At a very young age, I was privileged to watch Maradona in USA ‘94 live on television, in the games he played against Nigeria and Greece.
However, I wasn’t able to see Dele Giwa or read any of his articles while he was alive but I have since read a number of his articles and tried to imagine what the situation in the country was like back then and how he was revered by readers.
It is now 34 years since Nigeria lost Dele Giwa, one of the founders of Newswatch magazine. Giwa lost his life as a result of injuries he sustained through a letter bomb delivered to him in his home at 25 Talabi Street, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos on October 19, 1986. He died at 12.27.pm in First Foundation Hospital, Opebi, Ikeja. Seven months later, I was born in the same hospital in which Giwa died. Today, I am a journalist writing about him. I call it fate.
Who was Dele Giwa? Talking about him in terms of journalism alone is like reducing his stature. Yes, he was among the crème de la crème of the profession. He was one of the finest journalists ever, but above all, he had all the qualities that a leader should have. He was selfless, fearless, detribalised and so on.
Today he is no more but we have to celebrate him. Speaking of Dele Giwa, it is almost impossible to leave out his colleagues. In the past, there were musical groups like the Beatles, Jackson Five, Cool and the Gang but here we had a group of young men who mesmerised us, but not with music.
They did it with the pen.
According to Chief Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation magazine, “It was impossible not to be attracted to the writings of Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed, the powerful quartet that founded Newswatch magazine around 1984, shortly after their dramatic exit from Concord newspapers.
“These were the authentic superstars who titillated us with beautiful prose that dripped with poetic and colourful words. And they lived up to their billing. Newswatch was an instant success and the hottest cake out of the oven. Every issue was a collector’s item.”
They wrote the minds of the masses, irrespective of whose ox was gored. That is the true essence of journalism. It is just as if the words integrity, detribalised, fairness, equity, doggedness and brilliance were invented specifically for the Newswatch men.
They had it all. These men coming together to found Newswatch was like a match made in heaven. They came from different backgrounds but had professionalism in common. They were pacesetters and trend setters. They made journalism attractive in Nigeria because they combined intellect with swagger.
They were very brave and never afraid to tell the truth during the military era when there was no freedom of the speech. They were imprisoned several times for speaking truth to power.
I strongly disagree when today’s generation say that “our parents were cowards.” No they weren’t cowards. The problem is that many of us don’t know history that’s why one person with a blue tick by his name that has thousands of followers could say something on Twitter and many people agree with it. No questions asked. This generation should remember that our parents fought in much more difficult circumstances. No internet, no social media, no democracy. Soldiers were deployed to the streets to stop protests with the barrel of the gun. A topic for another day.
Like I mentioned earlier, these Newswatch men were not only brave, they had ‘swag’ long before the word became popular.
Unfortunately for Nigerians, one of them was killed in his prime. Dele Giwa was assassinated at the peak of his powers. He was full of life when the angel of death came knocking. He had so much to offer Nigerians before his demise. He was only 39 years old but till date, everyone is still talking about him. It isn’t easy to be a legend at that age.
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That was what he achieved with his colleagues – legendary status in their youth.
It is 34 years now and people are still talking about how he died. As for me, I prefer to talk about his life and the things he stood for. What should we learn from the life and times of this great man? We should be objective and courageous. Without honesty and courage, one has no business in journalism. Journalism should never be a cash-and-carry business.
The less privileged should be given an equal chance to air their views. Journalists should carry all Nigerians along, irrespective of financial, ethnic or religious status.
A journalist should be the voice of the voiceless. If you look at the rot in the judiciary, the executive and the legislative arms of government today, it means there is a lot of work to be done by the fourth estate. It would be catastrophic if journalists ignore the core principles of the job. In every institution, there are bad eggs but we shouldn’t allow the bad eggs overshadow the good ones as we have seen with the Nigeria Police Force. If it happens, then what hope would the average Nigerian have?
Journalists are meant to be torch bearers. We should always shine the light. That is the best we can do for Dele Giwa. That is what Giwa would want. Not partisanship. Not trying to be politically correct.
I believe practitioners of this great profession should dedicate October 19 to Dele Giwa. We should have public lectures or discourses on the professionalism of Dele Giwa because this job certainly requires that.
In other words, the best way to keep Giwa’s legacy is to be him. There is no better way than that. Let’s all be Dele Giwa.
The Managing Director of Imagine Global Solution Limited Mr Bamise Samson Ajetunmobi his wife Elizabeth Ajetunmobi have allegedly absconded with investors funds to the tune of over 22 billion naira, Naija360 reports.
Bamise a graduate of Madonna university Okija used to be a Zenith bank staff before he resigned in 2016 to start Image lenders, a finance start up based in Lagos.
According to reports, Bamise was using Investors funds to do business in lieu of paying the investors monthly ROI until recently they when he disappeared into thin air with his wife and stopped responding to his messages.
Bamise was so smart that he opened Image lenders office in South Africa, China, UK and Ghana just to convince investors that he was a genuine business man.
