” recorders, according to an investigation summary.
The Dec. 10, 2005 crash of a Sosoliso Airlines flight full of schoolchildren from Abuja to Port Harcourt, which killed 107 people, appears to have involved both pilot error and weather.
The pilot was “reportedly racing a thunderstorm” nearing the airport, an FAA memo reads. The inclement weather also forced the pilot to make an instrument landing — meaning that visibility had been reduced to the point the pilot needed to rely on instruments to make his landing, the report read.
The plane crash landed on the grass alongside the runway, broke apart and caught fire.
The third major crash — an Oct. 29, 2006 ADC flight from Abuja to Sokoto — killed 96 people, including the top spiritual leader for the nation’s Muslims. The plane crashed 76 seconds after going airborne.
It was stated in the report that just before the crash, alarms began sounding in the cockpit and the pilots’ incorrect actions stalled the plane.
Though Nigerian aviation officials have claimed that air travel is much safer in the country, Nigerians in some places are still sceptical. Travellers alighted from an aircraft at the Ibadan airport sometime ago fanning themselves with almost everything they could lay their hands on; the air conditioning unit in the aircraft malfunctioned mid-air.
There have also been reports that the communication equipment on most aircrafts flying the local routes sometimes fail with weather situations.
The issue of graft too cannot be ruled out especially with the kinds of irregularities and substandard services that are allowed to pass.”
The Real Reasons Behind The Dana Air Crash!


"Air Nigeria" Is A Flying Coffin, Former Executive Director Says

 
By SaharaReporters, New York

John I. Nnorom, a former Executive Director for Finance at Air Nigeria, has warned Nigerians to stop flying the airline until they are sure that its planes are being properly maintained.  

In a blistering public petition, Mr. Nnorom, who resigned his appointment with the airline on April 1, 2012, blamed the situation on big businessman Jimoh Ibrahim, the chairman of Air Nigeria, whom he accused of being uninterested in the maintenance of company aircraft.  

“Some of the certifying Engineers and I are under threat of assassination by Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim, if we reveal this secret to Nigerians,” he said.
Mr. Nnorom said that upon his resignation, he wrote a letter in which he said he preferred to die than to be a witness to over 100 souls perishing in an Air Nigeria aircraft.

He disclosed that Air Nigeria is in financial crisis because money loaned by Bank of Industry of N35.5Billion has been diverted into Mr. Ibrahim’s NICON INVESTMENT LTD, a non-finance company popularly called wonder bank, leading to air safety being compromised, and stressed that there is a great possibility of a disastrous Air Nigeria crash, which can occur at any time.

He recalled that in Jan 2012, Licensed Engineers in Air Nigeria went on strike because they were being forced to certify unfit aircraft into the air, and another strike was averted in March 2012 following the intervention of the DG-NCAA, Demureen.  Both events, he said, were based on failure on Failure To Meet Safety Standard, and are verifiable information the public is aware of.

Why are Air Nigeria flights sometimes delayed for as many as eight hours?  According to the petitioner, that is because the aircraft for that flight is not ready.  “While passengers are waiting, engineers are battling to put the aircraft on Air.  Several times our Aircraft on Runway taxing to takeoff, turns back to offload passengers due to some technical faults observed by Pilots.”  

He said that of the 11 aircraft being operated by Air Nigeria, only one, Embraer, is safe to fly Nigeria Air space, with all of the others needing “deep and heavy” technical maintenance. 
“This explains why Air Nigeria has never operated more than six Aircraft out of eleven Aircraft. Air Nigeria do not have the money to fix these Aircrafts. Let anybody go and check now, some of the Aircraft and Engines have been grounded for the past one year.”

Mr. Nnorom even advised Nigerians who choose to take the risk of flying Air Nigeria not to eat or drink anything, pointing out that passengers have been poisoned because Air Nigeria serves bottled pure water, and that passengers have complained of being served “smelling waters.”

Mr. Nnorom further claimed in the petition that Mr. Ibrahim’s companies, including Air Nigeria, do not have tax clearance certificates.  He listed the others as Global Fleet Oil & Gas, NICON Insurance, Nigeria RE-Insurance, NICON Properties Ltd, Nicon Luxury, Nicon Hotels Okitipupa, VGC & PHC, Newswatch Communications, Newswatch Daily and National Mirror.

“In Air Nigeria, just to renew expatriate resident permit, Bar Jimoh Ibrahim will instruct a vendor to forge all the tax clearance papers which is filed with the immigration.”
Mr. Nnorom alleges that Mr. Ibrahim:
  
 •    As the chairman of Air Nigeria, has diverted N5billion From a BOI aviation industry intervention loan Of N35.5billion granted last year by the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria into NICON INVESTMENT LTD;
  
 •    Diverted $18m Out Of $40m Afrixim federal government support of the aviation industry; with $26,969,505.63 diverted into Mr. Ibrahim’s acquisition of Energy Bank of Ghana;
  
 •    Diverted N10 billion released by the government through the office of the Accountant-General of Nigeria for the payment of pensioners into Nicon Insurance Plc released the sum of, with no pensioner being paid.  
Mr. Nnorom insisted that Mr. Ibrahim is trying to kill him, and attached his letter of resignation and subsequent acknowledgement by the CEO and FOREIGN LEASSORS to the petition.  

“On the SFU, recovery of $75,000 from me, I was never arrested, never invited by SFU, did not make any statement, I do not know how money was recovered from me,” he said.  “I am ready to sponsor any person to come with me to SFU and show me my statement,” attributing the matter to Mr. Ibrahim’s “poor character of cheap blackmail.”
According to the former Executive Director, “Jimoh Ibrahim is after my life but if my death will save hundred Nigerian souls from plane crash and that is the will of GOD, my soul will be happy to meet my creator anytime.”


"Air Nigeria" Is A Flying Coffin, Former Executive Director Says | Sahara Reporters