SOCIETY WATCH; A PRAYER FOR WAHAB OBA & CO

Society watch 24


We all, pen pushers and all, must pray for four of our colleagues and their driver who are currently forceful guests of kidnappers in Abia state. We live in perilous times where we cannot tell how long a simple journey of travel to attend an NUJ exco meeting can last. For their wives, children and well wishers, it is the night mares of their existence. I hazard to think of what will be flying through their minds. There is no way they can put down food or sleep in peace. We must pray for them too.

Every minute will be with worry and prayer, there is no telling how erratic their abductors can be and what will trigger them to do the unthinkable and flee into thin air . For while we condemn the action of these kidnappers and the fear they have put all of us into, we should also take a moment to look at the bigger picture and what has brought us to those shameless position where kidnapping has become a profession. We should put the blame on our leaders; all those who since 1960 have plundered this nation.
Rogues and vagabonds in power who have converted public funds into private coffers. Idiotic rulers both military and civilians who have built empires on our collective inheritance, while the masses suffer. Fools who have settled their grandchildren yet unborn with our oil money with palaces in London, South Africa, USA and France while the masses are homeless, unemployed, hungry, and hopeless.
These men and their families who sleep inside mansions with high walls and drive around with a convoy of cars with armed policemen should be the target of kidnapper .they and their families should not sleep in peace for even one second, for the good book says there is no peace for the wicked.
That is why we must pray for the good health and security of Wahab Oba and co, they are not government officials, they are mere pen pushers; they are the gate keepers of our conscience .
THE POLICE GROOPS IN THE DARK
I have gone out on a limb in recent times to write about the winning ways of The Nigerian Police Force. While I have had people call to offer divergent opinions I have stuck to my story because that’s the best I can do to pop up the image and moral of men and officers of the police and to help change public perception.

All that came crashing somewhat in the light of the recent kidnapping of four journalists and their driver in Aba, Abia State, last week. IGP Ogbonna Onovo was in Abia asking stakeholders to surrender information that will lead t the release of the four journalists. I am glad that eventually they were released but what shocks me is the police has no intelligence report and profiling of kidnappers in Abia state and in Nigeria for instance, and they were groping in the dark .
it drags out the incapacity of our security agencies to do the most important aspects of policing which is gathering intelligence. The police has a fully funded anti terrorist department which does a lot of shakara with their vehicles to harras innocent citizens. What a shame.
IGP Ogbonna Onovo and his men need to wake up their information gathering capacity. The police needs to be more people friendly so that the public can trust them with confidential information without repercussions . if the police can interface with the public to trust them with information, half the crimes in our country will be solved.




WHERE IS THE SECURITY VOTE OF THE GOVERNORS ?
Someday we have to take on the chief security officers in the various states who are the state Governors to tell and should I say show us how they have been spending the billions of naira in security votes that is appropriated to them monthly.
The security votes I am told very confidently goes into the private pockets of these Governors, not to secure the state, which the money is for , but to secure their future and that of their children.
Every month when the State Treasury releases the funds to them, it finds it way into bureau de changes and is converted into dollars and euro for onward transmission into European and Asian banks. Some move theirs to South Africa through their personal assistants for safe keeping. These monies supposed to be used to protect our people at home is left in those foreign banks to develop their economy. From there they invest in real estate, and sundry business that employs foreigners.
A former personal assistant to a South South Governor with a dismal performance while in office told friends how every month he was moving millions of dollars for his boss to South Africa with a 10 percent commission. The caveat was ; you are on your own if you are caught. The guy to is so wealthy he has relocated to Ghana. That is how our Governors spend their security votes.




GOVERNOR THEODORE ORJI IS CONFUSED.
I will not like to be in the shoes of Sir Theodore Orji right now, not with all the money in Aba market. The man is confused with all the media attention focused on his state, it has brought to light all the inadequacies in Abia State. Salaries are not paid, pensioners are screaming about non payment of their gratuities and emoluments and kidnappers have turned his state into their head quarters and he has no clue as to check mate them. Add that to the wahala of his former boss Chief Orji Uzor Kalu who is after his skin for decamping from PPA to APGA. As at press time, I heard of plans to impeach him. Orji Uzor Kalu is definitely at work.
This is just too much for one man to bear. He also needs our prayers to clear all the bad people who are confusing him.

