NBA Conference: Lawyers Protest, Shut Conference Center

Protesting lawyers,
Thursday, shut the main
entrance into the Abuja
International Conference Centre, venue of the on-going Nigerian Bar Association, NBA,annual
general conference.
The protest, which lasted over two hours threw the entrance into conference venue and adjouring areas into confusion.

The lawyers, who were
protesting against 500
percent hike in conference fees since the event began on Sunday, blocked the
entrance of the conference venue, which had been manned by fierce looking
security personal.
Lawyers who did not register and who had no conference tags were prevented from gaining access into the conference venue.
The protesting lawyers,
argued that entrance into annual conference venue was upon payment of practicing fee as provided in
section 6, sub-section 7 of the NBA constitution and not upon payment of conference fee as erroneously held by
the out-going national
executive.

They insisted they have a right to attend the Annual General Meeting, where the
outgoing administration led by Mr Joseph Daudu, SAN, will rendered account of his two-year stewardship.

Among those locked out
during the protest were NBA Third Vice-President, Dr Ogugua Ikpeze; General Secretary, Mr Muyiwa
Akinboro and Chairman of Council National Human Rights Commission, Prof Chidi Odinkalu. The lawyers barricaded the gate, preventing registered
lawyers being conveyed in buses from going in.
They also prevented people in from coming out as they engaged security agents in hot arguments, shoving and
pushing one another.
They insisted they have a right to attend the Annual General Meeting as fee- paying NBA member, whether or not they registered for the
conference.
"A lot of things are going wrong in NBA and if we keep quiet, things will spoil totally," one the protesting lawyer said.

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A Man Mistakes Son For Monkey, Shoots Him Dead

A farmer in southern Nepal mistook his son for a monkey trying to steal his crops and shot the 12-year-old dead, police said on Sunday.
Chitra Bahadur Pulami had been climbing a tree to chase away
macaques that had become a nuisance to the family but his father Gupta Bahadur, 55, spotted the boy and opened fire, wrongly believing him to be one of the animals.
"The son was hiding in a tree at their farm to chase away monkeys that used to come searching for food
in the maize field," said Arun Poudel, deputy
superintendent of police in the remote Arghakhanchi district
"The son died on the spot after Gupta Bahadur mistakenly thought there was a monkey in the tree and opened fire. Our preliminary investigation shows
that the father was unaware that his son had gone to the maize field to chase the monkeys.
"Both Gupta Bahadur and the gun that he used in shooting his son are now under the custody of the police."
The three species of monkey native to Nepal, the rhesus and Assamese macaque and the common langur, are considered sacred and farmers normally try to scare them away from their crops without injuring the animals.
"I realised my mistake only when my son fell down and got stuck in one of the tree's branches," the farmer was quoted as telling police


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Boko Haram Finally Bombs FG to the table

In what appears to be  relief to president Jonathan's government on insecurity problem in Nigeria, the minister of Information, Labara Maku, said yesterday that the Federal Government welcomes the decision of the Boko Haram Islamic group to engage in dialogue.

According to a source, a man identified as Habu Mohammed, who was reported to be speaking on behalf of the sect’s leader, Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, told the Voice of America (VOA) in Mecca that the group is ready to negotiate with the FG.
He said the decision was as a result of the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians who advised the group to change its strategy in the interest of peace.
It was all joy at the villa when the news filtered in  that Boko Haram was ready to sit the federal government  down and chat with them.
Boko Haram has for long time now bombed and destroyed properties and citizens of Nigeria, especially security operatives who were sent to fish them out. All effort to quell them did not yield  much fruit in so much that at the mention of Boko Haram, Aso Rock quakes.
finally, they have succeeded in bombing the government to the table. We hope they will this time have mercy of our government .
I heard that the ransom they  demand is just a chicken change of N2,015. At least to compensate for the eight years Aso Villa was out of their sight. Then, the North will be happy.

The new development  made the minister of information very joyous when he called the guys known as Boko Haram our beloved children
In his statement, Maku said:
“We have heard the news. The position of government from the beginning has been that we are prepared to negotiate and dialogue with members of this group because we believe they are Nigerians and they are our children.
“It is a known fact that violence has disrupted social and economic activities in some parts of Northern Nigeria.
“We have accepted dialogue as a way of bringing the situation to an end as quickly as possible.
“We have always called on those engaging in violence to stop because violence can’t solve any problem. So we welcome the decision to dialogue.”

