Tale of survival! Man tells how he was kidnapped by a club girl he met in IkEJA

A 28-year-old man, Ayodele Olaoye, who was allegedly kidnapped by a lady, Esther Phillips, he met at a Club in Opebi, Lagos, has narrated his ordeal before an Ikeja High Court.

Esther was said to have conspired with six others to commit the alleged offence.The other suspects are Patricia Nna, Kingsley Okonwa, Osita Adigwe, Uzochukwu Ezioha, Jude Sunday and Michael Olarenwaju, who are being prosecuted by the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution, DPP.

The seven defendants who were arraigned on March 5 are facing a five-count charge of conspiracy, armed robbery, kidnapping and neglect to prevent felony.

Led in evidence by Mr Ade Ipaye, Attorney General of Lagos State and Commissioner for Justice, Olaoye  said he had taken the accused to bed twice since they met in February 2012 and they became friends.

Olaoye, who said he came back into the country in December 2011, after his graduation from a university in England, said the first defendant gave her name as Jenny and claimed to be a student of Lagos State University, LASU.

Olaoye who was testifying at the trial of the seven kidnap suspects before Justice Olabisi Akinlade, said on April 22, 2012, at about 4 p.m, which was on a Sunday, the first defendantasked him to follow her to herhostel in LASU and he agreed because he trusted her.

How I was kidnapped
Olaoye said he drove his Nissan Muranno SUV  and picked Philips up at a first generation bank in Opebi and they moved towards LASU with Phillips giving the directions that he should go and pick her friend, the second defendant, whom he said gave her name as Juliet.

He said after they had  picked up Nna, the second defendant at Dopemu, Philips told him that the lady was her school mate.

According to him, after driving for sometime, they told me to stop at an isolated place because they were pressed, adding that immediately he stopped the car, three men, Okonwa, Adigwe and Ezioha, entered his car through the back door.

He said the defendants who  were armed with a battle axe and knives dragged him to the back seat and took his mobile phone, wrist watch, necklace and money.

Olaoye said he was tied up, blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination by the first to fifth accused persons who  told him to cooperate or they would kill him, adding that they took his phone and called his mum first to inform her that he was in a cage.

The ransom
The plaintiff said after speaking with his mum, they also called his father and told him that he was in a cage and demanded a ransom of $400,000.
He said Phillips specifically told him to try and convince his parents to pay the money or the guys would kill him.

Olaoye  said he was incarcerated for four days, adding that the defendants collected  N5 million ransom from his parents.

According to him, his father, Mr Segun Olaoye, paid N5 million to them which they shared among themselves.

My escape
He said it was while they were sharing the money that he was able to sneak out of the house where he was being held and took a motorcycle to his  father’s office in Gowon Estate in Iyana-Ipaja.

After which he wrote a statement at the Police station but he couldn’t remember the exact date or the particular police station.

However, the matter has been adjourned.

This Govt Is Confused – CAN Chief

In this interview, the Bishop, Diocese of Kubwa, Anglican Communion, and National Treasurer of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, the Right Reverend Duke Akamisoko, speaks on the national insecurity created by the activities of the group and other pertinent issues that need to be addressed if Nigeria is to move forward. Excerpts:

Recently, there was the allegation that Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, was too close to government and, therefore, it was being run as a government entity?

Close to government? No! I am the National Treasurer of CAN, government doesn’t pay me. I don’t receive salary from it; I don’t know what is too close. If there is anything, at every particular time, we have criticized this government on various policies and programmes; so, I think it’s erroneous to say we are part of government.

What is your take on the call to impose tax on religious bodies? Tax for what? Do we have the money? We don’t have much money that they will tax us on. What we do is we give more back to the society than what we receive. Even the national cake, the oil money that is going to government presently, we have not seen them use it judiciously. So, tax on what basis? On what grounds? I think that statement is not right. There is no need to think of taxing the Church in Nigeria.