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO GENTLEMEN ABOUT THE ABIA KIDNAPPING SAGA
I overheard two men in Lagos last week discussing the kidnapping of four journalists in Abia state recently. It was eye opening and educative.
Man 1; did you see what these boys have done to business?
Man 2; they are stupid. How can they kidnap journalists when there are politicians and Oyinbo’s around.
Man 1; they have spoilt business, every eye will now be on this our business. I am really angry.
Man 2; that is why I don’t like Igbo people, any business they enter, they will scatter it. Yoruba’s have been doing drugs peacefully, the moment the Igbo’s entered the business scattered. That’s what also happened to 419, it was when they opened eye about the business that police now started clamping down on our boys.
Man 1; its true. When Niger Delta boys where doing kidnapping, they were collecting pay constantly, since Okoro boys entered wahala has come. Me I tire oh. How can they kidnap journalist? They get money?

HOW WILL THE N250 MILLION RANSOM MONEY BE PAID?

Every situation brings its own cause for laughter. The argument about the N250 million ransom demand is how it will be paid. People are asking if it will be out of the coffers of the NUJ or the media establishments of the abducted journalists. All of the above are not cash cows. Only oil company’s can afford to part with such sums and stay afloat. Another question is how the kidnappers hope to collect N250 Million in cash. Boy, those guys must be dumb.
How many bullion vans will deliver the money to them in their hide out you never can tell they might want to get paid in dollars. Somebody even said they might demand a wire transfer or they even ask for a bank draft. Dumber things have happened. When you kidnap four journalists, it only shows how smart you are. I am anxiously waiting to see who will eventually pay the money…the Federal Government from excess crude account ? or who ? somebody please tell me. How can those kidnappers be demanding for N250Million. They need prayers..

What I wrote recently on this matter….
A PHONE CALL FROM A KIDNAPPER,IN ABIA STATE, TO A SON IN LAW, IN LAGOS.
Before I relay this phone call I overheard let me give you a little back ground into this story. The Eastern parts of Nigeria has become a haven of jobless kidnappers who abduct anybody for a pittance. I am told very reliably that all the igbo men in lagos and elsewhere have evacuated their aged parents from the villages because of the fear of being kidnapped. I am told Abia state is leading in the cases of Kidnapping because of prevailing poverty in the land. Salaries of workers and pensioners have not paid for months. Youths are jobless and hopeless, crime seems the natural fall back . President Goodluck Jonathan has sent over 5000 mobile policemen to the east to check this problem, but the results are yet to be seen.
So back to the phone call.
Kinapper; You this stupid man, did you not hear that we have kidnapped you father in law. Why have you not come to bail him out.
Son in law; how did you get my number, who are you, why are you calling my number
Kidnapper; can you imagine what this stupid and foolish man is telling me, questioning me about how I got his telephone number. Have you not been told how much we are asking for is release , why has it not been paid.
Son in law; I was told, the last offer we made was N200, 000 but I am personally willing to add another N50,000 to make it N250,000. If that is ok with you, we will bring the money to any where you wish.
Kidnapper; that’s why I saw you are a stupid man. If you do not have work to do in Lagos, you better come back to the village so we can raise money for you to start business here. Stupid man.
Son in law ; Why are you insulting me. If you have money, why are you kidnapping people. Do you know me, what have you achieved in life. Have you built a house, if so where is it…
Kidnapper; you are questioning me. I don’t have time for none sense. If you people don’t bring the N1miilion we asked for, we will kill your father in law and his blood will be on your heads…

OBA OF BENIN’S CURSE ON KIDNAPPERS IS WORKING WONDERS.
i hear the curse place placed by the Oba of Benin on Kidnappers operating in Benin City has started being fruits. Kidnappers still plying their trade are being apprehended daily by the police while others are voluntarily giving up themselves to the palace for the curse to be broken so they can continue with their normal lives.
The Oba of Benin is the spiritual head of the Edo people and when he gets upset on a matter and a places a curse, I am told it sticks. And so while it seems, Edo state is now reveling in peace from kidnappers the south eastern states have been over run by kidnappers. I hear in Abia state all the old men and women have been moved from the villages by their children to Lagos, it’s not for ill health or vacation. It’s because of the fear of kidnappers.
In Abia, some of these village based kidnappers ask for N50,000. That’s the value they now place on human life. If only they could import the revered Oba of Benin, to kindly come place a curse on their own kidnappers… but as we all know…if wishes where horses, the aged and fearful in Abia State will ride. They will have to make do with their own home grown solution.