Prophet turns woman to sex slave, pretends to ‘anoint’ her breasts and private part

 The victim, 24-year-old Cynthia Nwanguma, said she was placed on a secrecy oath by a Lagos based self-styled prophet, Dennis Mmadu, not to disclose her ordeal to anyone or else she would die. Thereafter, Mmadu had free sex with her for seven days; pretending to be anointing her breasts and private part with oil. She added that the prophet also claimed he was having holy sex with her while he engaged in unprotected sex with her whenever he feels like throughout the period. 35-year-old Prophet Mmadu, is now cooling his heels at Kirikiri Prison on the order of an Ejigbo Magistrateís Court where he is facing a four-count charge of obtaining money under false pretence, stealing and threat to life. Mmadu had engaged Cynthia Nwanguma, a student nurse in a marathon sex for seven days, claiming he would deliver her from barrenness. The nurse also lost N21,800 to the prophet. Mmadu from Imo State, met Cynthia at Igando, off LASU-Isheri road, Lagos, and he took her in his car marked TU 806 AAA to his house at 26, Oseni Street, New Oko-Oba, near Agege. She said during one of their sex session Prophet Mmadu prophesied to her that she had a strange illness in her stomach that would make her barren throughout her life time. She said he told her that she was lucky to have met him and promised to offer her spiritual healing so that she will not have problem looking for the fruit of the womb when she got married. She said he showed her some women and men as those who have benefited from his spiritual powers. But she later discovered they were his accomplices. She said she was still in shock over what happened because she did not know what came over her. She later discovered that she has been duped. After regaining herself, Cynthia demanded her money from Prophet Mmadu but he ignored her. She thus reported the incident to Igando police division. Prophet Mmadu was arrested and interrogated. He was charged to court for fraud, stealing and assault. The offence, the police said is contrary to Sections 36, 44, 312 and 409 of the Criminal code Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011. He pleaded not guilty. The presiding Magistrate, Mrs. M. B. Folami granted him bail in the sum of N50,000 with one surety in like sum. The matter was adjourned till 16 September, 2012 for mention. He was remanded in prison custody pending when he will meet the bail conditions.

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Pastor Emmanuel Inpregnates His Daughter Twice After Wife's Death

It appears many people do not think their actions through any more before acting these days. Obviously, taking some time to consider the consequences of his actions, Olufamous.com observed, could have saved Pastor Emmanuel Alex of the troubles he’s in now. The pastor who is in charge of a new generation church in Egan, a Lagos suburb, has been arrested by the police for impregnating his 15-year-old daughter, not once but two times. Pastor Emmanuel’s daughter was said to have delivered two babies for him within two years. This happened after the girl’s mother, the pastor’s wife, died. They were all living in the same apartment at 33, Pastor Olusola Street, Agric, Egan, Lagos. Residents of the area said the Pastor Emmanuel’s nine children were not allowed to go to school or socialize with their neighbours and when he wanted to go out, he locked them inside his two-bedroom flat. His arrest was made possible by a sting operation by two non-governmental organizations in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA, Alausa, Ikeja. His wife was said to have died during labour in 2010 after giving birth to nine children. According to reports, while in labour to deliver the 10th child, the Pastor Emmanuel had no money to take her to hospital and he asked her to deliver in their house and in the process, she died. It was after she died that Pastor Emmanuel started sleeping with his first daughter and the act resulted in pregnancy. She delivered a baby for her father in 2011. While nursing the baby, the pastor impregnated her again and she delivered the second baby recently. The scandal was exposed during a burial ceremony Pastor Emmanuel was to be the officiating pastor. Some residents in the area opposed him and told those present that he had impregnated his own daughter two times. Pastor Emmanuel was charged to Ikeja High Court recently and he was subsequently remanded in prison custody. A source said the Welfare Department of WAPA has taken custody of all his children. 

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Nigerian parents jailed for 7 years in the UK for Punishing their children

Down here in Nigeria, it's spare the rod spoil the child, but in UK, it is not so. You could get jail term for punishing/ disciplining your kid for wrong doing. That is why the moral decadence in the west has become worrisome to the morally upright.  

Some foreign nationals who do not want their kids mess around with corrupt elements are tempted to apply home discipline. 

However when a Nigerian family in UK tried the 'home discipline application, they got jailed for it. 