What about the call to license preaching to curb insecurity? In any organized society, things are regulated, and I can tell you, go outside this country, where will you see people open churches any how? You can’t do like that in UK, not in Singapore. The authorities will ask you, what is your background? What is your training? You can’t just get up and say you are a medical doctor, and you want to open a hospital, the body will ask you, are you a doctor? The hospital you want to open, they find out what are the basic things.

Rev. Akamisoko Now in US or UK, for example, there are various procedures. The government will tell you the laid down rules. If you don’t have the requirements, you can’t open a church. You have not been to any training theologically, you can’t just wake up and open a church, and start shouting halleluiah. It is not the issue of licensing; it is the issue of being regulated, nobody should just wake up and say he is a preacher.

In northern Nigeria, it was properly regulated during the colonial rule. If you had Almajiri School, they will ask what you are teaching there. What is the content of your curriculum? And that is the problem we are having today with the Almajiri. People just gather some youths, you don’t know what they are teaching them; they teach these people all manner of things; they come out and become violent. They can kill; the school where they were being taught, nobody wants to find out what type of man is teaching them, and anybody can teach anything.

The issue is that any society that things are not regulated, that society will not move forward. Even in your home, there must be some rules governing every aspect of life; there is no aspect of life that should be left; even the church, on the street, everywhere; what kind of teaching is going on there?; the person preaching, what is the background? What is the qualification? A graduate of economics says he is a preacher; no conditions, no basic tenet for it.

So, sincerely speaking, the way religious organizations are run in this country is faulty. And if we continue like this, we will not get the desired result. There must be checks and balances. So, we have to check ourselves, and it is not the responsibility of CAN; CAN is not government, there is a department of government in most organized societies that regulates religion.

In UK or US, religious organizations are known as non-profit organizations and what happens is checked. If you say, for example, that you own a church and you have 500,000 Naira, that money you must show evidence of how you use it; you are not using it for yourself; government believes you are using it for the benefit of the community. You will send your expenditure profile, how much is coming in, how you use it, they will see where you use it and people will monitor what you use 500,000 Naira for. But in Nigeria, the money they make in churches, they use it for personal things. And the most painful part of it is that our leaders always go there and know these things.

The agitation for Northern Minorities Commission, are you in support? It is just that we have a collapsed system, and when you have a collapsed system, you have all kinds of agitations, all kinds of expressions, because the system has collapsed. The Northern Minorities Commission or anything of such is nothing that can solve our problems. What will solve our problems is a government that is accountable to the people and the resources are used for the generality of our people. I think that the desire for commissions comes because people feel they are neglected.

*President Jonathan Go to the Niger Delta Ministry, despite the fact that money is being pumped there, you will not see the impact of that ministry. So, creating ministry upon ministry, we will just be moving round and round and no problem would be solved. In America of about 300 million people, how many ministries do they have? They have 14 ministries, 300million people, double our own, and they have 52 states; they don’t have a minister per state. But in this country, we have one minister per state, and there is another one, they say the six geo-political zones, you have one minister each. So it is not the creation of all these ministries that will solve the problems.

Taking cognizance of the removal of Christian Religion from school curriculum in some parts of the country, can we say we have religious freedom in Nigeria?

We have cried over and over about it that Christians in the North are not enjoying the freedom they should enjoy. It is true that for quite a long time, Christian Knowledge is not taught in primary and secondary schools in most northern states, and government is aware of this; they can’t claim to be ignorant. The issue of freedom to worship is just there in our constitution, but in practical terms, especially in the North, it is not there; to get land for churches is difficult in many places in the North.

To get a land for church, you have to disguise that you are not a church. If you want to build it, you are monitored, you are asked not to build, you are asked not to do this or do that; that doesn’t happen in the country that wants to allow freedom of worship. Sincerely speaking, in the far North, there are lots of hindrances against the church and the governors know that Christians are suffering in silence.