DRIVING A NEW CAR IN ABA IS AS GOOD AS DIGGING YOUR OWN GRAVE
It might be safe, relatively to drive an SUV or any other brand new car in Lagos. In Aba, where chief Theodore Orji, holds sway as governor, it’s like writing and signing your own death certificate. A young man I was told recently came back from Europe with a fancy car, he wanted to, don’t blame him, show he had it made, but his dad, told him he could not park the car in his compound because the boy was putting the whole family at risk from armed robbers who are sure to visit. The story was recounted to me by a Lagos car dealer who had taken a car for deliver to a client in Aba. The client was out of town for the weekend and he was stuck with the car for three days. His uncle in Aba told him, he was sorry, he could not allow him to park the car in his compound. He started driving around Aba from hotel to hotel, one look at the car and they will send him back into the streets. They are all afraid of armed robbers storming the hotel to not only steal the car but also ransack the hotel looking for the owner and the millions of naira he brought home. It was in the bar of the hotel he met the guy from Europe, his case is further compounded, every night the hotel authorities change the guys room, as they said, for security reasons.
With all this insecurity and crime in the East, I am told very reliably that most Igbo business men and their family have made up their minds not to travel home for Christmas. That is how bad it has become.

NIGERIA BREWERIES SPONSORS NIGERIA @50 ART COMPETITION
I spent tuesday at the bar of the brewing giant NB plc , iganmu. The had a press briefing to throw some more light on the third Nigerian/African Arts Foundation National Arts competition . It was initially billed to be addressed by Mr Ageni Yusuf, Corporate Affairs Adviser, but i heard he was called off to attend to an emergency. Mr. Vivian Ikem, corporate social responsibility/public affairs manager, stood in for him, while Mr. Edem, media relations manager was compere.
NB Plc, has partner with the African Arts Foundation to organize this competition for three consecutive years. This effort , he company says is to promote the development of creativity, arts and artists in Nigeria
‘ For us, this sponsorship remains a part of our broad initiative to support arts development in Nigeria, as well as the development of talents in various fields of endeavor”
He further said,
“this year’s competition has no age restriction as it is open to all budding and emerging artists in Nigeria. It has been broadened to include wider artistic genres such as new media, photography, multimedia, video, painting, sculpture etc”
The final exhibition which will feature thirty finalists will come up on Wednesday, July 21st at the Civic Centre, Victoria island by 4.00pm.
Prizes for the top three contestants range from between N1.5 million to N.5m. some hard working artistes are going to get a break soon all thanks to the indefatigable efforts of Azu, president African Arts Foundation and his team.
Support for this competition is also coming from the Dana Group,Tony Usadimen showed face, but did not say a word, only smiled and waved when introduced, Goethe Institute and Alliance Francia among a few.

A LESSON FROM THE SOUTH AFRICANS ABOUT BOOK KEEPING
With all our big mouth about being the giant in Africa we need to take few lessons in sports management and book keeping. Can you believe that two weeks to the end of the world come Nelson Mandela’s kinsmen balanced the books of the mundial and told the world they made a $200 Million profit. Is it really happening? Some guys in our sports ministry will be gnashing their teeth. If only they can lay their hands on that kind of money…
Lucky Joe needs to let Aunty Farida lose n he sports ministry and its parastatals. We need accounting for how much was really spent for the last Juniour World Cup and also Nigeria 99. So much these guys have not told us about how public money entrusted to them has been spent. Little wonder these civil servants have all become billionaires. I do not want to discuss organizational ability. We just do not have it, apologies to Chief Bisi Akande, chairman of A.C, all they are doing is ba la ba la.. Everybody in the sports ministry need to go bury their heads in the sand and remain there. They are all no good bums. The South Africans put up a damn good show and the world will be talking about it for years to come.
Funny Business Joke 1
These two construction workers always noticed that their boss always left early on Fridays. So one asked the other that if the boss left early next Friday if he would want to also. The other man agreed. Sure enough, when Friday came, the boss left early. Therefore, the two men left also. The one offered the other to join him down at the bar, but he decided to just head on home. When he arrived home, he heard a noise from up stairs. When he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed that the noise was coming from the bedroom. He opened the door and saw his boss sleeping with his wife, so he quietly closed the door and headed back down the stairs and out the front door. He made his way down to the bar to see if his friend was still there and he was. His friend asked, “I thought you were headed home?” The man replied, “I did, but this is the last time I ever leave work early a gain.” His friend asked, “Why’s that?” The man replied, “I almost got caught by the boss.”