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Federal Government removes transparency clause from new Petroleum Industry Bill

The Federal Government has deleted a provision, which could force it to publish how much oil it pumps and all the payments it receives from oil firms from the new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), a thorough study of the Bill at the weekend revealed. The older version of the Bill contained the provision. The government had always promised to ensure that there was transparency in its oil transactions, which would entail publishing the exact barrels of crude oil produced and the revenue. President Goodluck Jonathan handed over the Bill to the National Assembly, according to Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, “To particularly trigger the much-awaited reforms in the oil and gas sector.” But provisions that would have forced government to publish the exact barrels of crude oil it pumps and all the revenue it got from oil firms – in an industry where secrecy is blamed for corruption – have been removed from the Bill. In its place, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the weekend stated that transparency could be achieved in the sector through the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, which the President signed few days to the 2011 general elections. Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC, Andrew Yakubu, who stated this, pledged to abide by the spirit and letter of the FoI Act in all its operations to entrench a culture of probity and accountability. But an oil and gas expert, who consulted for the government on the PIB, Pedro Van Meurs, told Reuters that the removal of the provision on transparency should be a source of concern for Nigerians. “Transparency provisions related to corporate income tax, hydrocarbon tax and production sharing were deleted. This should be a source of concern,” he said. “I expect the petroleum industry to be happy. I expect many Nigerians to be upset,” he added. When the law finally comes, it looks likely to be a botched job that gives favourable tax terms to foreign oil firms while doing little to satisfy calls for transparency and reform of a corrupt and wasteful sector. The Bill also gives the oil minister new supervisory powers over all industry institutions, including a new regulator to police downstream and upstream, raising concerns about checks and balances. Lawmakers had rejected drafts that did this in the past. It says anyone who “interferes” with the minister will be fined or imprisoned. And it allows the oil minister and the directors of state institutions to receive gifts, which will not please civil society groups calling for an end to graft. NNPC, however, pledged to abide by the spirit and letters of the 2011 FoI Act in all its operations to entrench a culture of probity and accountability. Speaking at the induction ceremony for newly recruited graduate trainees at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, Yakubu stated that ahead of the signing into law of the then FoI Bill by Jonathan, the NNPC had taken bold measures to open its operations to public scrutiny. “Long before the Freedom of Information Act came into force, the NNPC has been maintaining an open door policy which sees it volunteering information to its various publics through press releases, advertorials and presentations at different forums, including hearings at the National Assembly,’’ the GMD stated. He said with the formal signing of the FoI Bill into law last year, the NNPC management swiftly established a task force with the goal of examining the new law and advising management on how best to comply with the provisions of the law. “We have since internalised the contents of that report and as a corporation, we are ready to ensure that our actions and processes live up to public scrutiny. “Under my watch as GMD, I intend to abide by this principle,’’ Yakubu affirmed. In the bill, foreign oil companies like Shell, Chevron and Exxon will be relieved that tax changes are more favourable compared with previous versions. This could be a sticky point with lawmakers seeking a better deal for Nigeria. Analysts believe that the taxes foreign firms pay on profits onshore, which will be published under the PIB, will amount to a big cut from the taxes that are now levied in secret. Furthermore, the cut will apply both to existing fields and new fields, unlike in earlier versions of the law where tax cuts were only on new fields, the analyst said. Van Meurs says the government could lose 20-50 per cent of its tax revenue per barrel on existing assets. The PIB is meant to change everything from fiscal terms to overhauling the NNPC. Its comprehensive nature caused years of disputes between lawmakers, ministers and oil majors. However, the latest copy proposes few changes that will improve transparency. For instance, keeping royalty payments secret will not be allowed. Oil company profit taxes proposed in the Bill are also in the public domain for the first time but it does not require disclosure of oil sales, of other taxes like income and hydrocarbon tax, nor of payments to the government, including signature bonuses. Openness on such subjects is vital to clean up the energy sector, say campaigners. Detail is thin on plans to partly sell off the mismanaged NNPC, seen by experts as the biggest barrier to progress. Nigeria exports about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) but could double this with a better-managed state oil firm able to pay for its share of joint ventures, foreign oil majors say. NNPC was last month described by the National Assembly as “answerable to no one” in a probe into a $6.8 billion fuel subsidy fraud. It is accused by oil traders of owing billions in unpaid bills. The NNPC has rejected allegations of corruption or insolvency.

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