On the issue of security, what is your view on the amnesty committee set up by government? I think government finds it difficult to find solution to the problem of insecurity in the country, and, possibly, it doesn’t know what to do. And when you have a problem and you don’t know how to solve it, you do trial and error. The world today is a global village, and we know how all these problems are solved in other parts of the world. There is nowhere in the world you have terrorism and you solve it by amnesty; not in America, not in Britain, not in Pakistan, not in Iraq, not in Indonesia, not in Malaysia, and we have records; go to the internet, you will see these things, how they are dealt with.

When people rise against the government, rise against the people, to kill and destroy, the government takes a stand against the assailants; you don’t go about begging them; there is nowhere in the world where terrorism is solved by amnesty. I have not read it anywhere and Nigeria cannot be an exception. For example, after the 9/11 attacks in the US, when Osama Bin Laden and his al Qeada struck, the Americans did not wait for them, they went to their domain. America mobilised all the resources, went after him in Afghanistan; they did not grant amnesty.

*Interview conducted before last week’s emergency rule declaration in three states.

Boko Haram Militants Flood Gombe, Bauchi

Following the declaration of a state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, some members of the fundamentalist Boko Haram sect have started fleeing to neighbouring Gombe, Bauchi and Jigawa states, SUNDAY PUNCH authoritatively reports.Thursday, members of the sect attacked two police stations and four banks in Daura, Katsina State.

It was the first time the sect was carrying out attacks in Katsina.

President Goodluck Jonathan placed the three states under emergency rule following unabated bloodbath and bomb attacks which have left hundreds of people and security officials dead.

Security sources confided in our correspondents on Friday that following the increased pressure by the military, some of the insurgents have started sneaking out of the states.

A top military official who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter said, “All the states are under intense military surveillance and we are ensuring that no one sneaks out but the insurgents have some secret routes which we are going to block. They will use these secret routes to sneak out because of the heat on them. Ordinarily, they will want to protect their wives, children and the weak among them.”

One of the soldiers deployed in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, also told one of our correspondents that some of the insurgents are fleeing the state to neighbouring ones.

The solider who pleaded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said, “We have reports that they are running away to neigbouring states and even neighbouring countries. We are doing our best to ensure that all escape routes are blocked.”

According to the soldier, several residents of Gamboru, Ngala, and Marte, where the sect hoisted its flags are fleeing the area because of heavy military operation.

A security expert and former State Security Service director, Mr. Mike Ejiojor, told SUNDAY PUNCH that it was possible that members of the Boko Haram sect would attempt to escape to states near Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

“Preventing them from migrating to neighbouring states is the essence of the state of emergency in the three affected states. We hope that it won’t be easy for them to migrate to other states especially if they have cells there,” he said.

Another security expert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu, told one of our correspondents that there was a possibility that members of the sect that had fled the states, could regroup to launch massive attacks on the states under emergency rule.

Ekhomu, who is the President, Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, said such a development could lead to having more states on the list of those under emergency rule.

He said, “They will continue to launch attacks, it is not without doubt. Don’t forget that apart from the affected states, other states have some Boko Haram presence, so they may regroup. The military must ensure that they don’t escape from the states.

“The military should use a lot of tactics to freeze the bad guys (Boko Haram). The essence of conducting the military operation in the North-East is to flush out or capture the Boko Haram elements. If they get away, then the purpose of the exercise is defeated.”

He added that members of the sect might wear military uniforms to disguise as they were becoming more adaptive. According to him, it would become difficult to differentiate between a genuine military officer and a Boko Haram member in military uniform.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Immigration Service has deported 31,822 illegal immigrants from the country in the first five months of the year.

The Public Relations Officer of NIS, Mr. Ekpedeme King, told SUNDAY PUNCH, that the figure represented the total number of immigrants arrested without proper documentation in different parts of the country.

“According to our records, from January this year to the first week of May, the Nigerian Immigration Service arrested and repatriated 31,822 illegal immigrants. I know there is the temptation to link the number to the security situation in the country and the Boko Haram insurgency. But this is the total number of illegal immigrants we have repatriated so far this year, as part of our duties to ensure that every foreigner in the country has adequate documentation,” he said.