If you know their whereabout, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.———————————————————————–
Chukwudi Iwuchukwu who shared the news also wrote on Facebook;
Mr Bamise Samson Ajetunmobi And His Image Lenders Story. What I have learned so far:
1) Bamise Samson was a quiet banker who quietly did his job as a Zenith bank staff. He was with the bank for 8 years before he left to start his Image lenders startup in 2016.
Before he joined the bank, he was a graduate of Banking and Finance, from Madonna University Okija.
2) When Bamise set up his business in 2016, his first customers were his former colleagues, he was able to convince his colleagues in the bank to trust him with their funds in lieu of a 10 % monthly ROI payment.
His first investors saw their money paid promptly on time, those investors helped the young alleged scammer to spread the word that there is a new king in town who is trustworthy and a breath of fresh air.
Before one could say, Jack Robinson, Investors started flocking around Bamise with their money in return of a regular monthly payment from his company.
Even branch managers of commercial banks flocked to Bamise with their life savings.
Zenith bank staff were his marketers and foot soldiers.
A lot of them convinced customers that they were managing their account to invest with Bamise.
Because of this headstart of having your former colleagues in Zenith bank brought and convinced customers for your business, Bamise did not invest in media branding neither did he need social media influencers to influence for him online.
This is why his business was not popular on social media, only few people like myself knew about his business before now.
I knew him before now because a zenith bank staff told myself and Ndiya Baykay Eze Eze about him.
Bamise’s phone rang non stop from investors, convinced by his former colleagues in the bank and those callers want to invest their money with him so what is he doing with social media influencers?
3) Seeing that his fortunes and investors money with him have quadrupled, Bamise went to lure his old colleagues at Zenith bank to join him in his new startup.
He poached a lot of Zenith bank staff by offering mouth-watering salaries they could not resist and most times, double of what they earned at Zenith bank.
Because of this, a lot of Zenith bank staff resigned in droves to join Bamise in his wild goose chase and to be fair to them, they did not know what they signed up for.
He needed the validation that Zenith bank staff are working for his startup, to convince investors that he was real.
Boy! Bamise paid crazy salary salaries to his former colleagues who resigned to join him.
Imagine earning 200k per month in Zenith bank only for Bamise to offer to pay you 1 million naira. You don hit gold mine be that.
4) With his consistent monthly payment to his investors, Bamise had this brainwave: why not open Image lenders office abroad to cater for Nigerians in the diaspora who have been making enquiries on how to invest with his business in lieu of monthly ROI payment?
Image Lenders offices in China, Ghana, Dubai, South Africa and London were born and these offices were set up to attend to only Nigerians in diaspora who wish to invest in his business with their funds for monthly payment.
5) As the investor’s money with him grew, to an excess of $ 50 million dollars at the last count, the young man knew he had to change his lifestyle to reflect his new status.
He bought a duplex at Ned Okonkwo’s Victoria crest project in Lekki Lagos and paid cash up front, he is now a big boy so money is not a problem.
The only problem is how to spend it.
He also bought a house in UK and Dubai, to reflect his new status as a billionaire.
6) To also reflect his status as a man of means, a man of Timbre and calibre, Bamise also bought a citizenship passport of Antigua and Barbuda for his wife, himself and his two kids.
He paid over $50,000 to be able to do this, my sauce told me.
7) Bamise loves God as he worships at Sam Adeyemi’s Daystar Church.
He was even a worker with the church and does not miss Sunday service except he is not in Lagos.
As a child of God, his monthly tithe runs into millions of naira and was one of the biggest spenders in Sam Adeyemi’s church
God has blessed his hustle so he needs to show his gratitude by giving back generously to the church and he did on a scale never seen before.
8 ) Elevation Church in Lekki was one of his investors. Godman Akinlabi, the senior pastor of the church invested over 500 million naira with Bamise in lieu of a 10 % monthly payment.
Bamise was consistent in payment to the pastor and other investors who invested with him till he disappeared last month
9) Bamise was a sweet talker, his innocent looks, his love for God and the fact he has a background in finance influenced his investors to trust him with their money.
10) At the end of the day, the monthly ROI payment was not sustainable and the fact that Bamise was living a luxurious life on Investors funds, so the business with so much promise crashed like a pack of cards, just like other Ponzi businesses before it.
11) Piggyvest has nothing to do this with failed Ponzi scheme business that Bamise ran so I don’t know why some of us are spreading the false news that Piggyvest invested over 2 Billion with Bamise, causing panic for Piggyvest customers. It is not good ooo.
12)Such a sad story. I hope that Bamise and his fleeing wife are tracked down soon so that they can refund the investors the money that they ran away with.
Attached in the picture is Bamise, his dear beloved wife and his beloved pastor, Sam Adeyimi of Daystar church.
