Culled from Punch
The Presidency on Thursday defended the prevention of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State from exchanging pleasantries with President Goodluck Jonathan by a security operative during dinner at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
It said the incident was purely a security issue that should not be politicized, especially by opposition political parties.
The governor, who was sitting two tables away from the President, had risen to greet him but the security operative attached to the President stopped him halfway.
In order not to create a scene at the event that had nearly all his colleagues and two heads of government (Joyce Banda of Malawi and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia) in attendance, Amaechi quietly returned to his seat and waited for about five minutes before leaving the venue.
Can you guys imagine? He invited him but refused to let him come near him. Choi! Continue reading
But as the Action Congress of Nigeria and Congress for Progressive Change berated Jonathan over the incident, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak, said it was tantamount to a breach of protocol and security if Amaechi was allowed access to his boss who was already seated before the governor arrived.
Gulak said, “The President has a good relationship with all state governors and he meets with them regularly. The case in point is a pure security issue and it should be treated as a security issue that should not be politicised.
“The question the ACN and others who may want to politicise this issue need to ask is whether the President arrived at the venue of the dinner and was already seated before the governor arrived.
“Usual practice across the world is that once the President arrives a place, nobody whether a governor or not, is allowed entrance. That is the protocol. Even(Barack) Obama of the United States cannot be on his seat and a governor will be allowed to come in.
“If that was the situation in this case that the President was already on his seat, it would have been a breach of protocol and security for any security person to allow the governor access to the President. Such a security person would have been sanctioned if he had done that.”
Wondering why the ACN was interested in the matter, the presidential aide advised the opposition political parties to “concentrate on issues concerning them and stop politicising everything.”
The ACN had in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, condemned the action of the operative and called on Jonathan to order an immediate probe into it.
It said, “We are making this call because we do not believe that, in spite of the reported frosty relations between the two, President Jonathan – as the father of the nation – will lend the weight of his high office to such a demeaning action as exhibited by the presidential security personnel.
“To believe that anyone occupying the esteemed office of the President of one of Africa’s most important nations will be a party to a situation in which any security aide will wilfully fence a state chief executive from paying his respect to the President at such an open gathering will be to think the worst of the occupier of that office. That is why we have chosen not to believe that this indeed occurred, and why we are calling on Mr. President to tell Nigerians that ‘it ain’t so’ “We shudder to think of what efforts are being made – including the use of national institutions – to undermine Gov. Amaechi if the treatment reportedly meted out to him at the dinner has the approval of the powers that be. We are even more worried at what will happen to a governor from the opposition who falls out of favour with the President, if a governor from the same party as the President can be so publicly humiliated.”
ACN said it was particularly incumbent on the President to clarify the report because Amaechi, the authentic Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, extended an olive branch to him by attending the dinner, despite the fact that he (President) was publicly supporting the losing faction of the NGF, in what was being seen as a “democratic faux pas.”
The party said the President must learn to separate politics from governance by rising above petty partisanship as he steered the affairs of state.
On its part, the Congress for Progressive Change said it was clear to many discerning minds that “the government of President Jonathan is being run like a mafia organisation where you have the head at the Villa.”
“This is the kind of price we pay when we sacrifice competence on the altar of exigency,” the CPC said through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin.
The party added, “We have always said it that the way President Jonathan is running this country; he will run it aground.
“No Nigerian can be proud of what is happening in a situation where nations of the world are improving their democratic credentials; we are going towards further isolation.
“A situation where a chief executive is being blocked by security apparatus of the President, you ask yourself what hope mortals like us have under the Jonathan government.”
Friday, June 28, 2013
Amaechi blocked from meeting Jonathan at presidential dinner for security reasons - Presidency
Culled from Punch
The Presidency on Thursday defended the prevention of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State from exchanging pleasantries with President Goodluck Jonathan by a security operative during dinner at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
It said the incident was purely a security issue that should not be politicized, especially by opposition political parties.
The governor, who was sitting two tables away from the President, had risen to greet him but the security operative attached to the President stopped him halfway.
In order not to create a scene at the event that had nearly all his colleagues and two heads of government (Joyce Banda of Malawi and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia) in attendance, Amaechi quietly returned to his seat and waited for about five minutes before leaving the venue.
Can you guys imagine? He invited him but refused to let him come near him. Choi! Continue reading
But as the Action Congress of Nigeria and Congress for Progressive Change berated Jonathan over the incident, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak, said it was tantamount to a breach of protocol and security if Amaechi was allowed access to his boss who was already seated before the governor arrived.
Gulak said, “The President has a good relationship with all state governors and he meets with them regularly. The case in point is a pure security issue and it should be treated as a security issue that should not be politicised.
“The question the ACN and others who may want to politicise this issue need to ask is whether the President arrived at the venue of the dinner and was already seated before the governor arrived.
“Usual practice across the world is that once the President arrives a place, nobody whether a governor or not, is allowed entrance. That is the protocol. Even(Barack) Obama of the United States cannot be on his seat and a governor will be allowed to come in.
“If that was the situation in this case that the President was already on his seat, it would have been a breach of protocol and security for any security person to allow the governor access to the President. Such a security person would have been sanctioned if he had done that.”
Wondering why the ACN was interested in the matter, the presidential aide advised the opposition political parties to “concentrate on issues concerning them and stop politicising everything.”
The ACN had in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, condemned the action of the operative and called on Jonathan to order an immediate probe into it.
It said, “We are making this call because we do not believe that, in spite of the reported frosty relations between the two, President Jonathan – as the father of the nation – will lend the weight of his high office to such a demeaning action as exhibited by the presidential security personnel.
“To believe that anyone occupying the esteemed office of the President of one of Africa’s most important nations will be a party to a situation in which any security aide will wilfully fence a state chief executive from paying his respect to the President at such an open gathering will be to think the worst of the occupier of that office. That is why we have chosen not to believe that this indeed occurred, and why we are calling on Mr. President to tell Nigerians that ‘it ain’t so’ “We shudder to think of what efforts are being made – including the use of national institutions – to undermine Gov. Amaechi if the treatment reportedly meted out to him at the dinner has the approval of the powers that be. We are even more worried at what will happen to a governor from the opposition who falls out of favour with the President, if a governor from the same party as the President can be so publicly humiliated.”
ACN said it was particularly incumbent on the President to clarify the report because Amaechi, the authentic Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, extended an olive branch to him by attending the dinner, despite the fact that he (President) was publicly supporting the losing faction of the NGF, in what was being seen as a “democratic faux pas.”
The party said the President must learn to separate politics from governance by rising above petty partisanship as he steered the affairs of state.
On its part, the Congress for Progressive Change said it was clear to many discerning minds that “the government of President Jonathan is being run like a mafia organisation where you have the head at the Villa.”
“This is the kind of price we pay when we sacrifice competence on the altar of exigency,” the CPC said through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin.
The party added, “We have always said it that the way President Jonathan is running this country; he will run it aground.
“No Nigerian can be proud of what is happening in a situation where nations of the world are improving their democratic credentials; we are going towards further isolation.
“A situation where a chief executive is being blocked by security apparatus of the President, you ask yourself what hope mortals like us have under the Jonathan government.”
The Presidency on Thursday defended the prevention of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State from exchanging pleasantries with President Goodluck Jonathan by a security operative during dinner at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
It said the incident was purely a security issue that should not be politicized, especially by opposition political parties.
The governor, who was sitting two tables away from the President, had risen to greet him but the security operative attached to the President stopped him halfway.
In order not to create a scene at the event that had nearly all his colleagues and two heads of government (Joyce Banda of Malawi and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia) in attendance, Amaechi quietly returned to his seat and waited for about five minutes before leaving the venue.
Can you guys imagine? He invited him but refused to let him come near him. Choi! Continue reading
But as the Action Congress of Nigeria and Congress for Progressive Change berated Jonathan over the incident, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak, said it was tantamount to a breach of protocol and security if Amaechi was allowed access to his boss who was already seated before the governor arrived.
Gulak said, “The President has a good relationship with all state governors and he meets with them regularly. The case in point is a pure security issue and it should be treated as a security issue that should not be politicised.
“The question the ACN and others who may want to politicise this issue need to ask is whether the President arrived at the venue of the dinner and was already seated before the governor arrived.
“Usual practice across the world is that once the President arrives a place, nobody whether a governor or not, is allowed entrance. That is the protocol. Even(Barack) Obama of the United States cannot be on his seat and a governor will be allowed to come in.
“If that was the situation in this case that the President was already on his seat, it would have been a breach of protocol and security for any security person to allow the governor access to the President. Such a security person would have been sanctioned if he had done that.”
Wondering why the ACN was interested in the matter, the presidential aide advised the opposition political parties to “concentrate on issues concerning them and stop politicising everything.”
The ACN had in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, condemned the action of the operative and called on Jonathan to order an immediate probe into it.
It said, “We are making this call because we do not believe that, in spite of the reported frosty relations between the two, President Jonathan – as the father of the nation – will lend the weight of his high office to such a demeaning action as exhibited by the presidential security personnel.
“To believe that anyone occupying the esteemed office of the President of one of Africa’s most important nations will be a party to a situation in which any security aide will wilfully fence a state chief executive from paying his respect to the President at such an open gathering will be to think the worst of the occupier of that office. That is why we have chosen not to believe that this indeed occurred, and why we are calling on Mr. President to tell Nigerians that ‘it ain’t so’ “We shudder to think of what efforts are being made – including the use of national institutions – to undermine Gov. Amaechi if the treatment reportedly meted out to him at the dinner has the approval of the powers that be. We are even more worried at what will happen to a governor from the opposition who falls out of favour with the President, if a governor from the same party as the President can be so publicly humiliated.”
ACN said it was particularly incumbent on the President to clarify the report because Amaechi, the authentic Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, extended an olive branch to him by attending the dinner, despite the fact that he (President) was publicly supporting the losing faction of the NGF, in what was being seen as a “democratic faux pas.”
The party said the President must learn to separate politics from governance by rising above petty partisanship as he steered the affairs of state.
On its part, the Congress for Progressive Change said it was clear to many discerning minds that “the government of President Jonathan is being run like a mafia organisation where you have the head at the Villa.”
“This is the kind of price we pay when we sacrifice competence on the altar of exigency,” the CPC said through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin.
The party added, “We have always said it that the way President Jonathan is running this country; he will run it aground.
“No Nigerian can be proud of what is happening in a situation where nations of the world are improving their democratic credentials; we are going towards further isolation.
“A situation where a chief executive is being blocked by security apparatus of the President, you ask yourself what hope mortals like us have under the Jonathan government.”
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
OJB was on air today, TVC in the afternoon with Entertainment Splash presenter Labi. And while on the show, he actually, pratically begged Nigerians to save him.
According to him, Don Jazzy and Ruggedman are the only celebrities who have sent him their donations so far. Tuface hasn't made any donation as some reports said. Tuface hasn't even called him.
Right now, he says, his account balance isn't even up to N3m.
He can barely stand straight at the moment, not to talk of walking and he has just between now and the end of July to have his operation or he will die.
The kidney transplant will take place in London because of the long flight to India.
We all can help! His account detail is:
Babatunde Okungbowa.
UBA -1015075120.
According to him, Don Jazzy and Ruggedman are the only celebrities who have sent him their donations so far. Tuface hasn't made any donation as some reports said. Tuface hasn't even called him.
Right now, he says, his account balance isn't even up to N3m.
He can barely stand straight at the moment, not to talk of walking and he has just between now and the end of July to have his operation or he will die.
The kidney transplant will take place in London because of the long flight to India.
We all can help! His account detail is:
Babatunde Okungbowa.
UBA -1015075120.
OJB was on air today, TVC in the afternoon with Entertainment Splash presenter Labi. And while on the show, he actually, pratically begged Nigerians to save him.
According to him, Don Jazzy and Ruggedman are the only celebrities who have sent him their donations so far. Tuface hasn't made any donation as some reports said. Tuface hasn't even called him.
Right now, he says, his account balance isn't even up to N3m.
He can barely stand straight at the moment, not to talk of walking and he has just between now and the end of July to have his operation or he will die.
The kidney transplant will take place in London because of the long flight to India.
We all can help! His account detail is:
Babatunde Okungbowa.
UBA -1015075120.
According to him, Don Jazzy and Ruggedman are the only celebrities who have sent him their donations so far. Tuface hasn't made any donation as some reports said. Tuface hasn't even called him.
Right now, he says, his account balance isn't even up to N3m.
He can barely stand straight at the moment, not to talk of walking and he has just between now and the end of July to have his operation or he will die.
The kidney transplant will take place in London because of the long flight to India.
We all can help! His account detail is:
Babatunde Okungbowa.
UBA -1015075120.
OJB Jezreel Urgently Needs A Kidney Transplant
Producer and singer OJB Jezreel was weeks ago diagnosed of kidney issues.
he urgently needs to get a transplant, worth $100,000 which is about 15 million Naira.
So, please, if you would want to help support OJB, you can donate anonymously. Here is his account detail.