Findings showed that most of the deportees were nationals of Niger, Mali and Cameroun, while a small number from other West African countries like Ghana and Benin Republic.

Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, who confirmed this development, said the illegal aliens came into the country through the many porous border inlets, adding that to fight terrorism in the country, it was necessary to “throw them out.”

Moro explained that the deportation was part of the measures adopted by government to check the incursion of strangers into the nation and to further contain the security threat posed by Boko Haram.

According to him, it will cost about N500m to provide the manpower and gadgets needed at the borders.

He said, “Manning our international borders effectively to check illegal entry of persons is almost impossible in the nation today. We have to admit the fact that we don’t have enough manpower and equipment to have real control of the situation.

“And I admit to you that prior to the present situation we face, it used to be worse. We used to take so many things for granted until we came to the point of this daring and dire security challenge.

“Part of the measures to succeed in the task had led us to getting into partnership with the American government to procure advanced surveillance equipment for better border security. The illegal immigrants were sent out of the country by the appropriate authorities under the ministry.”

In a related development, Amnesty International has called on security forces to adhere to international human rights standards and the rule of law.

It said it would continue to document human rights abuses by the security forces and Boko Haram, and the dire situation of the people trapped in the middle.

It stated, “We will continue to call on the Nigeria government to take action to protect the population. Nigeria must adopt measures that prevent, investigate and prosecute attacks by Boko Haram, while fully respecting and ensuring human rights in accordance with Nigeria’s international obligations and commitments. The population will not be truly secure until everyone in Nigeria can be confident not only that the risk of attacks from Boko Haram has been reduced, but also that they will not face human rights violations at the hands of the very state security forces mandated with their protection.

“Unfortunately, at the moment in Nigeria we have a situation where the military are behaving like they are above the law – like they don’t have to respect the rule of law. So, in some respects, the issue is not so much which law the military are operating under, although it is vitally important that the law complies with international human rights law and standards.”

Where Did David Mark Get the Funds for His Private University? By leumas

David Bonaventure Alechenu Mark, Nigeria’s Senate President, is one of those extremely wealthy rogue soldiers produced by Ibrahim Babangida’s settlement philosophy. Fate has blessed him with an illustrious looting career.

He has been stealing money from the Nigerian people for a very long time. When he got tired of stealing money, he graduated to loftier preoccupations: stealing elections. Thus, in one of those only in Nigeria self-destructive travesties, the occupant of the third highest office in the land actually never won any of the elections that got him to the National Assembly. Like others, he is a beneficiary of the PDP’s phenomenal rigging machine. He is openly pretending not to eye the presidency in 2015 but, deep down, he won’t mind adding tenancy in Aso Rock to his personal legacy of rigged elections. In the meantime, David Mark has graduated from stealing elections to being lucky.

Luck, for David Mark, is not about your head auspiciously making you the number two man to bosses destined to run into trouble or die along the way. Luck, for the Senate President, comes in the shape of a succession of overwhelming national tragedies which makes the personal transgressions of Nigeria’s political rapists pass unnoticed. Such has been the harvest of corpses lately in Nigeria, from Baga to Bama to Nassarawa and counting, that it would have been politically incorrect for anybody to pay attention to the regular but less violent ways in which the political class continues to kill more Nigerians than Boko Haram or armed robbers combined.

With Boko Haram, a hundred lives, two hundred lives, go out in a bang and photos of calcified bodies go viral on social media to remind us of the tragic errors of our national rendering. With every billion looted by a politician, thousands of lives go but not in a bang. They go smiling to their graves. They go installmentally. For every billion looted translates to hospitals and roads not built. There are no calcified images to show us that these thousands of slow, installmental, shuffering and smiling deaths are directly linked to the billions looted by a particular politician.