‘‘From experience in DNA testings, most firstborns are not fathered by the husbands at home, because these ladies have a prior relationship before getting married. Most times, they continue with that relationship, they don't leave it after marriage…’’
Abiodun Salami is a senior geneticist with DNA Centre for Paternity Test, Allen Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos. For over 10 years, DNA Centre has provided comprehensive DNA testing services in three main areas: paternity and other family relationships, Immigration, and DNA tests during pregnancy – Prenatal DNA test. In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Abiodun speaks about paternity fraud and the practice of DNA testing in Nigeria.
Excerpts:
PT: There appears to be renewed interest in DNA testing in Nigeria. Why do you think this is happening?
Salami: Well, there are several reasons. The first reason is immigration purposes because when you are travelling abroad, you will be required to carry out a DNA test on the kids who would be accompanying you, especially if you say you are the parent. The second reason could be child trafficking. At the airport, if you are a woman and you are traveling with a child less than six months, you will be asked to go for a maternity test to confirm if you are the mother of the child.
PT: Oh, there is a maternity test too?
Salami: Yes. We do maternity testing to ascertain the mother of a child. The third reason is a major reason – infidelity in marriage. There are so many issues online, I mean, we have read and seen cases of fathers raising children that don’t belong to them. It has always been like that, sincerely, but because of social media, people can now share and we know what is happening. People are getting to know that they can actually do DNA testing to know the father of the child, instead of raising a child for more than five, six years only to discover he is not your own.
PT: What was the patronage like at your facility prior to this renewed awareness?
Salami: Let me give you the statistics. Before now, we do an average of 100 DNA tests in a month, but now we handle as many as 400 cases monthly.
The statistics are mind-blowing. You discover that almost 60 percent of the tests that people come to do are negative. In fact, 6 out of every 10 paternity tests turn out negative. Statistically, in DNA paternity testing, most times, in Nigeria, we see that six out of every 10 children might not be fathered by their biological father.
PT: The statistic is baffling.
Salami: Yes, but it is also a biased statistic. Because for someone to walk in here, he already suspects that there is an issue. There is really a doubt already and most people won’t believe that statistics until it happens to them. I always advise men, it is good to trust, but verify. Things are happening. If everyone starts doing DNA tests, the whole country will scatter. There will be no marriages again.
Most female undergraduates now have one man or the other sponsoring their education aside from their father. These are the men that will eventually be the chairmen at their wedding. These are the men they are actually sleeping with. From experience in DNA testings, most firstborns are not fathered by the husbands at home, because these people have a prior relationship before getting married. Most times, they continue with that relationship, they don’t leave it after marriage.
PT: How would couples who welcomed their kids via assisted reproduction manage privacy, especially when a DNA test is required of them for immigration purposes?
Salami: We had a case of a family that did IVF and used a surrogate mother. When they wanted to travel out, the embassy sent them here to carry out a paternity and maternity test to discover that they were not the real parents of their babies. We discovered that the fertility clinic they used actually mixed the man’s sperm. They had triplets, two children were from the man’s sperm cells and one was not from him. The two other children were from the mother’s cells and one was not from her. They had to go back to the agency to find out what happened. Probably, there was a mixture of sperm cells or eggs. But normally, even if they used a surrogate mother, the children will take their DNA from the egg or sperm donor, so it doesn’t really matter.
PT: This means there shouldn’t be any form of secrecy if the parents conceived via IVF, for instance. They need to open up to the geneticist right?
Salami: Yes, they should open up because we will detect. Normally, it should be a perfect match. If you are doing a paternity test for a child and samples taken from both parents, it should have a perfect match. This is because each child will take half of the chromosome from the father and another half from the mother. If there is a mismatch, there is a problem. Now, if we are having a perfect match for the father and an almost imperfect match from the mother, we will ask questions.
Abiodun Salami
Most times, when a woman is the gestational carrier – she owns the egg. But in rare cases when fluid passes through the uterus, I mean the fallopian tube, there is a mixture of blood going from the mother to the baby. And when there is a mixture, some parts of the DNA of the gestational mother will go into the baby, just a few. So when there is a mismatch, we know it was an IVF that occurred.
PT: Cryptic pregnancy appears to be a thing in Nigeria.ⓘ
Salami: You know cases where couples that have been trying to conceive for years then go where they tell them they can give them baby, they pay, the mother will tell them the sex she wants.ⓘ
In most cases, they inject a sex hormone into the woman and they tell them not to go for a scan. Eventually, when they give birth and they come for a test, we discover that the husband or wife does not own the child. So, she feels she is actually pregnant because she exhibits all the signs of pregnancy and they will be the ones to tell her she is due. But when she wakes up, she’ll see a baby— the people claiming to cut off the umbilical cord from her, whereas it is another baby they brought from the labour room. So, when we do a maternity test, we discover that the baby is not hers. So, we tell them to go back and tell them the child is not theirs. So, we have seen cases like that. This is what we call cryptic pregnancy.
PT: What is the craziest you’ve experienced?