BABATUNDE OKUNGBOWA
UBA Acc Number: 1015075120
#HelpSaveOJBJezreel
he urgently needs to get a transplant, worth $100,000 which is about 15 million Naira.
So, please, if you would want to help support OJB, you can donate anonymously. Here is his account detail.
BABATUNDE OKUNGBOWA
UBA Acc Number: 1015075120
#HelpSaveOJBJezreel
Gain new leadership skills at 360° Leadership Conference in Lagos & Abuja
Following a successful first edition of the annual Abuja 360° Leadership Conference, renowned leaders Matthew Ashimolowo, Dr. Cindy Trimm, Tola Odutola and Dr. Sam Chand are set to storm Abuja this July for the second edition of the Conference. Lagos state would also witness the inaugural edition with Matthew Ashimolowo, Tola Odutola and Dr. Mensa Otabil. Continue...
The Abuja 360° Leadership Conference is a very viable and interactive platform where participants can become better equipped with sound business ideas and initiatives from these widely traveled, respected and experienced men and woman of repute and how leadership abilities can be discovered, nurtured and developed from a scriptural perspective. Lagos will also experience this great event.
Attendance is FREE for both events. Don’t miss out on this life changing conference.
About the Speakers
Pastor Tola Odutola FCA is the Senior Pastor of Jesus House Baltimore. He was a Chartered Accountant before being called by God into full time ministry. He serves as the Pastor in charge of RCCG Eastern North America Province 1, USA.
Dr. Sam Chand serves pastors, ministries and businesses as a Leadership Architect and Change Strategist. Dr. Chand has served as a senior Pastor, Chancellor and President Emeritus.
Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has been the Senior Pastor of KICC for over 20 years. He has a dynamic gifting to combine his calling as a Pastor and teacher, with the roles of mentor, businessman and spiritual father.
Dr. Cindy Trimm has dedicated her life to serving God and humanity. A best-selling author, high impact teacher, and former senator, Dr. Cindy Trimm is a sought-after empowerment specialist, revolutionary thinker, and transformational leader.
Dr. Mensa Otabil is a pastor, lecturer, author, consultant and a motivational speaker. He is the founder and general overseer of the International Central Gospel churches, which has network local assemblies in Ghana, Europe, United States and other parts of Africa. He also serves as a senior pastor of Christ Temple in Accra.
Lagos Conference
Date: Wednesday July 9th, 2013
Time: 6:00pm.
Venue: RCCG City of David off Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Admission is free! Come, invite a friend and gain new leadership skills.
Abuja Conference
Date: Friday July 12, 2013
Time: 5:00pm
Saturday: July 13, 2013
Time: 9am
Venue: M & M Event Ltd, International Peace Park, beside Nicon Luxury, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria.
The Abuja 360° Leadership Conference is a very viable and interactive platform where participants can become better equipped with sound business ideas and initiatives from these widely traveled, respected and experienced men and woman of repute and how leadership abilities can be discovered, nurtured and developed from a scriptural perspective. Lagos will also experience this great event.
Attendance is FREE for both events. Don’t miss out on this life changing conference.
About the Speakers
Pastor Tola Odutola FCA is the Senior Pastor of Jesus House Baltimore. He was a Chartered Accountant before being called by God into full time ministry. He serves as the Pastor in charge of RCCG Eastern North America Province 1, USA.
Dr. Sam Chand serves pastors, ministries and businesses as a Leadership Architect and Change Strategist. Dr. Chand has served as a senior Pastor, Chancellor and President Emeritus.
Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has been the Senior Pastor of KICC for over 20 years. He has a dynamic gifting to combine his calling as a Pastor and teacher, with the roles of mentor, businessman and spiritual father.
Dr. Cindy Trimm has dedicated her life to serving God and humanity. A best-selling author, high impact teacher, and former senator, Dr. Cindy Trimm is a sought-after empowerment specialist, revolutionary thinker, and transformational leader.
Dr. Mensa Otabil is a pastor, lecturer, author, consultant and a motivational speaker. He is the founder and general overseer of the International Central Gospel churches, which has network local assemblies in Ghana, Europe, United States and other parts of Africa. He also serves as a senior pastor of Christ Temple in Accra.
Lagos Conference
Date: Wednesday July 9th, 2013
Time: 6:00pm.
Venue: RCCG City of David off Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Admission is free! Come, invite a friend and gain new leadership skills.
Abuja Conference
Date: Friday July 12, 2013
Time: 5:00pm
Saturday: July 13, 2013
Time: 9am
Venue: M & M Event Ltd, International Peace Park, beside Nicon Luxury, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria.
Gain new leadership skills at 360° Leadership Conference in Lagos & Abuja
Following a successful first edition of the annual Abuja 360° Leadership Conference, renowned leaders Matthew Ashimolowo, Dr. Cindy Trimm, Tola Odutola and Dr. Sam Chand are set to storm Abuja this July for the second edition of the Conference. Lagos state would also witness the inaugural edition with Matthew Ashimolowo, Tola Odutola and Dr. Mensa Otabil. Continue...
The Abuja 360° Leadership Conference is a very viable and interactive platform where participants can become better equipped with sound business ideas and initiatives from these widely traveled, respected and experienced men and woman of repute and how leadership abilities can be discovered, nurtured and developed from a scriptural perspective. Lagos will also experience this great event.
Attendance is FREE for both events. Don’t miss out on this life changing conference.
About the Speakers
Pastor Tola Odutola FCA is the Senior Pastor of Jesus House Baltimore. He was a Chartered Accountant before being called by God into full time ministry. He serves as the Pastor in charge of RCCG Eastern North America Province 1, USA.
Dr. Sam Chand serves pastors, ministries and businesses as a Leadership Architect and Change Strategist. Dr. Chand has served as a senior Pastor, Chancellor and President Emeritus.
Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has been the Senior Pastor of KICC for over 20 years. He has a dynamic gifting to combine his calling as a Pastor and teacher, with the roles of mentor, businessman and spiritual father.
Dr. Cindy Trimm has dedicated her life to serving God and humanity. A best-selling author, high impact teacher, and former senator, Dr. Cindy Trimm is a sought-after empowerment specialist, revolutionary thinker, and transformational leader.
Dr. Mensa Otabil is a pastor, lecturer, author, consultant and a motivational speaker. He is the founder and general overseer of the International Central Gospel churches, which has network local assemblies in Ghana, Europe, United States and other parts of Africa. He also serves as a senior pastor of Christ Temple in Accra.
Lagos Conference
Date: Wednesday July 9th, 2013
Time: 6:00pm.
Venue: RCCG City of David off Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Admission is free! Come, invite a friend and gain new leadership skills.
Abuja Conference
Date: Friday July 12, 2013
Time: 5:00pm
Saturday: July 13, 2013
Time: 9am
Venue: M & M Event Ltd, International Peace Park, beside Nicon Luxury, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria.
The Abuja 360° Leadership Conference is a very viable and interactive platform where participants can become better equipped with sound business ideas and initiatives from these widely traveled, respected and experienced men and woman of repute and how leadership abilities can be discovered, nurtured and developed from a scriptural perspective. Lagos will also experience this great event.
Attendance is FREE for both events. Don’t miss out on this life changing conference.
About the Speakers
Pastor Tola Odutola FCA is the Senior Pastor of Jesus House Baltimore. He was a Chartered Accountant before being called by God into full time ministry. He serves as the Pastor in charge of RCCG Eastern North America Province 1, USA.
Dr. Sam Chand serves pastors, ministries and businesses as a Leadership Architect and Change Strategist. Dr. Chand has served as a senior Pastor, Chancellor and President Emeritus.
Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has been the Senior Pastor of KICC for over 20 years. He has a dynamic gifting to combine his calling as a Pastor and teacher, with the roles of mentor, businessman and spiritual father.
Dr. Cindy Trimm has dedicated her life to serving God and humanity. A best-selling author, high impact teacher, and former senator, Dr. Cindy Trimm is a sought-after empowerment specialist, revolutionary thinker, and transformational leader.
Dr. Mensa Otabil is a pastor, lecturer, author, consultant and a motivational speaker. He is the founder and general overseer of the International Central Gospel churches, which has network local assemblies in Ghana, Europe, United States and other parts of Africa. He also serves as a senior pastor of Christ Temple in Accra.
Lagos Conference
Date: Wednesday July 9th, 2013
Time: 6:00pm.
Venue: RCCG City of David off Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Admission is free! Come, invite a friend and gain new leadership skills.
Abuja Conference
Date: Friday July 12, 2013
Time: 5:00pm
Saturday: July 13, 2013
Time: 9am
Venue: M & M Event Ltd, International Peace Park, beside Nicon Luxury, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria.
Gain new leadership skills at 360° Leadership Conference in Lagos & Abuja
Following a successful first edition of the annual Abuja 360° Leadership Conference, renowned leaders Matthew Ashimolowo, Dr. Cindy Trimm, Tola Odutola and Dr. Sam Chand are set to storm Abuja this July for the second edition of the Conference. Lagos state would also witness the inaugural edition with Matthew Ashimolowo, Tola Odutola and Dr. Mensa Otabil. Continue...
The Abuja 360° Leadership Conference is a very viable and interactive platform where participants can become better equipped with sound business ideas and initiatives from these widely traveled, respected and experienced men and woman of repute and how leadership abilities can be discovered, nurtured and developed from a scriptural perspective. Lagos will also experience this great event.
Attendance is FREE for both events. Don’t miss out on this life changing conference.
About the Speakers
Pastor Tola Odutola FCA is the Senior Pastor of Jesus House Baltimore. He was a Chartered Accountant before being called by God into full time ministry. He serves as the Pastor in charge of RCCG Eastern North America Province 1, USA.
Dr. Sam Chand serves pastors, ministries and businesses as a Leadership Architect and Change Strategist. Dr. Chand has served as a senior Pastor, Chancellor and President Emeritus.
Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has been the Senior Pastor of KICC for over 20 years. He has a dynamic gifting to combine his calling as a Pastor and teacher, with the roles of mentor, businessman and spiritual father.
Dr. Cindy Trimm has dedicated her life to serving God and humanity. A best-selling author, high impact teacher, and former senator, Dr. Cindy Trimm is a sought-after empowerment specialist, revolutionary thinker, and transformational leader.
Dr. Mensa Otabil is a pastor, lecturer, author, consultant and a motivational speaker. He is the founder and general overseer of the International Central Gospel churches, which has network local assemblies in Ghana, Europe, United States and other parts of Africa. He also serves as a senior pastor of Christ Temple in Accra.
Lagos Conference
Date: Wednesday July 9th, 2013
Time: 6:00pm.
Venue: RCCG City of David off Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Admission is free! Come, invite a friend and gain new leadership skills.
Abuja Conference
Date: Friday July 12, 2013
Time: 5:00pm
Saturday: July 13, 2013
Time: 9am
Venue: M & M Event Ltd, International Peace Park, beside Nicon Luxury, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria.
The Abuja 360° Leadership Conference is a very viable and interactive platform where participants can become better equipped with sound business ideas and initiatives from these widely traveled, respected and experienced men and woman of repute and how leadership abilities can be discovered, nurtured and developed from a scriptural perspective. Lagos will also experience this great event.
Attendance is FREE for both events. Don’t miss out on this life changing conference.
About the Speakers
Pastor Tola Odutola FCA is the Senior Pastor of Jesus House Baltimore. He was a Chartered Accountant before being called by God into full time ministry. He serves as the Pastor in charge of RCCG Eastern North America Province 1, USA.
Dr. Sam Chand serves pastors, ministries and businesses as a Leadership Architect and Change Strategist. Dr. Chand has served as a senior Pastor, Chancellor and President Emeritus.
Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has been the Senior Pastor of KICC for over 20 years. He has a dynamic gifting to combine his calling as a Pastor and teacher, with the roles of mentor, businessman and spiritual father.
Dr. Cindy Trimm has dedicated her life to serving God and humanity. A best-selling author, high impact teacher, and former senator, Dr. Cindy Trimm is a sought-after empowerment specialist, revolutionary thinker, and transformational leader.
Dr. Mensa Otabil is a pastor, lecturer, author, consultant and a motivational speaker. He is the founder and general overseer of the International Central Gospel churches, which has network local assemblies in Ghana, Europe, United States and other parts of Africa. He also serves as a senior pastor of Christ Temple in Accra.
Lagos Conference
Date: Wednesday July 9th, 2013
Time: 6:00pm.
Venue: RCCG City of David off Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Admission is free! Come, invite a friend and gain new leadership skills.
Abuja Conference
Date: Friday July 12, 2013
Time: 5:00pm
Saturday: July 13, 2013
Time: 9am
Venue: M & M Event Ltd, International Peace Park, beside Nicon Luxury, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria.
Father Of Dead Abused Nigerian Lady Warns Other Parents At Daughter's Graveside!
Here is the oration Late Yetunde Omodolapo Olotu-Jagha's father gave at her grave-side on June 14,2013 in Dublin, Ireland.