Hundreds of lives taken weekly in the blitzkrieg of Boko Haram, armed robbery, and our other national demons are more newsworthy and have more spectacle value on social media than the somber reality of hundreds of thousands walking deads on our streets, all candidates for the grave, because a politician has looted the money meant for hospitals, roads, and clean water provision. This is why luck shined on David Mark and another recent evidence of his brazen looting of our commonwealth went grossly under-reported and totally ignored by Nigerians.

Like most Nigerians, I nearly missed the news, partly because only one newspaper (Nigerian Tribune) considered it newsworthy and partly because I was distracted and anguished by other national tragedies associated with Boko Haram. Although, somehow, the editors of Nigerian Tribune did not consider it front page material, they still displayed enough critical acuity to give it an appropriately ominous headline in the Sunday, 12 May 2013 online edition of the newspaper. “3 Policemen, 5 Others Injured Over Proposed David Mark University”, screamed Nigerian Tribune.

Now, that caught my attention. Wait a minute, I thought, David Mark, a sitting Senate President, is building his own private University? How on earth did Sahara Reporters and Premium Times miss this story and the attendant necessity of investigating how David Mark is funding his University? The opening paragraph of the Tribune story confirmed my worst fears. Says Tribune: “No fewer than eight people, including three policemen, were said to have been injured in a clash between youths in Asa community area of Otukpo town inOtukpo Local Government Area of Benue State over the location of a private university owned by the Senate President, Senator David Mark.

The youth were said to have converged on the Otukpo-Oju federal highway mid-week to protest what they described as unlawful acquisition of their land by the Senate President, while the policemen drafted to the area were said to have received stiff resistance from the youth. Efforts by policemen to disperse the youth were rebuffed, which reportedly left eight people, including three policemen, injured.” Like most things Nigerian, this piece of bad news comes in tangled layers. Tragic trees always fall on tragic trees in our situation and it is always a very difficult task determining which to remove first. So, we shall pretend not to notice that David Mark is also apparently involved in a messy land grab that has now caused injury to fellow Nigerians (poor Benue! When they are not robbed blind via contract rackets by Doyin Okupe, they are robbed silly by one of their unelected representatives in the Senate) and focus on the more sinister news of a salaried Senator funding a private University.

There is a sense in which David Mark’s venture into higher education (my dear brother, Tade Aina, Program Director of Higher Education in Africa for the Carnegie Corporation, must be gnashing his teeth in agony over the new meaning that politicians in his country are giving to higher education) reminds me of ace British colonialist empire builder, Cecil Rhodes.Starring at the heavens from his compound in South Africa onebeautiful evening, Rhodes famously exclaimed: “I would annex the planets if I could.” Just as Rhodes wanted no part of the solar system left uncolonized by the British, no part of our national life is left uncolonized by the loot of the political class.

For members of Nigeria’s political class, looting the treasury is no longer just about stealing money to rival the material acquisitions of Arab oil sheikhs in choice locations all over the world; it is no longer just about aping the glamorous lifestyle of Hollywood royalty, it has now acquired a psychological dimension with a tinge of impunity.

Beyond material acquisition, loot creates the desire in the rapists of Nigeria to invade and make their odoriferous presence felt in those areas of national life which still provide some form of psychological cushion for the people. Thus, when the Nigerian politician or government official has acquired enough property in Abuja, Lagos, Dubai, Johannesburg, London, Washington, and Toronto; when he has acquired a private jet; when his fleet of expensive exotic cars in Nigeria makes his compound look like a car dealership; when he boasts a permanent year-round reserved room in Sheraton or Nicon Hilton, agony and restlessness set in.What to do next? Ah, yes, let me colonize other areas of life of Nigerians. Let me take my loot into other zones, other spaces that ordinarily ought to be inviolable.

This is the point at which they begin to invade and colonize faith. Thus far, only the traditional religions are safe from their depredations. They are not building ultramodern shrines yet forBabalawos and Dibias. Nigerian Christianity and Islam, on the other hand, have been very badly hit as I indicated in my open letter to John Cardinal Onaiyekan and Pastor Tunde Bakare.