Salami: A lot. Let me see. We have had cases where two men fight over a child. They were a childless couple before the wife got pregnant for her childhood boyfriend. She gave birth to twins boys, who incidentally looked a lot like her husband but the man outside was pressuring her to bring the children, saying he was ready to marry her. It became a big issue and when it came to the issue of child custody the court brought them for a test and we discovered that the man at home and her childhood boyfriend were not even the father of the child.
PT: Can a mistake occur during DNA testing?
Salami: It is possible to make human error, especially when there is a mix-up with the sample. That is a human error but it is very rare. But there are also cases where we have Chimera’s syndrome, but it is also rare. This is when a woman’s DNA does not match that of her child. It is very rare, probably one in a million cases.
PT: How much does it cost to undergo a DNA test? Please take us through the process.
Salami: It costs about N60,000 per person, which is about N120, 000 for father and child. We use different samples like the mouth swab, hair, blood, wax, sweat, chewing gum, and toothbrush. But the best is the mouth swab where you just use cotton wool, it is those lose cells from the mouth that we extract the DNA from the nucleus of those cells. Once the DNAs are extracted we then compare the genes. As a human being, I inherit half of the genes from my father and another half from my mother. So, what we do is to compare half of my father’s DNA with half of mine and there must be a complete match. If there is a complete match, then the probability of paternity is about 99.99%. If there is a mismatch in one or two or three places, it will automatically come down to zero. That means we are not related and the results are ready within a week or at least seven working days.
PT: Do you counsel couples before you carry out the DNA test?
Salami: Yes, we do that a lot. Even post-testing, when the result comes, we see some men crying and saying that they have made a mistake by not taking care of a child because he thought he wasn’t his. Some men also break down when they discover that he has been raising another man’s son.
It’s worse when the wife isn’t remorseful. We have seen a lot, we counsel. There have been cases when a man will come for a DNA test and the result comes out negative and after lots of talk and counsel, the wife insists that she didn’t have any extramarital affair. We then conducted a maternity test and discovered that the woman was also not the mother of that child. We then ruled out infidelity and realised that the baby was switched at the hospital shortly after birth. Most times this occurs when the wrong name tag is put on the child’s hands.ⓘ
PT: How can hospitals avoid this costly mistake?
Salami: Well, training of the nurses. Then the name tag, maybe they will use another technology and not using a biro to label baby. If they can use scan – scan the mother’s and baby’s hands. It is much better than using biro and paper to tag baby A and B and it falls off and they slap it on another baby. That happens a lot.
PT: Do couples walk into your hospital or do you meet them at their preferred location?
Salami: Most times, it is the fathers that come without informing their wives.
PT: Do you encourage this?
Salami: It now depends on their own decision. Let me give you an instance of what happened recently. The man came around recently and according to him, he was ill. So he left his car at the office and a pool car brought him home and he was resting downstairs in his home. Later in the evening, he overheard his wife’s phone conversation with her lover. She was breastfeeding their seven-month-old baby and was saying, ‘‘Kayode, your baby will resemble you, your baby is biting my nipples’’. Then she said the baby should take the phone and talk to his daddy. Our client didn’t say anything to his wife – he was so surprised and then brought the baby for a DNA test. In that case, would you tell the wife? And when the result came, truthfully, he was not the father of the child. These are reasons why men will not want to tell their wives.
PT: Do you also have cases where the women themselves come behind their husbands to do the test?
Salami: Yes, they come. But this time, they come with the father’s sample. Most times, they come with the man’s toothbrush to know if the child is their husband’s. They don’t tell the man – we extract the DNA of the man and compare it with the child and they take the result.
Sometimes, the finding could be that their husband owns the child, and sometimes, it could go the other way.
PT: I’m sure during the course of this your job, you’ve seen many marriages crash?
Salami: I would only assume because once we do the test, we counsel and the decision is theirs, do you understand? But it is always good to know the truth than live in deception, you will agree with me. It is best to allow the children to have a relationship with their real biological parents, because most times, the truth will always come out, one way or the other.
Except it’s a case of assisted, every other process should be as transparent as possible.
PT: What other tests do you carry out at your centre?
Salami: Well, strictly, we only do DNA testing. But there are different types of DNA testing. We have the paternity test to determine the father of a child. We have a maternity test to determine if the mother of a child. We have avuncular testing to determine paternity when the father is not available for testing. An avuncular test will also determine if a sibling (a full blood brother or sister) of the father in question is related to a child, and thus prove paternity. We can do also an uncle-child or aunt-child test in avuncular testing.
We have DNA profiling whereby the people will do their DNA test and keep it in a file for 15 years so that they don’t need to exhume their body when they are deceased because of paternity issues. So once you have the genetic profile of the deceased, we just have to compare it with that of their children.
We do blank parenting testing when the parents are dead. If the late mother for instance was an only child, you can use her parents. We test the samples of the grandparents to see if there is a relationship between the grandparents and the child.