The father's oration reads:
'' It is indeed agonizing to write this story; it is about our beloved daughter Yetunde Omodolapo Olotu Jagha, she had a happy and enviable childhood, committed parents, a dream secondary school, her dream university and graduated a truthful, fulfilled, Christ- loving adult.
Yetunde Omodolapo had just gained an admission into the federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeriafor a master degree program when suddenly she brought Mr.Noble Oritsemeyin Jagha(Oti) for marriage. It was marriage or nothing as they had agreed to suspend that admission for another year which never materialized.
The entire (Idano) betrothal obligation that was expected to be provided by the husband’s family according to Yoruba tradition was not provided. We bore the cost of these betrothal obligations: the entertainment at the engagement ceremony and the after-marriage party. This was done in good faith just as we accepted the husband in all sincerity not minding his financial status. We took him as a son.
Not long after the birth of their first child, news started filtering to my wife and I that Oti as the husband was fondly called stayed out late and had at some stages beat his wife even with belt. “I wonder why my daughter had to undergo this brutish act, despite the fact that she was betrothed to him a virgin; a virtuous woman she was!
In this quest my daughter departed to Dublin, he continued in his night crawling; leaving their little child alone all the time. He was also involved in loads of unhealthy relationship with strange women. This information became known to through his driver when my wife and I stayed a night in his house while he was said to have traveled. He even brought home women laundry. We did not inform our daughter about this discovery because we wanted to save their marriage which was at the verge of dissolution. Hence, we encouraged Oti to join his wife.
The first sign of financial unreliability we experienced from Mr. Jagha was when my wife’s nephew who lived in London sent Oti some money to be deposited into his bank account in a bank where Oti worked in Ibadan,Nigeria. Up till date, the money has not been recovered from him.
.Then came his involvement in fraud which led to his flee from Nigeria. My wife also loaned him an amount of N1.2 million to repay his debt but he did not. Instead, he used the money as fare to flee Nigeria to London while he abandoned the entire family belongings. The Criminal Investigative Department officers that were laying siege on their home were subsequently led to us in Akure from Ibadan by his office driver with a view to apprehending me. This great loss of assets and dignity was another reason our late daughter became fed up with the unwholesome corrupt life style of this ignoble Oti as a husband. But after his pressure on us by incessant telephone calls and the fact that their innocent first, nursery age child was with him, also suffering in London, we persuaded our daughter to allow him join her in Dublin hoping that he would change for the better. Unfortunately, he never changed, he proved correct the Yoruba adage which says “the character of a man never leaves him because it is in- borne.” He started his ignoble life style; fighting his wife over allowances from government that was meant for the children’s maintenance, the wife’s earnings from her daily toils, and his free life style. Rather than pick up a job to join in the maintenance of the family, he prefers to loiter the street in quest for flings and speaking on the phone for hours with women.
He finally made his wife to have another pregnancy that gave them the twin baby girls for which reason the stone- hearted husband abandoned the wife in the hospital because none of the twins is a male child. From that time, he boasted to me several times on telephone, that he must have a male child from any other source. He hated the idea of our daughter not having a male child, he blamed and frustrated her for it even unto death. I pleaded with him that countries like Britain, Germany, India, Liberia etc had females as head of governments of their countries but this meant nothing to his resolute decision.
Jagha was accused severally of having affairs with married women in the church whose husbands in return made dolapo’s life a living hell sending her texts and emails of curses and of threatening nature coupled with what she was facing at home and having to work 6 days a week to maintain the whole family, not long after, our daughter was diagnosed of breast cancer. According to Mr. Jagha, he knew when the attack (Satanic Arrow) was sent to him and the wife but he dodged it while his wife could not. He did not agree with the wife to see a doctor when the lump was initially found and disagreed it should be removed when advised by doctors. He insisted on prayer alone and our daughter succumbed to his wicked advice wanting to be obedient. However when it worsened she had to be hospitalized. The husband‘s main concern all the time had not always been the health of the wife but to extort money for his free life style, even though he refused to take up any Job. The wife finally had to approach the court for a safety and protection order/ judicial separation when she could no longer bear the physical and mental abuse she suffered in the hands of Oti. The church persuaded our daughter to withdraw any legal action which she did in obedience. The church claimed that Oti resolved to be of good behavior and pleaded return back to their home which he had abandoned with the family car so that dolapo had to trek with the children to school in bad weather while under treatment until her condition grew worse, he was never supportive despite all appeal to him from quarters including his wife until she was moved to the hospice.
From the Yoruba perspective, it should be inferred that the so-called arrow of cancer was Oti’s diabolic act. So that once the wife was eliminated; he would be free to marry another wife as permitted by Christian faith, he had promised a certain lady in the church he was having an affair with that he would marry her when his wife dies, this was revealed to dolapo by the lady’s friends. It may surprise you that this man is a “PASTOR.” One is therefore surprised that such an ignoble Mr. Noble Jagha could be appointed a Pastor of that reputable church in which he worships even against his wife’s plea that he needed to change, grow and restitute (she was ignored). As the father of late Yetunde Omodolapo, it is my conclusion that her husband was responsible for her untimely cruel death; out of demonic acts and charms, long drawn oppression and neglect even on her final sick bed.
Oti was the primary killer while cancer was just a secondary cause of death, and why is this not a surprise for someone who tried to kill his own blood sister.Throughout the time she was hospitalized her friends and church members drew a 24hrs roaster to take turns in taking care of her. The husband turned up once in a while to see if she was still breathing and urges her to transfer money to his account every week. He stole her bank card at the hospital and robbed her a sum of One thousand Euros plus and transferred money from the deceased’s account to an unknown account of a man in Athlone (An elder in the church whom we gathered he owes) and also fuelled his car and enjoyed the luxury of our daughters stipend in company of her girlfriends in Athlone on the grounds that he was getting paid for looking after his own children. We reliably gathered that on the day our daughter died, her estranged husband’s first concern was seizure of the death certificate and the approach of her late wife’s office for information of how to collect her terminal retirement financial benefits. How dare you lay claim on the benefit of a woman you cruelly hated and sent to her early grave, and whose corpse was yet to be buried? This is unacceptable Mr Jagha!
When Mr. Jagha arrived Dublin, I advised him to engage himself in a meaningful employment from which he would be able to earn good money from which he could repay and restitute the embezzled money from the bank and become a free man rather than hide in Europe. He bluntly refused; the image of a wanted criminal meant nothing to him.
One could see, therefore, why late Yetunde could never be comfortable with a man without a conscience. A man who chose to cover his slothful, ignoble, secret and sinful life style with the title of a “PASTOR”. This accounts for his hidden agenda to eliminate his wife for not bearing a male child.
Mr. Noble Oritsetimeyin Jagha boasted several times that he would assemble his prayer warriors and hold vigils to hasten her death; no wonder my daughter was not shocked when she saw the prayer points in Noble Jagha’s purse which he forgot at the hospice while he came to ask for money from the wife as usual; the prayer-point stated that God should strike Yetunde’s heart and that she should do no other thing except what he (Jagha) orders her to do. Little wonder, if this is the ideal prayer that a dying woman required on her sick bed. When she even pleaded with her husband to pray for her, he bluntly refused.
On the night before the death of my daughter, while my daughter could hardly speak, he was in another bout of accusations about who said what about who reported to the child-protection agency that he left the kids at home for two days on a row to go to school and sleep all by themselves while he visited his concubine in Athlone while Yetunde was at the hospice. Now that she is dead, how then, can Mr. Noble Jagha suddenly develop sincere love and concern for these innocent female children after the death of their mother? We are aware that you see them as your meal ticket/money bag and nothing else…….
The wicked shall not go unpunished therefore; a so-called pastor who has not a fruit of the spirit to show for the prayer power he claims to demonstrate is another Elymasthe sorcerer and shall disappear into hell suddenly as such at God’s appointed time.
Therefore, no one seeking the true God, and therefore true success, true prosperity here on earth, and eternal life for that matter, should worship under such a pastor regardless of what powers of prayer he demonstrates (Matt 7 -21-23). God’s word stand for ever “Surely the wicked shall be caught in his own craftiness; he shall not go scot-free.
13 As our daughter is interred into her eternal rest, all parents, friends, on lookers must strive hard that their children, and relations do not fall into the nets of the satanic wicked spouse. Christian churches of the living God should strive hard that they do not hire pastors like the ignoble; Satan- possessed Mr. Noble Jagha that will send their innocent worshippers into eternal doom.
Yetunde, my beloved daughter, rest in perfect peace, in the bosom of the living God of vengeance till we meet to part no more''.
The father's oration reads:
'' It is indeed agonizing to write this story; it is about our beloved daughter Yetunde Omodolapo Olotu Jagha, she had a happy and enviable childhood, committed parents, a dream secondary school, her dream university and graduated a truthful, fulfilled, Christ- loving adult.
Yetunde Omodolapo had just gained an admission into the federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeriafor a master degree program when suddenly she brought Mr.Noble Oritsemeyin Jagha(Oti) for marriage. It was marriage or nothing as they had agreed to suspend that admission for another year which never materialized.
The entire (Idano) betrothal obligation that was expected to be provided by the husband’s family according to Yoruba tradition was not provided. We bore the cost of these betrothal obligations: the entertainment at the engagement ceremony and the after-marriage party. This was done in good faith just as we accepted the husband in all sincerity not minding his financial status. We took him as a son.
Not long after the birth of their first child, news started filtering to my wife and I that Oti as the husband was fondly called stayed out late and had at some stages beat his wife even with belt. “I wonder why my daughter had to undergo this brutish act, despite the fact that she was betrothed to him a virgin; a virtuous woman she was!
In this quest my daughter departed to Dublin, he continued in his night crawling; leaving their little child alone all the time. He was also involved in loads of unhealthy relationship with strange women. This information became known to through his driver when my wife and I stayed a night in his house while he was said to have traveled. He even brought home women laundry. We did not inform our daughter about this discovery because we wanted to save their marriage which was at the verge of dissolution. Hence, we encouraged Oti to join his wife.
The first sign of financial unreliability we experienced from Mr. Jagha was when my wife’s nephew who lived in London sent Oti some money to be deposited into his bank account in a bank where Oti worked in Ibadan,Nigeria. Up till date, the money has not been recovered from him.
.Then came his involvement in fraud which led to his flee from Nigeria. My wife also loaned him an amount of N1.2 million to repay his debt but he did not. Instead, he used the money as fare to flee Nigeria to London while he abandoned the entire family belongings. The Criminal Investigative Department officers that were laying siege on their home were subsequently led to us in Akure from Ibadan by his office driver with a view to apprehending me. This great loss of assets and dignity was another reason our late daughter became fed up with the unwholesome corrupt life style of this ignoble Oti as a husband. But after his pressure on us by incessant telephone calls and the fact that their innocent first, nursery age child was with him, also suffering in London, we persuaded our daughter to allow him join her in Dublin hoping that he would change for the better. Unfortunately, he never changed, he proved correct the Yoruba adage which says “the character of a man never leaves him because it is in- borne.” He started his ignoble life style; fighting his wife over allowances from government that was meant for the children’s maintenance, the wife’s earnings from her daily toils, and his free life style. Rather than pick up a job to join in the maintenance of the family, he prefers to loiter the street in quest for flings and speaking on the phone for hours with women.
He finally made his wife to have another pregnancy that gave them the twin baby girls for which reason the stone- hearted husband abandoned the wife in the hospital because none of the twins is a male child. From that time, he boasted to me several times on telephone, that he must have a male child from any other source. He hated the idea of our daughter not having a male child, he blamed and frustrated her for it even unto death. I pleaded with him that countries like Britain, Germany, India, Liberia etc had females as head of governments of their countries but this meant nothing to his resolute decision.
Jagha was accused severally of having affairs with married women in the church whose husbands in return made dolapo’s life a living hell sending her texts and emails of curses and of threatening nature coupled with what she was facing at home and having to work 6 days a week to maintain the whole family, not long after, our daughter was diagnosed of breast cancer. According to Mr. Jagha, he knew when the attack (Satanic Arrow) was sent to him and the wife but he dodged it while his wife could not. He did not agree with the wife to see a doctor when the lump was initially found and disagreed it should be removed when advised by doctors. He insisted on prayer alone and our daughter succumbed to his wicked advice wanting to be obedient. However when it worsened she had to be hospitalized. The husband‘s main concern all the time had not always been the health of the wife but to extort money for his free life style, even though he refused to take up any Job. The wife finally had to approach the court for a safety and protection order/ judicial separation when she could no longer bear the physical and mental abuse she suffered in the hands of Oti. The church persuaded our daughter to withdraw any legal action which she did in obedience. The church claimed that Oti resolved to be of good behavior and pleaded return back to their home which he had abandoned with the family car so that dolapo had to trek with the children to school in bad weather while under treatment until her condition grew worse, he was never supportive despite all appeal to him from quarters including his wife until she was moved to the hospice.