WEIRD MARRIAGE REVENGE STORIES.
Serving your husband dog poo curry
An angry estranged wife in Scotland took revenge on her husband by feeding him a curry containing dog excrement. A court, where 47-year-old Jill Martin pled guilty to the charge of culpable and reckless conduct, heard that after serving him the dish and watching him as he started eating it, Martin burst out laughing. In her defence, solicitor Terry Gallanagh said that the case was like 'an episode of Desperate Housewives'.




WHAT THE HELL IS THE FINANCE MINISTER DOING?
What business does Mr. Aganga Williams have as finance minister of the federal republic of Nigeria if his statement about the financial solvency of the NNPC is being bebunked 24 hours after he said so by the minister of information, prof Dora Akinyuli. Is there confusion or simply a lack of direction.
This guy should please resign and go back to where he came from. He has abdicated his responsibilities to the CBN Governor who now makes monetary pronouncements as if we do not have a Finance Minister. Lucky Joe should as well give Mallam Sanusi his job. He has missed it.

WHO EARNS WHAT IN OBAMA’S WHITE HOUSE
I read the piece last week that I thought I should share with my faithful readers. In this era where people rush for presidential appointments because of the perks of office and the salaries with increments at all times, the story is definitely not the same in America where Barack Obama has not increased the salaries of his staff for one whole here. President Obama didn’t get a raise last year — nor did most of his senior staff.
According to the White House’s latest salary list, which reports a nearly $39 million annual payroll. This year, the White House has made the report, which it files with Congress every year, available online for the first time. The list itemizes the salary and title of every employee of the White House, except for the vice president’s office, which is technically an arm of the Senate. The pay sheet also doesn’t include Obama, whose $400,000 annual salary is regulated by Congress. According to the latest study, the White House currently employs 469 people — down 17 positions from 2009.
There are few changes in the report from last year, in part because Obama capped the salaries of any employee making more than $100,000 a year. According to the White House, employee salaries range from $21,000 to nearly $180,000 a year.
Twenty-three top aides, including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, press secretary Robert Gibbs, speechwriter Jon Favreau, White House counsel Bob Bauer and senior advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, make the top full-time staff salary of $172,200. (Two health-care policy “detailees” — Michael Hash and Timothy Love — make $179,700.) By comparison, Vice President Joe Biden makes roughly $230,000 a year, according to Senate records.
White House social director Juliana Smoot makes $150,000. That’s $37,000 more than her predecessor, Desiree Rogers, who left the administration not long after a scandal involving party-crashers at a state dinner in December. Former Duke basketball star Reggie Love still makes just over $100,000 as President Obama’s body man. Not on the list: actor Kal Penn, who left his job in the White House’s Office of Public Engagement on June 1 to film the third sequel in the "Harold & Kumar" film series.
Most so-called rank-and-file members of the White House staff pull in an average income between $40,000 and $60,000 — including dozens of “staff assistants,” press aides, analysts and researchers. Three people are listed as working for free.
Yes , people working for the President for free. Can it happened in Nigeria…someday.

SOCIETY WATCH; OBA OF BENIN'S CURSE ON KIDNAPPERS IS WORKING WONDERS

i hear the curse place placed by the Oba of Benin on Kidnappers operating his kidnappers has started being fruits. Kidnappers still plying their trade are being apprehended daily by the police while others are voluntarily giving up themselves to the palace for the curse to be broken so they can continue with their lives.
The Oba of Benin is the spiritual head of the Edo people and when he gets upset on a matter a places a curse, I am told it sticks. And so while it seems, Edo state is now reveling in peace from kidnappers the south eastern states have been over run by kidnappers. I hear in Abia state all the old men and women have been moved from the village by their children to Lagos, it’s not for ill health or vacation. It’s because of the fear of kidnappers.
In Abia, some of those village based kidnappers ask for N50,000. That’s the value they now place on human life. If only they could import the revered Oba of Benin, to kindly come place a curse on their own kidnappers… but as we all know…if only wishes where horses, the aged and fearful in Abia State will ride. They will have to make do with their own home grown solution.

DRIVING A NEW CAR IN ABA IS AS GOOD AS DIGGING YOUR OWN GRAVE
It might be safe, relatively to drive an SUV or any other brand new car in Lagos. Aba, where chief Theodore Orji, holds sway as governor, it’s like writing and signing your own death certificate. A young man I was told recently came back from Europe with a fancy car, he wanted to don’t blame him, show he had it made, but his dad, told him he could not park the car in his compound because the boy was putting the whole family at risk from armed robbers who are sure to visit. The story was recounted to me by a lagos car dealer who had taken a car to deliver to a client in Aba. The client was out of town for the weekend and he was stuck with the car for three days. His uncle in Aba told him, he was sorry, he could not allow him to park the car in his compound. He started driving around Aba from hotel to hotel, one look at the car and they will send him back into the street. They are also afraid of armed robbers storming the hotel to not only steal the car but also ransack the hotel looking for the owner and the millions of naira he brought home. It was in the bar of the hotel he met the guy from Europe, his case is further compounded, every night the hotel authorities change the guys room.
With all this insecurity and crime in the East, I am told very reliably that most Igbo business men and their family have made up their minds not to travel home for Christmas. That is how bad it has become.