The male lineage or Y-STR paternal lineage test can confirm a father-son relationship by determining if a child is related to an alleged father’s other male relative, for example, his brother, father, or grandfather. We do the male lineage or Y-STR paternal lineage test mostly to resolve kingship tussles.
PT: Is the practice regulated in Nigeria?
Salami: Yes it is, but not many people are not aware of the possibilities in DNA testing. We need to keep sensitising people. Did you know that genetics can help curb corruption and solve high-profile criminal cases?
When it comes to fighting corruption in this country, for example, the government can pass a law mandating that every child born in Nigeria must have their DNA profiles done. If you have the DNA profile of every Nigerian, all these issues of theft and armed robbery will be minimal because they know that their genetic footprints or fingerprints will always give them out. People will no longer rape and go scot-free in this country. What if I told you that some of these crimes are committed by the same criminals who should be in prison. If the government can pass a law, for instance, mandating the creation of a DNA database of all the prisoners in this country, the crime rate will greatly reduce in Nigeria.
Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has apologized to the people of his country after fleeing to take refuge in the United Arab Emirates as the Taliban advanced last month.
He abruptly left Afghanistan as Taliban militants advanced on the capital on 15 August. Reports say he fled to UAE wwith about $169m (£123m) but he has denied those allegations.
“Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life,” Ghani said on his social media handle.
“I’m sorry I could not make it end differently”.
He said he had not intended to abandon his people but “it was the only way”.
Ghani said he had no choice but to leave the country in order to avoid widespread violence.
“I left at the urging of the palace security, who advised me that to stay risked setting off the same street-to-street fighting the city had suffered during the civil war of the 1990s,” he wrote, adding that he did so to “save Kabul and her six million citizens”.
He said he had devoted 20 years to helping Afghanistan become a “democratic, prosperous and sovereign state”.
He added that he had “deep and profound regret that my own chapter ended in similar tragedy to my predecessors”.
In a live Facebook address on 18 August, Mr Ghani said he was “forced” to leave Afghanistan by his security team because “there was a real chance that I would be captured and killed”.
He said that when the Taliban entered the presidential palace in Kabul, “they started looking for me from room to room”.
Denying claims that he had taken a large amount of money with him when he left the country, Ghani said he was “not even allowed to take his sandals off and put hist shoes on”.
The usual behaviours purportedly exhibited by the released children of Tanko Salihu Islamic school, Tegina in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, seem to have generated serious concerns and mixed feelings among parents and other people in the state.
DAILY POST gathered that they now eat very little, having parts of their bodies such as legs swollen, looking malnourished, withdrawn, emotionally unstable as get easily agitated, among others around family members and relatives.
This has ignited different opinions as some opined that they were released way too fast to their parents by the State Government without taking more time to check their health status, while others feel that having been away for three months, allowing their parents to reunite with them was the right thing to do.
The children who were released last Thursday, 26th August, 2021 from the Kidnappers den after a three-month sojourn were officially received by the State Governor, Alh Abubakar Sani Bello on Friday, 27th August and reunited with their parents on Sunday, 29th August.
Before releasing them to their families, the Governor clearly stated that the victims had undergone proper medical checkup and certified fit and healthy by the state medical team.
But, a few days after reuniting with the victims, the parents had raised the alarm, alleging that they are acting strangely by showing some disturbing physiological and psychological mannerism.
The parents are said to have raised the alarm that their kids are not behaving normal as they are eating less food, feet swollen, malnourished and withdrawn.
Disturbed and afraid over the wellbeing of their children, they cried out, especially having heard from some of the kids on what they experienced during their long stay with the bandits.
Expressing concern, Mallam Idris Musa, whose out of his five children kidnapped, one died said the torture on his children were severe as there are signs of health challenges in his four children.
According to him, “ I am not surprised with the strange way my four children are behaving. Now, my kids who were extroverts are more of introverts. Watching their brother helplessly till death when they were in custody of the bandits might have triggered such behaviour.
Rabi Abubakar, another parent explained that her only son is traumatized, physically and psychologically, adding, ” his legs and body are swollen and seeing him suffer like this pains me a lot”.
Confirming the situation, the Head Teacher of the Islamiyya Alhassan, Garba Abubakar said parents of the victims have told him a lot of traumatized stories from their children including wired behavior, being recluse, not being able to eat well among others.
The children after their release last Thursday told journalists that they were badly tortured, tied with chains, suffered hunger, thirsts, beaten among others, while in the forest with the bandits.
However, health Experts in the State who spoke exclusively DAILY POST said such tales were expected from the children who should naturally be traumatized for three months.
They explained that children can be seriously affected by trauma, just like the adults, while listing situations that could lead to trauma to include life-threatening occurrences such the tortures, car accidents, sudden illness, traumatic death in the family or loved ones, crime, abuse or violence in the community among many others.
Alh. Attahiru Ahmed a Psychologist and Head of Department, Niger State College of Education, Minna told DAILY POST that what is happening to the children is not strange, considering what they went through.