From the Yoruba perspective, it should be inferred that the so-called arrow of cancer was Oti’s diabolic act. So that once the wife was eliminated; he would be free to marry another wife as permitted by Christian faith, he had promised a certain lady in the church he was having an affair with that he would marry her when his wife dies, this was revealed to dolapo by the lady’s friends. It may surprise you that this man is a “PASTOR.” One is therefore surprised that such an ignoble Mr. Noble Jagha could be appointed a Pastor of that reputable church in which he worships even against his wife’s plea that he needed to change, grow and restitute (she was ignored). As the father of late Yetunde Omodolapo, it is my conclusion that her husband was responsible for her untimely cruel death; out of demonic acts and charms, long drawn oppression and neglect even on her final sick bed.
Oti was the primary killer while cancer was just a secondary cause of death, and why is this not a surprise for someone who tried to kill his own blood sister.Throughout the time she was hospitalized her friends and church members drew a 24hrs roaster to take turns in taking care of her. The husband turned up once in a while to see if she was still breathing and urges her to transfer money to his account every week. He stole her bank card at the hospital and robbed her a sum of One thousand Euros plus and transferred money from the deceased’s account to an unknown account of a man in Athlone (An elder in the church whom we gathered he owes) and also fuelled his car and enjoyed the luxury of our daughters stipend in company of her girlfriends in Athlone on the grounds that he was getting paid for looking after his own children. We reliably gathered that on the day our daughter died, her estranged husband’s first concern was seizure of the death certificate and the approach of her late wife’s office for information of how to collect her terminal retirement financial benefits. How dare you lay claim on the benefit of a woman you cruelly hated and sent to her early grave, and whose corpse was yet to be buried? This is unacceptable Mr Jagha!
When Mr. Jagha arrived Dublin, I advised him to engage himself in a meaningful employment from which he would be able to earn good money from which he could repay and restitute the embezzled money from the bank and become a free man rather than hide in Europe. He bluntly refused; the image of a wanted criminal meant nothing to him.
One could see, therefore, why late Yetunde could never be comfortable with a man without a conscience. A man who chose to cover his slothful, ignoble, secret and sinful life style with the title of a “PASTOR”. This accounts for his hidden agenda to eliminate his wife for not bearing a male child.
Mr. Noble Oritsetimeyin Jagha boasted several times that he would assemble his prayer warriors and hold vigils to hasten her death; no wonder my daughter was not shocked when she saw the prayer points in Noble Jagha’s purse which he forgot at the hospice while he came to ask for money from the wife as usual; the prayer-point stated that God should strike Yetunde’s heart and that she should do no other thing except what he (Jagha) orders her to do. Little wonder, if this is the ideal prayer that a dying woman required on her sick bed. When she even pleaded with her husband to pray for her, he bluntly refused.
On the night before the death of my daughter, while my daughter could hardly speak, he was in another bout of accusations about who said what about who reported to the child-protection agency that he left the kids at home for two days on a row to go to school and sleep all by themselves while he visited his concubine in Athlone while Yetunde was at the hospice. Now that she is dead, how then, can Mr. Noble Jagha suddenly develop sincere love and concern for these innocent female children after the death of their mother? We are aware that you see them as your meal ticket/money bag and nothing else…….
The wicked shall not go unpunished therefore; a so-called pastor who has not a fruit of the spirit to show for the prayer power he claims to demonstrate is another Elymasthe sorcerer and shall disappear into hell suddenly as such at God’s appointed time.
Therefore, no one seeking the true God, and therefore true success, true prosperity here on earth, and eternal life for that matter, should worship under such a pastor regardless of what powers of prayer he demonstrates (Matt 7 -21-23). God’s word stand for ever “Surely the wicked shall be caught in his own craftiness; he shall not go scot-free.
13 As our daughter is interred into her eternal rest, all parents, friends, on lookers must strive hard that their children, and relations do not fall into the nets of the satanic wicked spouse. Christian churches of the living God should strive hard that they do not hire pastors like the ignoble; Satan- possessed Mr. Noble Jagha that will send their innocent worshippers into eternal doom.
Yetunde, my beloved daughter, rest in perfect peace, in the bosom of the living God of vengeance till we meet to part no more''.
Father Of Dead Abused Nigerian Lady Warns Other Parents At Daughter's Graveside!
Here is the oration Late Yetunde Omodolapo Olotu-Jagha's father gave at her grave-side on June 14,2013 in Dublin, Ireland.
The father's oration reads:
'' It is indeed agonizing to write this story; it is about our beloved daughter Yetunde Omodolapo Olotu Jagha, she had a happy and enviable childhood, committed parents, a dream secondary school, her dream university and graduated a truthful, fulfilled, Christ- loving adult.
Yetunde Omodolapo had just gained an admission into the federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeriafor a master degree program when suddenly she brought Mr.Noble Oritsemeyin Jagha(Oti) for marriage. It was marriage or nothing as they had agreed to suspend that admission for another year which never materialized.
The entire (Idano) betrothal obligation that was expected to be provided by the husband’s family according to Yoruba tradition was not provided. We bore the cost of these betrothal obligations: the entertainment at the engagement ceremony and the after-marriage party. This was done in good faith just as we accepted the husband in all sincerity not minding his financial status. We took him as a son.
Not long after the birth of their first child, news started filtering to my wife and I that Oti as the husband was fondly called stayed out late and had at some stages beat his wife even with belt. “I wonder why my daughter had to undergo this brutish act, despite the fact that she was betrothed to him a virgin; a virtuous woman she was!
In this quest my daughter departed to Dublin, he continued in his night crawling; leaving their little child alone all the time. He was also involved in loads of unhealthy relationship with strange women. This information became known to through his driver when my wife and I stayed a night in his house while he was said to have traveled. He even brought home women laundry. We did not inform our daughter about this discovery because we wanted to save their marriage which was at the verge of dissolution. Hence, we encouraged Oti to join his wife.
The first sign of financial unreliability we experienced from Mr. Jagha was when my wife’s nephew who lived in London sent Oti some money to be deposited into his bank account in a bank where Oti worked in Ibadan,Nigeria. Up till date, the money has not been recovered from him.
.Then came his involvement in fraud which led to his flee from Nigeria. My wife also loaned him an amount of N1.2 million to repay his debt but he did not. Instead, he used the money as fare to flee Nigeria to London while he abandoned the entire family belongings. The Criminal Investigative Department officers that were laying siege on their home were subsequently led to us in Akure from Ibadan by his office driver with a view to apprehending me. This great loss of assets and dignity was another reason our late daughter became fed up with the unwholesome corrupt life style of this ignoble Oti as a husband. But after his pressure on us by incessant telephone calls and the fact that their innocent first, nursery age child was with him, also suffering in London, we persuaded our daughter to allow him join her in Dublin hoping that he would change for the better. Unfortunately, he never changed, he proved correct the Yoruba adage which says “the character of a man never leaves him because it is in- borne.” He started his ignoble life style; fighting his wife over allowances from government that was meant for the children’s maintenance, the wife’s earnings from her daily toils, and his free life style. Rather than pick up a job to join in the maintenance of the family, he prefers to loiter the street in quest for flings and speaking on the phone for hours with women.
He finally made his wife to have another pregnancy that gave them the twin baby girls for which reason the stone- hearted husband abandoned the wife in the hospital because none of the twins is a male child. From that time, he boasted to me several times on telephone, that he must have a male child from any other source. He hated the idea of our daughter not having a male child, he blamed and frustrated her for it even unto death. I pleaded with him that countries like Britain, Germany, India, Liberia etc had females as head of governments of their countries but this meant nothing to his resolute decision.
Jagha was accused severally of having affairs with married women in the church whose husbands in return made dolapo’s life a living hell sending her texts and emails of curses and of threatening nature coupled with what she was facing at home and having to work 6 days a week to maintain the whole family, not long after, our daughter was diagnosed of breast cancer. According to Mr. Jagha, he knew when the attack (Satanic Arrow) was sent to him and the wife but he dodged it while his wife could not. He did not agree with the wife to see a doctor when the lump was initially found and disagreed it should be removed when advised by doctors. He insisted on prayer alone and our daughter succumbed to his wicked advice wanting to be obedient. However when it worsened she had to be hospitalized. The husband‘s main concern all the time had not always been the health of the wife but to extort money for his free life style, even though he refused to take up any Job. The wife finally had to approach the court for a safety and protection order/ judicial separation when she could no longer bear the physical and mental abuse she suffered in the hands of Oti. The church persuaded our daughter to withdraw any legal action which she did in obedience. The church claimed that Oti resolved to be of good behavior and pleaded return back to their home which he had abandoned with the family car so that dolapo had to trek with the children to school in bad weather while under treatment until her condition grew worse, he was never supportive despite all appeal to him from quarters including his wife until she was moved to the hospice.
From the Yoruba perspective, it should be inferred that the so-called arrow of cancer was Oti’s diabolic act. So that once the wife was eliminated; he would be free to marry another wife as permitted by Christian faith, he had promised a certain lady in the church he was having an affair with that he would marry her when his wife dies, this was revealed to dolapo by the lady’s friends. It may surprise you that this man is a “PASTOR.” One is therefore surprised that such an ignoble Mr. Noble Jagha could be appointed a Pastor of that reputable church in which he worships even against his wife’s plea that he needed to change, grow and restitute (she was ignored). As the father of late Yetunde Omodolapo, it is my conclusion that her husband was responsible for her untimely cruel death; out of demonic acts and charms, long drawn oppression and neglect even on her final sick bed.
Oti was the primary killer while cancer was just a secondary cause of death, and why is this not a surprise for someone who tried to kill his own blood sister.Throughout the time she was hospitalized her friends and church members drew a 24hrs roaster to take turns in taking care of her. The husband turned up once in a while to see if she was still breathing and urges her to transfer money to his account every week. He stole her bank card at the hospital and robbed her a sum of One thousand Euros plus and transferred money from the deceased’s account to an unknown account of a man in Athlone (An elder in the church whom we gathered he owes) and also fuelled his car and enjoyed the luxury of our daughters stipend in company of her girlfriends in Athlone on the grounds that he was getting paid for looking after his own children. We reliably gathered that on the day our daughter died, her estranged husband’s first concern was seizure of the death certificate and the approach of her late wife’s office for information of how to collect her terminal retirement financial benefits. How dare you lay claim on the benefit of a woman you cruelly hated and sent to her early grave, and whose corpse was yet to be buried? This is unacceptable Mr Jagha!
When Mr. Jagha arrived Dublin, I advised him to engage himself in a meaningful employment from which he would be able to earn good money from which he could repay and restitute the embezzled money from the bank and become a free man rather than hide in Europe. He bluntly refused; the image of a wanted criminal meant nothing to him.
One could see, therefore, why late Yetunde could never be comfortable with a man without a conscience. A man who chose to cover his slothful, ignoble, secret and sinful life style with the title of a “PASTOR”. This accounts for his hidden agenda to eliminate his wife for not bearing a male child.
Mr. Noble Oritsetimeyin Jagha boasted several times that he would assemble his prayer warriors and hold vigils to hasten her death; no wonder my daughter was not shocked when she saw the prayer points in Noble Jagha’s purse which he forgot at the hospice while he came to ask for money from the wife as usual; the prayer-point stated that God should strike Yetunde’s heart and that she should do no other thing except what he (Jagha) orders her to do. Little wonder, if this is the ideal prayer that a dying woman required on her sick bed. When she even pleaded with her husband to pray for her, he bluntly refused.
On the night before the death of my daughter, while my daughter could hardly speak, he was in another bout of accusations about who said what about who reported to the child-protection agency that he left the kids at home for two days on a row to go to school and sleep all by themselves while he visited his concubine in Athlone while Yetunde was at the hospice. Now that she is dead, how then, can Mr. Noble Jagha suddenly develop sincere love and concern for these innocent female children after the death of their mother? We are aware that you see them as your meal ticket/money bag and nothing else…….
The wicked shall not go unpunished therefore; a so-called pastor who has not a fruit of the spirit to show for the prayer power he claims to demonstrate is another Elymasthe sorcerer and shall disappear into hell suddenly as such at God’s appointed time.
Therefore, no one seeking the true God, and therefore true success, true prosperity here on earth, and eternal life for that matter, should worship under such a pastor regardless of what powers of prayer he demonstrates (Matt 7 -21-23). God’s word stand for ever “Surely the wicked shall be caught in his own craftiness; he shall not go scot-free.
13 As our daughter is interred into her eternal rest, all parents, friends, on lookers must strive hard that their children, and relations do not fall into the nets of the satanic wicked spouse. Christian churches of the living God should strive hard that they do not hire pastors like the ignoble; Satan- possessed Mr. Noble Jagha that will send their innocent worshippers into eternal doom.
Yetunde, my beloved daughter, rest in perfect peace, in the bosom of the living God of vengeance till we meet to part no more''.
The father's oration reads:
'' It is indeed agonizing to write this story; it is about our beloved daughter Yetunde Omodolapo Olotu Jagha, she had a happy and enviable childhood, committed parents, a dream secondary school, her dream university and graduated a truthful, fulfilled, Christ- loving adult.