THUMBS UP; LAGOS POLICE IS WAKING UP TO ITS ROLE OF SECURING LAGOS

Cop bashing is a favorite past time of most Nigerians. We all get off on it. Next to the economy and corrupt public office holders, the much trumpeted inefficiency of the Nigerian police and the sleazy tendencies of its men is a subject for ardent discourse, so much so that a five year old at a check point told his dad to give the police man N20 so he will let them be on their way.
No doubt some men in the Nigerian police force are bad, a reflective on the decadence in our society today and the tendency of our people to cut corners . if they indeed are so bad, how come they win laurels in international peace keeping exercises for good policing. There must be something wrong in our system that taints and corrupts.

People only think of the police when they are in trouble; their carry is stolen or their home bugled, that’s when you will hear them scream, ‘Get the police”, then they expect magic, they want the car- jackers apprehended and the guys who fleeced them of valuables caught and status quo maintained. Most often, in Lagos where I live, the police are living up to their responsibility of securing the state. On Sunday between 10.00 and 11.00pm, The publisher of FORTUNE & Niyi Akinsiju and his wife, Ebony, had first hand serving of police efficiency.
They were enroute the Maryland traffic light when they heard rapid gun fire; it turned out to be a shootout between a group of car robbers and the police at Maryland. The way I heard it , the police probably acting on a tip off had stopped the stolen jeep which had three armed guys, the owner was tucked somewhere in the trunk, in the ensuring shoot out, two of the robbers escaped while the third was not so lucky. He was hit by bullets and died as he attempted to jump and flee through the independence underpass at Maryland. He miscalculated the distance of the jump. What was instructive was that not two minutes after the robber jumped and died, another contingent of armed policemen arrived screaming ‘WEY THEM’. Oh yes, this is not how the NYPD, (men of the New York Police Department) will behave, this is for laughter only, but they are doing the job. The owner of that jeep will forever be thankful; he got his car back and in one piece. I commend the officers who engaged those robbers in a gun duel, they made us proud. Men like that have made the crime rate drop by 85 percent in Lagos state. These officers and men who continue to risk their lives standing on the road doing routine checks and patrol duty ensure that we sleep at night without bandits over running our city. They deserve a pat on the back. And one last word, when next you are at a check point and a policeman stops you for whatever, don’t be rude shout at him, he is only doing his job; open your booth if he needs to check, in so doing most often they have arrested robbers with concealed weapons.

THE INSIDE STORY; WHY PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN REJECTED THE NAVY'S PROPOSAL FOR A N3.2 BILLION YATCH TO INSPECT NAVY AT 50 DISPLAYS

No matter how big you grow, there are certain actions you will take for which you will receive a tongue lashing by the elders of your family or community. And whether you live in Lagos or America or you are the President or a civil servant the public ridiculing will just be as severe.
Dr. Jonathan missed his own opportunity to text the will of whole Ogbia elders at home and in Diaspora recently, it was a serious matter that the wire services missed out on. How? Be patient.
The fat Cats in The Nigerian Navy , as part of Nigeria @ 50 celebration thought it will be nice to buy a N3.2 billion yatch to be used principally to ferry the President , an ijaw boy, to the high sea , so that he and his wife and a hand full of VIP’s can appreciate the acrobat displays of the Navy.
The Navy top brass must have been congratulating themselves on a wonderful presentation when they submitted that proposal. Their boat hit sand. How did they expect Lucky Joe, a fisher boy, who was raised in dug out wooden canoes catching fish in the Atlantic to explain that he bought a N3.2 billion boat, perhaps with a master bedroom, bar, kitchen, toilet and guest chalets,servant quarters because he was afraid of the high tides.
How did they expect him to explain to militants who attack Shell offshore platforms with fiberglass boats fitted with double 85 horsepower out board engines . president or not he will never have been able to face his people to defend that decision that would have profited a few smiling faces no doubt. Those elders would have booed him. I don’t know if a few strokes would have been in order. I am so glad he did not fall. Aso Rock is also full of banana peels.