He explained that because of the experiences they had, they are automatically psychological traumatized and are currently in a traumatic condition.
In his opinion, he noted the need for them to have been taken for proper rehabilitation before reuniting fully with their families to help them forget what happened to them.
He insisted, “When we say traumatized, we mean a child that can be wild and being wild can mean so many things. The child will look depressed, withdrawn, and not eating. This is because, they saw what they were not supposed to see. With bandits, they heard gun shots which they never heard before right before them.
“They suffered hunger and even stayed for days without food nor water. They were kept in chains like animals and released in the night so they still have a mental picture of what happened to them. And giving them proper counseling would have calmed their minds to make them understand that they are now safe and that what happened to them will never happen again. Because it’s difficult to forget painful and horrible experiences.”
In his contribution, Dr. Fredrick Agbo, Managing Director of Talakawa Pharmacy, Minna, said the environment and the feeding habit the children were exposed to could be partly responsible for their current behaviours.
Agbo who is also a Pharmacist said, ” in the custody of the bandits, they might not have eaten well. The environment where they were kept could be infected and could make a child to be sick. First, lost of appetite too could be a symptom of malaria. One, it’s possible that the child could be having malaria and secondly, he could wake up and still feel he is still in that place of bondage and that could make the child to be agitated.
“They need a lot of counseling They need to be talked to. They need what we call Psycho-therapy and gradually they will withdraw from that trauma. When someone is kidnapped and kept for long, it gives that person a social trauma.”
Similarly, the Head of Department Home Economics, EOE, Minna, Dr. Grace Fabisuyi stated that the kids are anaemic because they were tortured by hunger and forcefully denied the necessary body building nutrients required for their age.
She explained that as growing children, they require good food such proteins, carbohydrates and minerals that can help build strong bones, especially the boys who are usually very active, energetic and dispense a lot of energy.
“Well, as the case is, the parents should give them nourishing foods to help them quickly regain what their bodies lost. Feeding them with food containing high proteins such as milk, eggs, meat, and fish is very important. They should be given a lot of vegetables and carbohydrates.
“Though, we all know that economically, times are hard and to get these food items may be difficult for some parents. What they need to do is incorporate Suya beans into their meals to get the required proteins. The parents can also add beans to all their meals such as adding it to their soups. Whatever meal is given to them, beans must be part of it to enable them recover their health faster, ” Dr. Fabisuyi added.
Furthermore, Hajiya Fatima Musa, a lecturer at the Niger State College of Health Technology stated that the children are suffering from what she described in medical terms as Anorexia Nervosa( an eating disorder).
Hajiya Musa, who is also the Baby Friendly Initiative Coordinator in the state explained that with time, their stomachs will adjust and they will begin to take the quantity of food they were used to eating before.
“You know for some, they were not eating well. Normally, they eat three square meals a day, but for some time, they were not eating like that. The portion they were used to eating was reduced, so by the time they returned, their systems now have been wired to eating less.
” Even in terms of dieting, if someone disciplined his or herself by eating less and now wants to change back to eating more, it will take time because the body was before wired to eat less,” the College of Health Lecturer maintained.
It would be recalled that DAILY POST had reported that during a visit to the school where the victims were kept before they were received by the Niger State Governor, his wife, Dr. Amina Abubakar Sani Bello had described what the pupils went through as inhumane.
She counseled them to be courageous enough to embrace and get their normal life back and continue their studies.
But experts urged both the local, state and federal governments to rise up by bringing to an end the unfolding security challenges dragging the nation backwards, so that the traumatic experiences of victims in the hands of bandits and criminals would not have negative effects on them and their children in the future.
A Brazilian court has sentenced Francoise de Souza Oliveira to 31 years in prison for murdering her husband, Greek ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, authorities said Sunday.
Amiridis, 59 at the time of his death in 2016, lived in Brasilia and was on vacation for the Christmas holidays with his wife and his daughter in Rio de Janeiro.
Days after Christmas, the remains of the diplomat were found inside his charred rental car and ripped out under a bridge, in the municipality of Nova Iguacu, near the state capital.
A police investigation found numerous clues, including blood on a sofa and security camera footage, that implicated Sergio Gomes Moreira Filho, military policeman and lover of Francoise.
The two were sentenced to 22 years in prison, initially without parole.
“The circumstances of the crime are atypical, since (the ambassador) was executed during the Christmas holidays … in this case, this family was torn apart,” said the Judge Anna Christina da Silveira Fernandes, of the 4th Criminal Court of Nova Iguacu.
In her sentence, she also indicated that “the crime was carefully thought out, premeditated,” by De Souza Oliveira.
“According to the testimony collected, the defendant planned and designed, being the mastermind behind the entire macabre plot,” she added.
The trial had a third defendant: Eduardo Moreira Tedeschi de Melo, a relative of the policeman, who was acquitted of the murder charge but sentenced to one year probation, already served, for helping to hide the body.
In the trial, which lasted for three days, until Friday, the judge heard 18 witnesses.