Yetunde Omodolapo had just gained an admission into the federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeriafor a master degree program when suddenly she brought Mr.Noble Oritsemeyin Jagha(Oti) for marriage. It was marriage or nothing as they had agreed to suspend that admission for another year which never materialized.
The entire (Idano) betrothal obligation that was expected to be provided by the husband’s family according to Yoruba tradition was not provided. We bore the cost of these betrothal obligations: the entertainment at the engagement ceremony and the after-marriage party. This was done in good faith just as we accepted the husband in all sincerity not minding his financial status. We took him as a son.
Not long after the birth of their first child, news started filtering to my wife and I that Oti as the husband was fondly called stayed out late and had at some stages beat his wife even with belt. “I wonder why my daughter had to undergo this brutish act, despite the fact that she was betrothed to him a virgin; a virtuous woman she was!
In this quest my daughter departed to Dublin, he continued in his night crawling; leaving their little child alone all the time. He was also involved in loads of unhealthy relationship with strange women. This information became known to through his driver when my wife and I stayed a night in his house while he was said to have traveled. He even brought home women laundry. We did not inform our daughter about this discovery because we wanted to save their marriage which was at the verge of dissolution. Hence, we encouraged Oti to join his wife.
The first sign of financial unreliability we experienced from Mr. Jagha was when my wife’s nephew who lived in London sent Oti some money to be deposited into his bank account in a bank where Oti worked in Ibadan,Nigeria. Up till date, the money has not been recovered from him.
.Then came his involvement in fraud which led to his flee from Nigeria. My wife also loaned him an amount of N1.2 million to repay his debt but he did not. Instead, he used the money as fare to flee Nigeria to London while he abandoned the entire family belongings. The Criminal Investigative Department officers that were laying siege on their home were subsequently led to us in Akure from Ibadan by his office driver with a view to apprehending me. This great loss of assets and dignity was another reason our late daughter became fed up with the unwholesome corrupt life style of this ignoble Oti as a husband. But after his pressure on us by incessant telephone calls and the fact that their innocent first, nursery age child was with him, also suffering in London, we persuaded our daughter to allow him join her in Dublin hoping that he would change for the better. Unfortunately, he never changed, he proved correct the Yoruba adage which says “the character of a man never leaves him because it is in- borne.” He started his ignoble life style; fighting his wife over allowances from government that was meant for the children’s maintenance, the wife’s earnings from her daily toils, and his free life style. Rather than pick up a job to join in the maintenance of the family, he prefers to loiter the street in quest for flings and speaking on the phone for hours with women.
He finally made his wife to have another pregnancy that gave them the twin baby girls for which reason the stone- hearted husband abandoned the wife in the hospital because none of the twins is a male child. From that time, he boasted to me several times on telephone, that he must have a male child from any other source. He hated the idea of our daughter not having a male child, he blamed and frustrated her for it even unto death. I pleaded with him that countries like Britain, Germany, India, Liberia etc had females as head of governments of their countries but this meant nothing to his resolute decision.
Jagha was accused severally of having affairs with married women in the church whose husbands in return made dolapo’s life a living hell sending her texts and emails of curses and of threatening nature coupled with what she was facing at home and having to work 6 days a week to maintain the whole family, not long after, our daughter was diagnosed of breast cancer. According to Mr. Jagha, he knew when the attack (Satanic Arrow) was sent to him and the wife but he dodged it while his wife could not. He did not agree with the wife to see a doctor when the lump was initially found and disagreed it should be removed when advised by doctors. He insisted on prayer alone and our daughter succumbed to his wicked advice wanting to be obedient. However when it worsened she had to be hospitalized. The husband‘s main concern all the time had not always been the health of the wife but to extort money for his free life style, even though he refused to take up any Job. The wife finally had to approach the court for a safety and protection order/ judicial separation when she could no longer bear the physical and mental abuse she suffered in the hands of Oti. The church persuaded our daughter to withdraw any legal action which she did in obedience. The church claimed that Oti resolved to be of good behavior and pleaded return back to their home which he had abandoned with the family car so that dolapo had to trek with the children to school in bad weather while under treatment until her condition grew worse, he was never supportive despite all appeal to him from quarters including his wife until she was moved to the hospice.
From the Yoruba perspective, it should be inferred that the so-called arrow of cancer was Oti’s diabolic act. So that once the wife was eliminated; he would be free to marry another wife as permitted by Christian faith, he had promised a certain lady in the church he was having an affair with that he would marry her when his wife dies, this was revealed to dolapo by the lady’s friends. It may surprise you that this man is a “PASTOR.” One is therefore surprised that such an ignoble Mr. Noble Jagha could be appointed a Pastor of that reputable church in which he worships even against his wife’s plea that he needed to change, grow and restitute (she was ignored). As the father of late Yetunde Omodolapo, it is my conclusion that her husband was responsible for her untimely cruel death; out of demonic acts and charms, long drawn oppression and neglect even on her final sick bed.
Oti was the primary killer while cancer was just a secondary cause of death, and why is this not a surprise for someone who tried to kill his own blood sister.Throughout the time she was hospitalized her friends and church members drew a 24hrs roaster to take turns in taking care of her. The husband turned up once in a while to see if she was still breathing and urges her to transfer money to his account every week. He stole her bank card at the hospital and robbed her a sum of One thousand Euros plus and transferred money from the deceased’s account to an unknown account of a man in Athlone (An elder in the church whom we gathered he owes) and also fuelled his car and enjoyed the luxury of our daughters stipend in company of her girlfriends in Athlone on the grounds that he was getting paid for looking after his own children. We reliably gathered that on the day our daughter died, her estranged husband’s first concern was seizure of the death certificate and the approach of her late wife’s office for information of how to collect her terminal retirement financial benefits. How dare you lay claim on the benefit of a woman you cruelly hated and sent to her early grave, and whose corpse was yet to be buried? This is unacceptable Mr Jagha!
When Mr. Jagha arrived Dublin, I advised him to engage himself in a meaningful employment from which he would be able to earn good money from which he could repay and restitute the embezzled money from the bank and become a free man rather than hide in Europe. He bluntly refused; the image of a wanted criminal meant nothing to him.
One could see, therefore, why late Yetunde could never be comfortable with a man without a conscience. A man who chose to cover his slothful, ignoble, secret and sinful life style with the title of a “PASTOR”. This accounts for his hidden agenda to eliminate his wife for not bearing a male child.
Mr. Noble Oritsetimeyin Jagha boasted several times that he would assemble his prayer warriors and hold vigils to hasten her death; no wonder my daughter was not shocked when she saw the prayer points in Noble Jagha’s purse which he forgot at the hospice while he came to ask for money from the wife as usual; the prayer-point stated that God should strike Yetunde’s heart and that she should do no other thing except what he (Jagha) orders her to do. Little wonder, if this is the ideal prayer that a dying woman required on her sick bed. When she even pleaded with her husband to pray for her, he bluntly refused.
On the night before the death of my daughter, while my daughter could hardly speak, he was in another bout of accusations about who said what about who reported to the child-protection agency that he left the kids at home for two days on a row to go to school and sleep all by themselves while he visited his concubine in Athlone while Yetunde was at the hospice. Now that she is dead, how then, can Mr. Noble Jagha suddenly develop sincere love and concern for these innocent female children after the death of their mother? We are aware that you see them as your meal ticket/money bag and nothing else…….
The wicked shall not go unpunished therefore; a so-called pastor who has not a fruit of the spirit to show for the prayer power he claims to demonstrate is another Elymasthe sorcerer and shall disappear into hell suddenly as such at God’s appointed time.
Therefore, no one seeking the true God, and therefore true success, true prosperity here on earth, and eternal life for that matter, should worship under such a pastor regardless of what powers of prayer he demonstrates (Matt 7 -21-23). God’s word stand for ever “Surely the wicked shall be caught in his own craftiness; he shall not go scot-free.
13 As our daughter is interred into her eternal rest, all parents, friends, on lookers must strive hard that their children, and relations do not fall into the nets of the satanic wicked spouse. Christian churches of the living God should strive hard that they do not hire pastors like the ignoble; Satan- possessed Mr. Noble Jagha that will send their innocent worshippers into eternal doom.
Yetunde, my beloved daughter, rest in perfect peace, in the bosom of the living God of vengeance till we meet to part no more''.
Deceased Nigerian Woman's Heart-Breaking Letter To Abusive Husband
This touching letter was reportedly written by a lady who was abused by her husband but eventually died of cancer.
The letter which she requested to be published and read on the day she would be laid to rest revealed a whole lot that she went through in the hands of her cheating and abusive husband and how the church failed to play their role.
Read the heart-wrenching letter below. ..kinda long but worth reading to the end.
''I bid you farewell…………………………………………..
I am grateful to God that I will rest in His bosom and I am more grateful because I have always wanted this opportunity to speak my mind even unto death. I guess you are surprised that even the dead can air an opinion; in my case I really wanted to because I knew that God was preparing a place
for me and that is where I will be. Do not weep for so long because I found eternal peace in Him. The very peace that has eroded me in about twelve years of my God given years (at the time of this writing I am forty-one years of age and I have been married for twelve years). This is my story………
I am Yetunde nee Olotu as I am fondly called by my immediate family in Nigeria but here I am being referred to as Omodolapo Jagha as named by the love of my life. Now, I am Dolapo GoodGod , the surname I adopted when I realized that I no longer have a husband who will be there for me. The very man I should expect to be the Master of ceremony at my burial, the man you think would miss my departure the most but unfortunately not. I believe my estranged husband is glad that he is now free from the bondage called marriage.
Noble Jagha, I hope you feel so happy now that your prophesy to Maryam Hassan and other girlfriends of yours that I will soon die so you can marry them is now fulfilled. The truth is that my body may be dead but my hope of glory in heaven is constant as God lives. I may not be here again but I am so sure you will never find anyone to love you the way I did…… You were my first love, the very man who deflowered me but turned his back on me years after that I was not good on bed (not sexy enough for you), I was not good at cooking but I managed to learn and cook your local meal of Starch and Banga. He said, “I was so paranoid” because I complained that you are only comfortable making phone calls in the car and returning home at midnight. You finally abandoned me and the children in December, 2012 after all the mental and physical abuse I suffered from you. You could not face the wrath of law as I got a safety and protection order against you because I was afraid that you would eventually take my life. While you lived with us, you were of no use, as you were not readily available to do your matrimonial and fatherly duties.
How painful it was to take the twins to school walking all the way from Ongar to Little Pace, sometimes after getting a chemo. Even when I pleaded with you to look after the kids when I have appointments at the hospital you refused. Thank God for the Irish government (HSE) that provided me with home help (Margaret), my cousin, grandma Odelade, Sola and S. Bimbo (my wonderful sisters in church), my friend, confidant (Gbemi) who stuck to me like a sister, she is known in all our kids’ school as their guardian because you were not there. You found solace in your numerous, “your attraction” as you referred to the choir leader and probably your new sizzling romance Sheila Luxembor whom you kept my kids with without my consent. I hope she told you I rang her and made peace with her when I did no wrong (Yeah, I did this to secure my heaven).
Hhhhmmmm……….the Lord is my strength.
Oti, how do you feel after physically and mentally tormenting me? You can now be happy that “the living corpse” (as you often referred to me) in your home has finally gone to be with God. You no longer have to hit me or pounce on me anymore. In death I have forgiving you because I loved you but I hope you are able to forgive yourself…….?
I cannot forget in a minute how I felt so let down that I took to my heels and sought refuge in that sister’s place and later on at the women’s refuge. I am sure your defense is that I died as a cancer patient but I believe I could live a day longer if you were there for me…… I went through the pains of Cancer lonely! Rather than supporting, you rejected me. Isn’t marriage meant to be for better or for worse.….? I hope when I remember how childish you were for taking the boot you bought for me and returning the wrist watch I bought for you I can peacefully sigh a relief for leaving this cruel world. You were so mean to me! Oti, you were really mean to Emmanuella too. How could you ill-treat your own children because they are girls? I have all the horrible text messages you sent to me documented; psychologically you killed me before my death.
Pastor Jagha, a man of God! The church has failed in their duty to help you from fallen, they have pampered you for doing wrong in order to save their face and invariably they have failed me. Church is meant for sinners irrespective of their position and as such no one should be above chastising. I hope after my demise our father in the Lord would have enough evidence to correct the wrong of my beloved husband. No wonder my so-called husband was able to trick the church who also lured me to take off the safety and protection order and stop me from getting a separation that I so long for. On my dying bed I made copies of telephone bills showing his immoral communication with a worker in the church at Athlone but there was still no sufficient evidence………
The church that should be a place of refuge became a place of torment for me. I hope you can also enjoy your new relationship with Sheila, I learnt you told some of your church members that I asked her to look after my kids because I was sick in the hospital whereas she keeps malice with me just because of your sex romp with her. Oti, you left my children at home for two days and went to sleep with your girl friend in Athlone. You also asked my under-aged children to travel on bus to Athlone by themselves while I was on the hospital bed. I loved you but you failed me and you know it.