The loot of politicians and government officials has invaded Nigerian faith. They build churches (and mosques but mostly churches) and donate such glamorous buildings with fanfare. The Body of Christ in Nigeria has learnt that talking while eating from the hands of corrupt politicians is bad table manners. Thus, nobody asks any questions about the source of the funds when a politician builds and donates a church to a congregation. I am still waiting for the Nigerian Anglican Communion, especially the Anglican clergy, to ask Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, where he got the money to build a flamboyant church for the Anglican community in his village.

When they get tired of colonizing faith with their loot, they move on to colonize higher education, mushrooming private universities all over the place. The University idea ought to sue Nigeria for what we are doing to it. Just like we bastardized democracy, we are bastardizing the University idea. Every looter, every crook in Nigeria wants to start a private University after building a Church or a Mosque. Obasanjo built Bells University and we asked no questions. Ibrahim Babangidastarted Heritage University.

His license was withdrawn by the NUC not because of questions over his sources of funds but because he delayed admitting students. Atiku Abubakar bought a franchise of the American University system while still in office as Vice President and we asked no questions about the sources of his funds. Now, a sitting Senate President has ventured into the same terrain and no questions are asked, no eyebrows raised anywhere in Nigeria. Next, a politician will wake up, create, and privately fund Nigeria’s 37th state and there will be no questions asked.

This is precisely what worries me: our transition into a society that no longer sees anything wrong with the bastardization of ideals and the violation of national psychic spaces by the criminals in the political class. Bring your loot into faith and try to buy God and Allah, no problem, we the clergy will broker the deal for you. Bring your loot into higher education and try to buy inviolable ideals, no problem, we won’t ask any questions about how and where you got your money. We have thus created a society in which there are no institutions primed to swing into action the moment public servants display expenditure beyond their determined salaries.

A US Congressman suddenly buying a Lamborghini or appearing in Congress in choice Ferragamo loafers everyday is asking for swift and immediate trouble with the IRS; a Canadian parliamentarian who suddenly buys the latest Range Rover in a country where most of his colleagues take public transport to work is asking for immediate and swift investigation by Canada Revenue Agency.

If word got out that the Speaker of the House in Canada (David Mark’s counterpart in Ottawa) was privately building and funding a University in his village, Andrew Treusch, Commissioner of Revenue and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Revenue Agency, would have a heart attack.

However, in Nigeria, David Mark will steal the land he is busy stealing.

And build his private University.

Finally Jonathan Gets Tough On The North

Finally, President Goodluck Jonathan vindicated the rumor mills last Tuesday evening when he slammed State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States. STANLEY NKWOCHA writes on the events that culminated into Jonathan’s action

Sunday evening and the rumor mills had gone agog with tales of impending State of Emergency to be ordered in some troubled states in the country, especially in the Northern part.

Convoys of armored tankers, reports said, had started being moved to the cities - an indication that perhaps decision on the -to be presidential order had already been taken.

The marathon meeting the President had been having with his security chiefs since returning from South Africa and cutting off his planned trip to Namibia, suggested that something serious was in the offing. The virtual unabated series of meeting thereafter with the governors of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, suggested that indeed push had come to shove.

By the next day, however, the rumor mills had gone ballistic with the media buzzing with reports of widespread condemnation of the intended state of emergency. From the Governors’ Forum, pressure groups, from opposition political parties to even some federal lawmakers, it was heavy kick against State of Emergency. The polity was charged, forcing the Presidency to issue a release to that effect.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati said that the federal government had not taken a firm decision on what should be done in those states facing rising security challenges. This was last Monday.

According to him, “People should stop speculating. The federal government is studying the situations in the affected states and would take a decision that would be in the overall interest of the security of not just the people of the states affected by the country.”

Dr Abati said the clarification had become necessary because of the wide speculation in the media which didn’t reflect government thinking. But the next day, Abati’s words betrayed him as President Goodluck Jonathan went for the kill.