In her decision, the magistrate also referred to the accused in their capacity as public servants.
“He swore to defend society and not rebel against it (…) dishonoring the Military Police and all the trust placed in him by the State,” she said, referring to Sergio Gomes Moreira Filho.
And she pointed out that De Souza Oliveira, “who calls herself an ambassador, tarnished the name of Brazil and embarrassed the nation with her conduct, given the negative international repercussions of the events.”
De Souza Oliveira and Amiridis had married in 2004, when he was consul in Rio de Janeiro.
(Text, excluding headline from AFP)
•File: A photo taken on December 30, 2016, shows a man looking at the burned-out rental car of missing Greek ambassador to Brazil Kyriakos Amiridis, at a parking lot outside the police station in Belford Roxo, in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, a day after it was found with a body inside
The bandit terrorists that invaded the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna on Tuesday gained access to the military facility through a loose fence, the Defence Headquarters has said.
In a leaked memo on Wednesday, the DHQ said the gunmen also broke into five residential flats in the military facility and escaped before the arrival of the troops.
The memo, sighted by Daily Trust, added that the bandit escaped through the bushy areas around the officers’ quarters close to the loose fence.
“The response time of troops to the crime scene on that day was slow as the bandits successfully broke into five different flats in the same block and swiftly withdraw before the intervention of troops,” the memo read.
Assessing the sad incident in the memo, the DHQ stated that the bandit’s escape route leads across the airport road to a bush area near Gidan Gado village in Afaka.
The memo also revealed that the bandits reportedly escaped either to Buruku and Maguzawa axis or the Riyawa axis in Igabi which is known as notorious bandits’ hideouts.
Following the invasion of the NDA, the DHQ immediately called for a robust clearance operation along listed areas.
“Further assessment revealed that the bandit’s escape route leads across the airport road to an open farm/bush area near Gidan Gado village in Afaka. The bandits are believed to have escaped either to Buruku and Maguzawa axis or the Riyawa axis in Igabi which is known as notorious bandits’ hideouts.
“Consequently, there is need for a robust clearance operation along those areas. Although there is a frantic joint effort by troops and other security forces in the state with a view to rescuing the kidnapped officer.
“It is strongly suggested that the security arrangements in NDA need total overhauling, this is with a view to averting future recurrence as monitoring continues,” the memo reads in parts.
How Traditional Chief Priest Dr. Ogunamen Died Four Days After Returning To Benin From Germany
The news of the death of a popular Nigerian Mr. Nosa Edeghene, also known as Dr. Ogunamen who is from Benin City and based in Germany came as a rude shock to many especially with the mysterious way he died in Benin City.
This has become a major discussion on social media, while the family, friends, associates and entire Edo state are mourning, a very reliable source have given ChrisOsaMedia the true story of what really happened to late Dr Ogunamen.
It is generally believed that the deceased passed on while carrying out his usual traditional dance which in Benin is used to communicate with the spirits of the land, many have wondered why he died in the process of carrying out this traditional dance ritual, did something go wrong during the process? Or was it wrong for him to carry out the dance that particular period?
A source which is very close to the deceased narrated to ChrisOsaMedia that Dr Ogunamen who left Germany on Saturday 14th of August to Nigeria did not pass on coincidentally.
He went further to say that Dr Ogunamen is a great “Ohen” Chief Priest, and he knew that his time to join his ancestors was very near, that was why he left Germany to Edo State.
“ It is important people know that he knew he will he will be joining his ancestors soon and that was the reason he left Germany for Nigeria because he didn’t want to pass on in a foreign land “
He explained that Dr Ogunamen whose flight was canceled countless times, knew he will be joining his ancestors travelled to Benin, home town where he wanted to be laid to rest.
The deceased according to this source also knew he was going to pass on while performing his usual traditional dance ritual
Dr Ogunamen passed on four days after he returned from Germany in Benin .
Outgoing and controversial Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Willie Obiano, looted over N3billion from Security Vote Account in one day, according to 2017 financial documents of the state exclusively obtained by Pointblanknews.com.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has been grappling with the prosecution of Governors hiding under security challenges to convert security votes to personal use. Only recently, the Nigerian Governors Forum went to court to stop the EFCC from prosecuting Governors over security vote looting. But Governor Obiano would have no one stop him from digging into the Security votes account and helping himself with as much as he wants.
On January 26, 2017, the Anambra Governor went to the security votes account with number 5110032568 at Fidelity Bank and took N500million in one shot. Barely a month after, on February 23, 2017, he took additional N500million from same account.
On March 29, 2017, Obiano’s insatiable quest to loot, took him back to the same account. This time, he smiled home with over N3.5billion withdrawing N509.2million, N504.9million and N500million withdrawn five times in one day, according to the documents in possession by Pointblanknews.com.
The Governor went back on March 31, 2017 just two days after swallowing N3.5 billion and took additional N283.6million. He took a little break and on July 4, 2017, and July 7, 2017, he went back and took N30million and 19million respectively from the same Fidelity account number 5110032568 housing the Security Votes of the State.