The bitter pill that I have to swallow is the fact that I can no longer be there for my lovely girls .Their beloved father despised them so because I could not make a male child (you claimed that I was unable to have a boy child because I did not drink from the anointing oil which you asked me to drink and that makes you detest me too). I am deeply sorry that I did not drink it; maybe that would have spared me of some lashes. Our lovely first daughter at age twelve said, “Mummy I don’t think I will get married” This is as a result of the abuse that my child suffered from our marriage… If you are a loved one and you know my daughter, please help me say to her that marriage is to be enjoyed and not endured….. I want her to be married and make me proud!
Oti, why do you always run away from your problems rather than resolving them? You left Nigeria because of your involvement in fraud at the bank which you never resolved. As I speak you owe my mother a sum of one million, two hundred thousand naira which you have no plan to repay. How come you had issues even with your own sibling in the U.K to such an extent that you poisoned her…..? That is the more reason why I was so scared for my life. You are such a difficult person, the community welfare officer , our GP, Olive at Hartstown , the Child protection unit at Finglas and our father in the Lord tried their best to advise you to no avail. You were not ready to make me happy.
Noble Jagha, you wanted me dead as soon as possible. I still wonder why you refused to come with me for separation times and again when I asked that we should part ways. I know your intent may be to make gains from my years of labour at Anpost. I worked so hard to pay the rent, to feed us and even paid some of your fees to pursue your MBA. Despite all my effort you were never satisfied, even on my sick bed you demanded for money…..I hope you are happy that you have them all and you can feed your numerous girlfriends with them. I plead with you and I besiege all that reads this to appeal to you that you do the following after my demise which is of utmost importance (I hope you will heed advice for once).
1. That you may put in trust/fixed deposit for my daughters all monies raised from my burial and benefits from my workplace having paid all expenses incurred and other personal loan taking from my friends during my period of illness. My daughters need to know I care for them even in my grave.
2. That, I have a will in which I have named the executors to my will and joint custodians of our children. The lawyer will keep you posted in due course, please adhere!
3. Oti you can also pay any money that you owe from the monies before the account is opened.
4. Kindly pay my mother the money you owe her too before the account is fixed.
5. I want my mother to be a part of my children’s life, please don’t deprive her.
6. Oti make peace with my family and friends (stop making enemies out of the people that helps me).
Oti, it may surprise you but I have to let you know that I have the password to your facebook account and email accounts! How come I am not on your friend list? Why did you also refuse to tell me the cause of your mother’s death? I know she died of cancer! Hmmmm
Oti does not love me; he could not stay with me in sickness despite the fact that I loved him more than my children. Hhmmmm
I hope my mother can forgive me for not heeding her advice in respect of my choice of marriage and I pray that God gives her and my father the fortitude to bear this irreparable lost. It is too late to cry when the head is off.
Thank you for not leaving me alone in my time of troubles and needs my sisters, thank you sister for going to Olive’s school, please follow up with Emmanuel as planned, I don’t want my children to suffer. I am so worried …..I am tired. I don’t want you people to go, don’t leave me alone. I want someone to sleep here with me tonight.
signed.
Omodolapo GoodGod
27/04/2013.
The letter which she requested to be published and read on the day she would be laid to rest revealed a whole lot that she went through in the hands of her cheating and abusive husband and how the church failed to play their role.
Read the heart-wrenching letter below. ..kinda long but worth reading to the end.
''I bid you farewell…………………………………………..
I am grateful to God that I will rest in His bosom and I am more grateful because I have always wanted this opportunity to speak my mind even unto death. I guess you are surprised that even the dead can air an opinion; in my case I really wanted to because I knew that God was preparing a place
for me and that is where I will be. Do not weep for so long because I found eternal peace in Him. The very peace that has eroded me in about twelve years of my God given years (at the time of this writing I am forty-one years of age and I have been married for twelve years). This is my story………
I am Yetunde nee Olotu as I am fondly called by my immediate family in Nigeria but here I am being referred to as Omodolapo Jagha as named by the love of my life. Now, I am Dolapo GoodGod , the surname I adopted when I realized that I no longer have a husband who will be there for me. The very man I should expect to be the Master of ceremony at my burial, the man you think would miss my departure the most but unfortunately not. I believe my estranged husband is glad that he is now free from the bondage called marriage.
Noble Jagha, I hope you feel so happy now that your prophesy to Maryam Hassan and other girlfriends of yours that I will soon die so you can marry them is now fulfilled. The truth is that my body may be dead but my hope of glory in heaven is constant as God lives. I may not be here again but I am so sure you will never find anyone to love you the way I did…… You were my first love, the very man who deflowered me but turned his back on me years after that I was not good on bed (not sexy enough for you), I was not good at cooking but I managed to learn and cook your local meal of Starch and Banga. He said, “I was so paranoid” because I complained that you are only comfortable making phone calls in the car and returning home at midnight. You finally abandoned me and the children in December, 2012 after all the mental and physical abuse I suffered from you. You could not face the wrath of law as I got a safety and protection order against you because I was afraid that you would eventually take my life. While you lived with us, you were of no use, as you were not readily available to do your matrimonial and fatherly duties.
How painful it was to take the twins to school walking all the way from Ongar to Little Pace, sometimes after getting a chemo. Even when I pleaded with you to look after the kids when I have appointments at the hospital you refused. Thank God for the Irish government (HSE) that provided me with home help (Margaret), my cousin, grandma Odelade, Sola and S. Bimbo (my wonderful sisters in church), my friend, confidant (Gbemi) who stuck to me like a sister, she is known in all our kids’ school as their guardian because you were not there. You found solace in your numerous, “your attraction” as you referred to the choir leader and probably your new sizzling romance Sheila Luxembor whom you kept my kids with without my consent. I hope she told you I rang her and made peace with her when I did no wrong (Yeah, I did this to secure my heaven).
Hhhhmmmm……….the Lord is my strength.
Oti, how do you feel after physically and mentally tormenting me? You can now be happy that “the living corpse” (as you often referred to me) in your home has finally gone to be with God. You no longer have to hit me or pounce on me anymore. In death I have forgiving you because I loved you but I hope you are able to forgive yourself…….?
I cannot forget in a minute how I felt so let down that I took to my heels and sought refuge in that sister’s place and later on at the women’s refuge. I am sure your defense is that I died as a cancer patient but I believe I could live a day longer if you were there for me…… I went through the pains of Cancer lonely! Rather than supporting, you rejected me. Isn’t marriage meant to be for better or for worse.….? I hope when I remember how childish you were for taking the boot you bought for me and returning the wrist watch I bought for you I can peacefully sigh a relief for leaving this cruel world. You were so mean to me! Oti, you were really mean to Emmanuella too. How could you ill-treat your own children because they are girls? I have all the horrible text messages you sent to me documented; psychologically you killed me before my death.
Pastor Jagha, a man of God! The church has failed in their duty to help you from fallen, they have pampered you for doing wrong in order to save their face and invariably they have failed me. Church is meant for sinners irrespective of their position and as such no one should be above chastising. I hope after my demise our father in the Lord would have enough evidence to correct the wrong of my beloved husband. No wonder my so-called husband was able to trick the church who also lured me to take off the safety and protection order and stop me from getting a separation that I so long for. On my dying bed I made copies of telephone bills showing his immoral communication with a worker in the church at Athlone but there was still no sufficient evidence………
The church that should be a place of refuge became a place of torment for me. I hope you can also enjoy your new relationship with Sheila, I learnt you told some of your church members that I asked her to look after my kids because I was sick in the hospital whereas she keeps malice with me just because of your sex romp with her. Oti, you left my children at home for two days and went to sleep with your girl friend in Athlone. You also asked my under-aged children to travel on bus to Athlone by themselves while I was on the hospital bed. I loved you but you failed me and you know it.
The bitter pill that I have to swallow is the fact that I can no longer be there for my lovely girls .Their beloved father despised them so because I could not make a male child (you claimed that I was unable to have a boy child because I did not drink from the anointing oil which you asked me to drink and that makes you detest me too). I am deeply sorry that I did not drink it; maybe that would have spared me of some lashes. Our lovely first daughter at age twelve said, “Mummy I don’t think I will get married” This is as a result of the abuse that my child suffered from our marriage… If you are a loved one and you know my daughter, please help me say to her that marriage is to be enjoyed and not endured….. I want her to be married and make me proud!
Oti, why do you always run away from your problems rather than resolving them? You left Nigeria because of your involvement in fraud at the bank which you never resolved. As I speak you owe my mother a sum of one million, two hundred thousand naira which you have no plan to repay. How come you had issues even with your own sibling in the U.K to such an extent that you poisoned her…..? That is the more reason why I was so scared for my life. You are such a difficult person, the community welfare officer , our GP, Olive at Hartstown , the Child protection unit at Finglas and our father in the Lord tried their best to advise you to no avail. You were not ready to make me happy.
Noble Jagha, you wanted me dead as soon as possible. I still wonder why you refused to come with me for separation times and again when I asked that we should part ways. I know your intent may be to make gains from my years of labour at Anpost. I worked so hard to pay the rent, to feed us and even paid some of your fees to pursue your MBA. Despite all my effort you were never satisfied, even on my sick bed you demanded for money…..I hope you are happy that you have them all and you can feed your numerous girlfriends with them. I plead with you and I besiege all that reads this to appeal to you that you do the following after my demise which is of utmost importance (I hope you will heed advice for once).
1. That you may put in trust/fixed deposit for my daughters all monies raised from my burial and benefits from my workplace having paid all expenses incurred and other personal loan taking from my friends during my period of illness. My daughters need to know I care for them even in my grave.
2. That, I have a will in which I have named the executors to my will and joint custodians of our children. The lawyer will keep you posted in due course, please adhere!
3. Oti you can also pay any money that you owe from the monies before the account is opened.
4. Kindly pay my mother the money you owe her too before the account is fixed.
5. I want my mother to be a part of my children’s life, please don’t deprive her.
6. Oti make peace with my family and friends (stop making enemies out of the people that helps me).
Oti, it may surprise you but I have to let you know that I have the password to your facebook account and email accounts! How come I am not on your friend list? Why did you also refuse to tell me the cause of your mother’s death? I know she died of cancer! Hmmmm
Oti does not love me; he could not stay with me in sickness despite the fact that I loved him more than my children. Hhmmmm
I hope my mother can forgive me for not heeding her advice in respect of my choice of marriage and I pray that God gives her and my father the fortitude to bear this irreparable lost. It is too late to cry when the head is off.
Thank you for not leaving me alone in my time of troubles and needs my sisters, thank you sister for going to Olive’s school, please follow up with Emmanuel as planned, I don’t want my children to suffer. I am so worried …..I am tired. I don’t want you people to go, don’t leave me alone. I want someone to sleep here with me tonight.
signed.
Omodolapo GoodGod
27/04/2013.
Boko Haram members dressed as women arrested in Borno
RESIDENTS of Gwange area in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital has restricted their women from going out in the evening following reports that Boko Haram sect members now resort to wearing women’s clothing to go out and perpetrate evil or try to escape arrest by soldiers and vigilante youths in the area.
According to the 'Nigerian Tribune, four Boko Haram members were arrested on Saturday in Gwange ward wearing women’s clothing and trying to escape arrest as a result of pressure mounted on them in the area by the vigilante youths who have been seriously hunting for the sect members particularly in Gwange area of the metropolis.
According to residents, who pleaded anonymity the sect members also wear women’s clothings to hide their weapons. “They have been doing that for a long time according to one of them who was arrested last month in Gwange and since that time so many of them have been arrested and handed to security,” he said.
Speaking on whether the soldiers are killing the arrested Boko Haram members, he said, “They (vigilante youths) have been arresting them, but killing them, we do not know because the soldiers always carry them to the JTF headquarters.”
According to him, even those that were arrested with ‘hijab’ last week Saturday, we were told that the youths beat them up and handed them over to the military for further interrogation.
According to the 'Nigerian Tribune, four Boko Haram members were arrested on Saturday in Gwange ward wearing women’s clothing and trying to escape arrest as a result of pressure mounted on them in the area by the vigilante youths who have been seriously hunting for the sect members particularly in Gwange area of the metropolis.
According to residents, who pleaded anonymity the sect members also wear women’s clothings to hide their weapons. “They have been doing that for a long time according to one of them who was arrested last month in Gwange and since that time so many of them have been arrested and handed to security,” he said.
Speaking on whether the soldiers are killing the arrested Boko Haram members, he said, “They (vigilante youths) have been arresting them, but killing them, we do not know because the soldiers always carry them to the JTF headquarters.”
According to him, even those that were arrested with ‘hijab’ last week Saturday, we were told that the youths beat them up and handed them over to the military for further interrogation.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
How Ezu River 19 were killed, by Senate report
The mystery surrounding the 19 floating bodies found in Ezu River in Anambra State has been uncovered.
Senate Joint Committee on Police Affairs and National Security and Intelligence investigated the discovery of the “strange dead bodies” on the river.
The committee has given a graphic picture of how the youths died.
The committee, chaired by Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu and Senator Mohammed Magoro, presented shocking autopsy reports of the bodies.