In a nationwide address, the President said the action had become necessary due to the recent spate of terrorist activities and protracted security challenges in some parts of the country, particularly in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Kano, Plateau and most recently Bayelsa, Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa states.

“These unfortunate events have led to needless loss of lives and property of many innocent Nigerians including members of our security forces.

“The recent killing of security operatives by a cult group in Nasarawa State is particularly condemnable. I have directed that no effort or expense be spared in identifying and bringing to justice all those who had a hand in the killing of the operatives.

“The activities of insurgents and terrorists have been reprehensible, causing fear among our citizens and a near-breakdown of law and order in parts of the country, especially the North. We have taken robust steps to unravel and address the root causes of these crises, but it would appear that there is a systematic effort by insurgents and terrorists to destabilize the Nigerian state and test our collective resolve,” the President said.

He then proceeded to reel out the state of emergency in three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, adding that hence forth it shall be total lock down in terms of military powers but added the elected institutions remained in the various states.

“Following recent developments in the affected states, it has become necessary for Government to take extraordinary measures to restore normalcy. After wide consultations, and in exercise of the powers conferred on me by the provisions of Section 305, sub-section 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, I hereby declare a State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

“Accordingly, the Chief of Defence Staff has been directed to immediately deploy more troops to these states for more effective internal security operations. The troops and other security agencies involved in these operations have orders to take all necessary action, within the ambit of their rules of engagement, to put an end to the impunity of insurgents and terrorists.

“This will include the authority to arrest and detain suspects, the taking of possession and control of any building or structure used for terrorist purposes, the lock-down of any area of terrorist operation, the conduct of searches, and the apprehension of persons in illegal possession of weapons.

“The details of this Proclamation will be transmitted to the National Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. But in the meantime, let me make it clear that within the purview of this Proclamation, the Governors and other political office holders in the affected states will continue to discharge their constitutional responsibilities,” the President hammered.

A flash back will reveal that in the 8years former President Olusegun Obasanjo ruled the country, it was only Plateau State, then under Governor Joshua Dariye that smelt the proclamation. Lt Gen. Tunji Olurin rtd had taken over the control of the state as its sole administrator for a six month period before returning the reigns of power back to Dariye when his reign came to an end and Obasanjo suspended it. But did the crisis stop?

It is therefore commendable that the elected institutions and governors have been left intact to run the affairs of their states.

The simple question, however, on the lips of many a Nigerian is whether this is the best of antidotes to the current wave of insurgency in the country? If it is, will it bring a halt to the continued wanton destruction of lives and properties and does the government need to do more, especially on intelligence gathering and also in its avowed quest for reach out? All eyes are cast out!

Rihanna is Far Too Waisted... in Loose Leather Trousers

Rihanna must have lost weight since she bought these tight leather trousers.

The pop beauty was forced to grab the waistline of her bottoms to prevent them falling down as she returned late to her hotel in New York.

The singer pinched the excess material with her fingers and used her handbag to prop up the front of her trousers.

She teamed her loose leathers with a tummy-flashing crop top, high heels and flowing bleach blonde locks.

Despite the presence of skin, Rihanna was dressed conservatively compared to the provocative T-shirt she wore the previous day.

The singer grabbed attention in a rude top that was emblazoned with the acronym D.I.Y. and a sexually explicit image.

The saucy star’s endorsement of going solo for sexual kicks came hot on the heels of her split from on/off boyfriend Chris Brown.

R&B star Brown announced their break-up last week, four years after his brutal attack on her spelled the end of their first relationship.

The chart-topper – who refers to Rihanna as Shawty – said: “I’m gonna do it solo. At the end of the day Shawty doing her own thing, she on the road.

“It’s always gonna be love. I’m a grown man, just gotta fast forward.

“The way I look at it is, I’m always going to love that person, but people have differences, and people have different wants and needs.

“At the end of the day she’s a young girl.

“I can’t really be focused on wife-ing somebody that young, and I’m young too.

“I just got to step forward and be the man and be the best Chris Brown I can be instead of worrying about whoever else is going to be in my side pocket.”