On August 4 of 2016, according to the documents still being scrutinized by Pointblanknews.com, Obiano took N500million and about two weeks after on August 22, 2016, he took another N500million.
Sources told Pointblanknews.com that Obiano’s lifestyle is largely fueled by his looting of security votes and padding of contracts.
On April 22, 2020, during the peak period of the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria and global lockdown, his Chief of Staff, Chief Primus Odili, purchased a palatial home at 1804 Terrabrooke Private Court, Brentwood, Tennessee for the exact price of $1,818,718. He purchased the palatial home from Partners in Building of TN LLC through Chuddy Nnodu of Hodges and Fooshee Realty Inc.
The palatial home seats on a 1.1 Arce of compound and has six bathrooms, six bedrooms. The house has an area of 5,575sq ft.
Prior to becoming a staff of the Obiano administration, Primus Odili worked as an administrative assistant for a private clinic in Nashville – where he was discharged shortly before his return to serve the Obiano administration – initially at the capacity of Special Assistant on Special Duties. After the successful reelection of Governor Obiano, he was appointed the Chief of Staff. He is considered Man-Friday to the Governor. He is the closest man to the Governor.
The former acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu, had alleged that some state governors deliberately fueled insecurity in their states just to collect more money as security vote. He noted that some of the governors “now covertly promote insecurity as justification to inflate their security vote.”
Governors of the 36 states in Nigeria under the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) had engaged the services of lawyers to challenge the probe of states’ security votes by the EFCC.
The amount allocated to security votes for both Governors and the Presidency in Nigeria has always been top level secret. The EFCC and other anti-graft agencies have had troubles probing present and past Governors’ expenditures of Security Votes.
Transparency International says Nigeria allocates an estimated N241.2billion, about $670million on Security Votes annually.
Since 2012, the US has spent over $68.6million in Security assistance to Nigeria, while the UK has spent over $53.5million in counterterrorism support to Nigeria between 2016-2020. Yet, despite these humungous expenditures, insecurity is still high in Nigeria and has now spread from the north to all parts of the country.
Security Votes By States (Wikipedia Source)
SOUTHEAST
Imo State: N333.333M Monthly (N4B Annually)
Enugu State: N600M Monthly (N7.2B Annually)
Anambra State: N850M Monthly (N10B Annually)
Abia State: N700M Monthly (N8.4B Annually)
Ebonyi State: No Record Available
SOUTH SOUTH:
Cross River State: N500M Monthly (N6B Annually)
Rivers State: N1.5B Monthly (N18B Annually)
Akwa Ibom State: N1.8B Monthly (N21.6B Annually)
Edo State: N900M Monthly (N10.8B Annually)
Delta State: N2B Monthly (N24B Annually) [3]
Bayelsa State: No Record Available
SOUTHWEST
Lagos State: N1.429B Monthly [N1.297B (Public order and safety) + N132.5M (Social Protection)] (N17.149B Annually [N15.559B + N1.59B])
Ondo State: N600M Monthly (N7.2B Annually)
Osun State: N400M Monthly (N4.8B Annually)
Ogun State: N80-N100M Monthly (N960M-N1.2B Annually)
Ekiti State: N100M Monthly (N1.2B annually)
NORTH EAST
Borno State: N806.25M Monthly (N9.675B Annually)
Yobe State: N316.667M Monthly (N3.8B Annually)
Taraba State: N200M Monthly (N2.4B Annually)
Bauchi State: N1.417B Monthly (N17B Annually)
NORTHWEST
Kano State: N0.00
Kaduna State: N400M Monthly [N175M (Security vote) + N225M (Security Vote (Preventive and Supportive) for the SSG’s office)] N4.8B Annually [N2.1B + N2.7B]
Katsina State: N17.583M Monthly (N211M Annually)
Zamfara State: N600M Monthly (N7.2B Annually)
NORTH CENTRAL
Benue State: N3.092B allocation to personnel and overhead costs monthly which covers security vote, among others. (N37.1B Annually) [8]
Kannywood actress, Ummi Ibrahim, popularly known as Ummi Zee Zee, has confirmed the report that she date military President, Ibrahim Babangida, IBB.
The military President ruled Nigeria between 1985 and 1993.
There had been reports on the internet that the actress was in a relationship with the former Head of State.
Zee Zee in an interview with Daily Trust said she has ended the relationship with IBB.
“Former Head of State General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida was my boyfriend then but not anymore.
“However, we are presently friends and we respect each other. Currently, I have a boyfriend who is not in the entertainment industry and we are planning to get married, God willing.”
IBB lost his wife, Maryam in 2019 and he has not remarried since then.
As at the time of filing this report, IBB’s media team is yet to react to Zee Zee’s claim of being in a relationship with the elder statesman.
Zee Zee’s statement is coming a few months after some ladies opened up on being in a relationship with Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
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