The investigative report of the Joint Committee sighted by our correspondents in Abuja revealed that instead of 30, the victims of the gory incident were 19.
According the autopsy reports, 15 of the 19 bodies were seen.
Six bodies had evidence of gun shots.
The weapon used for all the shots is one type-long range rifle.
Aimed areas of the body: Legs up to the knee cap and some up to the hips.
All the victims dressed alike – boxers or pants.
Suspected cause of death – Hemorrhage resulting from unattended gun shots.
Though the committee submitted a detailed report, it could not establish who did the killings.
The true identities of the victims were also not established by the committee. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB) told the committee that the victims were its members who were in police custody. The police denied the claim.
The Inspector General of Police told the Committee that on January 19, there was a report of 19 bodies floating on River Ezu, a boundary between Anambra and Enugu states, and that the Commissioners of Police in the states were informed through a phone call.
He said the bodies were found to be clean-shaven, able-bodied young men but that they were already decomposed.
Four of the decomposed bodies were displayed for eight days before they were taken for autopsy.
Nobody or community has complained that they have lost anybody, the IG said, but assured that the police were working with other Security agencies to get to the root of the issue.
The Director General (DG) of the State Security Service (SSS) told the committee that on January 19, 18 bodies were found floating on Ezu River.
He said the Anambra State Governor, who was informed immediately, cut-short a foreign trip and returned home to order the bodies to be removed from the river.
He said the strange development led to several conjectures, such as that they:
•were dumped by security agencies;
•were hired to fight in a war between Cross River and Ebonyi State where they were killed; but there were no signs of bullet wounds;
•were cultists;
•must have died from generator fumes in factories and were dumped there by private multinationals; and that
•they were kidnappers who decided to kill others to carry the ransom.
“All these were mere conjectures and that the result of the autopsy being awaited would expose the possible cause of deaths,” said the DG.
The SSS said the bodies could not have been thrown into the river without the knowledge of the communities.
On alleged complicity of the police, the DG told the committee that the service advocated an audit of suspects in police custody in Anambra and Enugu states.
When asked by the committee whether they ever went on joint operation to Onitsha, the SSS chief said “they went and arrested about 17 persons who were charged to court, the following day and were granted bail.”
The Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, corroborated the account of the Director General, SSS.
On the number of bodies found, “security chiefs were unanimous that they were only 19, not 30 as was being speculated”.
On whether they actually wore identical clothes, boxer shorts and t-shirts, “they responded that they were actually not wearing identical clothes as some wore wrappersa and pants etc”.
According to the report, “the Igwe of Amansea told the committee that the bodies were first seen in the morning of January 19, by some indigenes who went to the river to fetch water.
“The person who actually saw the bodies first could not be identified, the committee said.
The Committee was shown the two graves where some of the bodies were buried but later exhumed.
The Deputy Governor, Mr. Sibeudu, who represented Governor Peter Obi, told the committee that as a result of the seriousness the governor attached to the issue, the government announced a cash reward of N5 million for information on the mystery, but that nobody came forward.
The Committee visited the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Enugu, where they inspected detention cells and facilities.
The Committee noted that after interactive sessions with several stakeholders and thorough investigations into the issue, it found:
•That Ezu River flows down from a town called Agbaogugu through Ogwuoba and Amansea communities and empties into the River Niger. It is a boundary between Aniansea community in Awka North Local Government Area, Anambra State and Ugwuoba community in Oji River Local Government Area, Enugu State.
•that the river is the main source’ of drinking water for the two communities.
•that on the 19th January 2013, 18 strange dead bodies were found floating on the river. One more body was found on the 23rd of January, bringing the total member of bodies found to 19.
•that the bodies were already decomposed at the time they were found, suggesting that they must have died some days earlier before they were dumped.
•that all the bodies were brought out of the river on the instructions of the Governor of Anambra State.
•Some were taken for autopsy; others were buried along the river bank, but were later exhumed for autopsy.
•That there is a police check-point just about 100 metres away from the river on Anambra State side and another one five kilometers on the Enugu State side, and that this check point had been in existence for the past three years.
The Committee recommended “that further forensic analysis of the bullet still lodged in one of the bodies should be carried out so as to ascertain the exact type of gun that fired it and where it is commonly found.
“That the Anambra State Government should also be encouraged to carry out a more thorough DNA test on the bodies as requested by the pathologists.
Senate Joint Committee on Police Affairs and National Security and Intelligence investigated the discovery of the “strange dead bodies” on the river.
The committee has given a graphic picture of how the youths died.
The committee, chaired by Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu and Senator Mohammed Magoro, presented shocking autopsy reports of the bodies.
The investigative report of the Joint Committee sighted by our correspondents in Abuja revealed that instead of 30, the victims of the gory incident were 19.
According the autopsy reports, 15 of the 19 bodies were seen.
Six bodies had evidence of gun shots.
The weapon used for all the shots is one type-long range rifle.
Aimed areas of the body: Legs up to the knee cap and some up to the hips.
All the victims dressed alike – boxers or pants.
Suspected cause of death – Hemorrhage resulting from unattended gun shots.
Though the committee submitted a detailed report, it could not establish who did the killings.
The true identities of the victims were also not established by the committee. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB) told the committee that the victims were its members who were in police custody. The police denied the claim.
The Inspector General of Police told the Committee that on January 19, there was a report of 19 bodies floating on River Ezu, a boundary between Anambra and Enugu states, and that the Commissioners of Police in the states were informed through a phone call.
He said the bodies were found to be clean-shaven, able-bodied young men but that they were already decomposed.
Four of the decomposed bodies were displayed for eight days before they were taken for autopsy.
Nobody or community has complained that they have lost anybody, the IG said, but assured that the police were working with other Security agencies to get to the root of the issue.
The Director General (DG) of the State Security Service (SSS) told the committee that on January 19, 18 bodies were found floating on Ezu River.
He said the Anambra State Governor, who was informed immediately, cut-short a foreign trip and returned home to order the bodies to be removed from the river.
He said the strange development led to several conjectures, such as that they:
•were dumped by security agencies;
•were hired to fight in a war between Cross River and Ebonyi State where they were killed; but there were no signs of bullet wounds;
•were cultists;
•must have died from generator fumes in factories and were dumped there by private multinationals; and that
•they were kidnappers who decided to kill others to carry the ransom.
“All these were mere conjectures and that the result of the autopsy being awaited would expose the possible cause of deaths,” said the DG.
The SSS said the bodies could not have been thrown into the river without the knowledge of the communities.
On alleged complicity of the police, the DG told the committee that the service advocated an audit of suspects in police custody in Anambra and Enugu states.
When asked by the committee whether they ever went on joint operation to Onitsha, the SSS chief said “they went and arrested about 17 persons who were charged to court, the following day and were granted bail.”
The Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, corroborated the account of the Director General, SSS.
On the number of bodies found, “security chiefs were unanimous that they were only 19, not 30 as was being speculated”.
On whether they actually wore identical clothes, boxer shorts and t-shirts, “they responded that they were actually not wearing identical clothes as some wore wrappersa and pants etc”.
According to the report, “the Igwe of Amansea told the committee that the bodies were first seen in the morning of January 19, by some indigenes who went to the river to fetch water.
“The person who actually saw the bodies first could not be identified, the committee said.
The Committee was shown the two graves where some of the bodies were buried but later exhumed.
The Deputy Governor, Mr. Sibeudu, who represented Governor Peter Obi, told the committee that as a result of the seriousness the governor attached to the issue, the government announced a cash reward of N5 million for information on the mystery, but that nobody came forward.
The Committee visited the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Enugu, where they inspected detention cells and facilities.
The Committee noted that after interactive sessions with several stakeholders and thorough investigations into the issue, it found:
•That Ezu River flows down from a town called Agbaogugu through Ogwuoba and Amansea communities and empties into the River Niger. It is a boundary between Aniansea community in Awka North Local Government Area, Anambra State and Ugwuoba community in Oji River Local Government Area, Enugu State.
•that the river is the main source’ of drinking water for the two communities.
•that on the 19th January 2013, 18 strange dead bodies were found floating on the river. One more body was found on the 23rd of January, bringing the total member of bodies found to 19.
•that the bodies were already decomposed at the time they were found, suggesting that they must have died some days earlier before they were dumped.
•that all the bodies were brought out of the river on the instructions of the Governor of Anambra State.
•Some were taken for autopsy; others were buried along the river bank, but were later exhumed for autopsy.
•That there is a police check-point just about 100 metres away from the river on Anambra State side and another one five kilometers on the Enugu State side, and that this check point had been in existence for the past three years.
The Committee recommended “that further forensic analysis of the bullet still lodged in one of the bodies should be carried out so as to ascertain the exact type of gun that fired it and where it is commonly found.
“That the Anambra State Government should also be encouraged to carry out a more thorough DNA test on the bodies as requested by the pathologists.
MKO Abiola, Susan Rice & a deadly cup of tea - By Femi Fani Kayode
Ambassador Susan Rice was up until recently the American Ambassador to the United Nations. Her long-standing aspiration of becoming the Secretary of State for her country was dashed when the Republicans in the Senate started sharpening their knives in anticipation of her formal nomination for that position by President Barak Obama.
Sensing that her nomination would not scale through the Senate and that she would not be confirmed as Secretary of State due to the role she played in the cover up of the Benghazi affair in which the American Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other American citizens were murdered by a group of islamist terrorists, her nomination was withdrawn.
Instead of Secretary of State, President Obama has now nominated her for the position of National Security Advisor which is a job that does not require Senate approval or confirmation. I wish Susan Rice well in her new assignment but I am constrained to ask the following questions and the people of Nigeria would like to have the answers. What did she put in the tea that she served to Chief MKO Abiola on July 8th 1998 just before he died? She was one of the last people that saw him alive, she served him some tea, he coughed violently, collapsed right in front of her and her team and one hour later he was dead. What was in the tea? Was it Abuja ''green tea'', Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Liptons or some other more exotic brand?
Can someone please ask Susan Rice what her role was in the death of MKO Abiola? Who sent her to do the job and who was she working for? At that time she was Assistant Secretary of State for America in President Bill Clinton's government. Was she acting on his direct instructions or simply on the instructions of her boss and controller in Langley?
Chief MKO Abiola was the winner of Nigeria's freest and fairest elections. That election took place on June 12th 1993. The following day it was annuled by General Ibrahim Babangida. Shortly after that, as a consequence of the sheer outrage that was generated by the annulement, Babangida was compelled to ''step aside'' and hand over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan. In what was clearly a strategic manouver he left General Sani Abacha (his own Chief of Army Staff) behind to be the Minister of Defence for the incoming administration.
A few months later Abacha toppled the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan which he had served and seized power for himself. Abiola was arrested and detained. He was never granted his freedom again. Four years later Abacha himself was murdered by forces that are yet to be identified and General Abdulsalami Abubakar took power. Exactly 30 days after Abacha was killed, those same forces that killed him murdered Abiola as well in an attempt to ''balance the equation''.
These are the facts and sequence of events. One thing is self-evident and cannot be denied no matter which side of the divide one may have been on in the June 12th saga- certain questions must be answered. And some of those questions are as follows. Who killed MKO Abiola? Who killed Sani Abacha? Who sent the respected Chief Emeka Anyaoku (the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth at the time) and Mr. Kofi Annan (the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time) to meet with Abiola and ask him to relinquish and renounce his mandate if he wanted to be released? What was their response when Abiola refused to do so? What role, if any, did officials of the Abubakar administration play in the murder of both Abacha and Abiola? What role did the CIA play and exactly what transpired in the room when Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice (as she then was), Ambassador Thomas Pickering and two other faceless and nameless officials from the American Embassy met with Abiola on that fateful day. For how long did Ambassador Pickering give him mouth to mouth resuscitation after he collapsed? Sadly instead of being revived and released that day Abiola died in what can only be described as mysterious and questionable circumstances.
This is all the more so because Abiola's security officer and the man that was charged with looking after him and protecting him throughout the time that he was incarcerated (an honest, upstanding and courageous police officer by the name of ASP Zadok) told the Oputa panel in 2002 that Abiola was ''hale and hearty'' and in ''very high spirits'' just before going into the meeting with the Americans. He went further by telling the panel that as he was about to enter Aguda House (the premises where the meeting was scheduled to be held) with Abiola he was asked to leave his principal, to step out of the premises and to go and pick up another car from somewhere else by one of General Abdulsalami's security officers. He promptly obeyed the order but half an hour later when he came back he found Abiola in a terrible condition, coughing violently, writhing all over the floor in pain and breathing his last breath. Thirty minutes later he gave up the ghost.
Another question that needs to be answered is the one that the respected columnist Mr. Gbolobo Ogunsanwo has dubbed as ''the question of the missing one hour''. Permit me to explain. According to the testimony that was given to the Oputa Panel by Major Hamza Al Mustapha, who was General Abacha's Chief Security Officer, from the first day that Abiola was arrested right up until the day that he was murdered he (Al Mustapha) was in charge of his (Abiola's) security. Each time Abiola was moved from one safe house to another he had to sign for it. Each time Abiola ate his food or drank anything, his men tasted and drank it before-hand. He went as far as to say that each time Abiola went to the toilet he was made aware of it and that nothing happened around Abiola or to him without his direct permission and the involvement of his most loyal men. After Abacha was murdered and Abdulsalami Abubakar became Head of State, Al Mustapha was still in charge of Abiola's security and he still maintained direct responsibility for his life, his well-being and his welfare right up until the minute that he was murdered.
When Mustapha appeared before the Oputa Panel he exposed the fact that in the entire period of four years that he and his team watched over Abiola it was only in the one hour that he was killed that they had no knowledge or control of what was happening to or around him. According to him, Abiola was removed from the guest house that he had been staying without his (Al Mustapha's) signature or knowledge and without anyone seeking his permission. Simply put he was kept in the dark about the whole thing. Secret orders were given to keep him out of the loop, to take Abiola to a destination which he knew nothing about and to ensure that none of the usual trusted food tasters and minders were with him. The only person that accompanied Abiola from the old guard of those that had watched over him for the previous four years was ASP Zadok and when they arrived at Aguda House (the venue of the meeting) he was conveniently sent on a meaningless errand by General Abdulsalami Abubakar's Chief Security Officer and told to leave. Hence for the first time in four years Abiola was left completely on his own and he was surrounded by a coterie of strange faces who had no genuine affection or empathy for him. He was with them for one hour and during that hour not one of those that had watched over him, that had secured his safety and that he had grown familiar with over the entire four year period of his incarceration was with him. It was during that ''missing hour'', when he was all alone and very vulnerable, that he was poisoned.
Sadly by the time Zadok, who was undoubtedly loyal to him, returned to the scene Abiola was already dying. The question is who gave the order for Abiola to be brought to that meeting? Why did they keep Al Mustapha in the dark about it? Why was Zadok sent to bring another vehicle that was obviously not needed? That one hour, and what transpired during it's course, holds the key to everything. It appears that Abiola was lured into a trap by a group of smiling strangers who did not wish him well and who had sinister plans for him. It was like leading a lamb to the slaughter.
Given these circumstances I have no doubt that this was a case of premeditated murder but the question is whose call was it and why did it have to happen? What was the motive? Was it done just to ''balance the equation'' as some said at the time or was it done in an attempt to pave the way for an Obasanjo Presidency one year later? Could General Olusegun Obasanjo have been released from jail and elected President if Abiola had lived and if he had insisted on claiming his mandate? The Nigerian people have a right to know the truth and it is about time that those that have wielded power in this country for the last few decades told them. The powers that be must appreciate the fact that they cannot sweep things under the carpet forever and that one day, no matter how long it takes, they will be held accountable by God and the Nigerian people for the morbid, secret and oftentimes homicidal choices and decisions that they made.
Yet the truth is that the military operates like a cult and we may never get an honest answer from any of them about what really happened. This is because there are very few Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar's in the Nigerian military. Very few of them are prepared to break ranks with the leadership and break the ''omerta'' code of silence like Abubakar Umar did over the June 12th election. Very few of them are prepared to call a spade a spade, speak the truth, expose the lie and damn the consequences. Most of them continue to spin the yarn and tell the lie that Abacha and Abiola's deaths were both from natural causes and that it was just a coincidence that one dropped dead on June 8th 1998, just 4 days before the 5th anniversary of June 12th, and the other droped dead exactly one month later on July 8th 1998. As they say ''the secrets are embedded in the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates'' and, in this case, the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates really do tell an interesting and revealing story.
Yet no matter how hard they try to cover her up and silence her, truth is stubborn and she cannot be drowned. She is like a pack of straws that are held together and pinned down by an all-powerful hand at the bottom of a river. As long as she is held at the bottom of that river she cannot be seen or heard. Yet one day, in the fullness of time, that all-powerful hand that seeks to supress her forever will get tired and let go and at that point Lady Truth will happily float to the top of the water where she will be seen and heard by all. It is in the same way that one day, in the fullness of time, the pernicious and perfidious verdict of "death by natural causes" or "act of God" that the powers that be have claimed are the causes of Abiola and Abacha's deaths respectively will be exposed for what they are.
The fact of the matter is that until these questions are answered and justice is done Nigeria will not know lasting peace and she cannot possibly achieve her fulll potentials. It is a spiritual thing. Abiola gave his life that we may have a better tomorrow yet we refuse to acknowledge it or to bring his killers to justice. We are repaying his good with evil and the consequences of that are set out in the Word of God. Whatever anyone may have thought of him as a person, the fact remains that had it not been for Abiola's sheer resilience, courage, steadfastness, sacrifice and gallant refusal to bow before the Nigerian military and give up his 1993 Presidential mandate we would not have democracy in Nigeria today. He was faithful to his cause to the very last. In return for that the least we could do is to ask the relevant questions, demand the appropiate answers and expose the bitter truth. We owe MKO Abiola, his wife Kudirat (who was also murdered) and all the other June 12th and NADECO footsoldiers and martyrs that much.
Femi Fani Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation
Sensing that her nomination would not scale through the Senate and that she would not be confirmed as Secretary of State due to the role she played in the cover up of the Benghazi affair in which the American Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other American citizens were murdered by a group of islamist terrorists, her nomination was withdrawn.
Instead of Secretary of State, President Obama has now nominated her for the position of National Security Advisor which is a job that does not require Senate approval or confirmation. I wish Susan Rice well in her new assignment but I am constrained to ask the following questions and the people of Nigeria would like to have the answers. What did she put in the tea that she served to Chief MKO Abiola on July 8th 1998 just before he died? She was one of the last people that saw him alive, she served him some tea, he coughed violently, collapsed right in front of her and her team and one hour later he was dead. What was in the tea? Was it Abuja ''green tea'', Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Liptons or some other more exotic brand?
Can someone please ask Susan Rice what her role was in the death of MKO Abiola? Who sent her to do the job and who was she working for? At that time she was Assistant Secretary of State for America in President Bill Clinton's government. Was she acting on his direct instructions or simply on the instructions of her boss and controller in Langley?
Chief MKO Abiola was the winner of Nigeria's freest and fairest elections. That election took place on June 12th 1993. The following day it was annuled by General Ibrahim Babangida. Shortly after that, as a consequence of the sheer outrage that was generated by the annulement, Babangida was compelled to ''step aside'' and hand over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan. In what was clearly a strategic manouver he left General Sani Abacha (his own Chief of Army Staff) behind to be the Minister of Defence for the incoming administration.
A few months later Abacha toppled the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan which he had served and seized power for himself. Abiola was arrested and detained. He was never granted his freedom again. Four years later Abacha himself was murdered by forces that are yet to be identified and General Abdulsalami Abubakar took power. Exactly 30 days after Abacha was killed, those same forces that killed him murdered Abiola as well in an attempt to ''balance the equation''.
These are the facts and sequence of events. One thing is self-evident and cannot be denied no matter which side of the divide one may have been on in the June 12th saga- certain questions must be answered. And some of those questions are as follows. Who killed MKO Abiola? Who killed Sani Abacha? Who sent the respected Chief Emeka Anyaoku (the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth at the time) and Mr. Kofi Annan (the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time) to meet with Abiola and ask him to relinquish and renounce his mandate if he wanted to be released? What was their response when Abiola refused to do so? What role, if any, did officials of the Abubakar administration play in the murder of both Abacha and Abiola? What role did the CIA play and exactly what transpired in the room when Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice (as she then was), Ambassador Thomas Pickering and two other faceless and nameless officials from the American Embassy met with Abiola on that fateful day. For how long did Ambassador Pickering give him mouth to mouth resuscitation after he collapsed? Sadly instead of being revived and released that day Abiola died in what can only be described as mysterious and questionable circumstances.
This is all the more so because Abiola's security officer and the man that was charged with looking after him and protecting him throughout the time that he was incarcerated (an honest, upstanding and courageous police officer by the name of ASP Zadok) told the Oputa panel in 2002 that Abiola was ''hale and hearty'' and in ''very high spirits'' just before going into the meeting with the Americans. He went further by telling the panel that as he was about to enter Aguda House (the premises where the meeting was scheduled to be held) with Abiola he was asked to leave his principal, to step out of the premises and to go and pick up another car from somewhere else by one of General Abdulsalami's security officers. He promptly obeyed the order but half an hour later when he came back he found Abiola in a terrible condition, coughing violently, writhing all over the floor in pain and breathing his last breath. Thirty minutes later he gave up the ghost.
Another question that needs to be answered is the one that the respected columnist Mr. Gbolobo Ogunsanwo has dubbed as ''the question of the missing one hour''. Permit me to explain. According to the testimony that was given to the Oputa Panel by Major Hamza Al Mustapha, who was General Abacha's Chief Security Officer, from the first day that Abiola was arrested right up until the day that he was murdered he (Al Mustapha) was in charge of his (Abiola's) security. Each time Abiola was moved from one safe house to another he had to sign for it. Each time Abiola ate his food or drank anything, his men tasted and drank it before-hand. He went as far as to say that each time Abiola went to the toilet he was made aware of it and that nothing happened around Abiola or to him without his direct permission and the involvement of his most loyal men. After Abacha was murdered and Abdulsalami Abubakar became Head of State, Al Mustapha was still in charge of Abiola's security and he still maintained direct responsibility for his life, his well-being and his welfare right up until the minute that he was murdered.
When Mustapha appeared before the Oputa Panel he exposed the fact that in the entire period of four years that he and his team watched over Abiola it was only in the one hour that he was killed that they had no knowledge or control of what was happening to or around him. According to him, Abiola was removed from the guest house that he had been staying without his (Al Mustapha's) signature or knowledge and without anyone seeking his permission. Simply put he was kept in the dark about the whole thing. Secret orders were given to keep him out of the loop, to take Abiola to a destination which he knew nothing about and to ensure that none of the usual trusted food tasters and minders were with him. The only person that accompanied Abiola from the old guard of those that had watched over him for the previous four years was ASP Zadok and when they arrived at Aguda House (the venue of the meeting) he was conveniently sent on a meaningless errand by General Abdulsalami Abubakar's Chief Security Officer and told to leave. Hence for the first time in four years Abiola was left completely on his own and he was surrounded by a coterie of strange faces who had no genuine affection or empathy for him. He was with them for one hour and during that hour not one of those that had watched over him, that had secured his safety and that he had grown familiar with over the entire four year period of his incarceration was with him. It was during that ''missing hour'', when he was all alone and very vulnerable, that he was poisoned.
Sadly by the time Zadok, who was undoubtedly loyal to him, returned to the scene Abiola was already dying. The question is who gave the order for Abiola to be brought to that meeting? Why did they keep Al Mustapha in the dark about it? Why was Zadok sent to bring another vehicle that was obviously not needed? That one hour, and what transpired during it's course, holds the key to everything. It appears that Abiola was lured into a trap by a group of smiling strangers who did not wish him well and who had sinister plans for him. It was like leading a lamb to the slaughter.
Given these circumstances I have no doubt that this was a case of premeditated murder but the question is whose call was it and why did it have to happen? What was the motive? Was it done just to ''balance the equation'' as some said at the time or was it done in an attempt to pave the way for an Obasanjo Presidency one year later? Could General Olusegun Obasanjo have been released from jail and elected President if Abiola had lived and if he had insisted on claiming his mandate? The Nigerian people have a right to know the truth and it is about time that those that have wielded power in this country for the last few decades told them. The powers that be must appreciate the fact that they cannot sweep things under the carpet forever and that one day, no matter how long it takes, they will be held accountable by God and the Nigerian people for the morbid, secret and oftentimes homicidal choices and decisions that they made.
Yet the truth is that the military operates like a cult and we may never get an honest answer from any of them about what really happened. This is because there are very few Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar's in the Nigerian military. Very few of them are prepared to break ranks with the leadership and break the ''omerta'' code of silence like Abubakar Umar did over the June 12th election. Very few of them are prepared to call a spade a spade, speak the truth, expose the lie and damn the consequences. Most of them continue to spin the yarn and tell the lie that Abacha and Abiola's deaths were both from natural causes and that it was just a coincidence that one dropped dead on June 8th 1998, just 4 days before the 5th anniversary of June 12th, and the other droped dead exactly one month later on July 8th 1998. As they say ''the secrets are embedded in the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates'' and, in this case, the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates really do tell an interesting and revealing story.
Yet no matter how hard they try to cover her up and silence her, truth is stubborn and she cannot be drowned. She is like a pack of straws that are held together and pinned down by an all-powerful hand at the bottom of a river. As long as she is held at the bottom of that river she cannot be seen or heard. Yet one day, in the fullness of time, that all-powerful hand that seeks to supress her forever will get tired and let go and at that point Lady Truth will happily float to the top of the water where she will be seen and heard by all. It is in the same way that one day, in the fullness of time, the pernicious and perfidious verdict of "death by natural causes" or "act of God" that the powers that be have claimed are the causes of Abiola and Abacha's deaths respectively will be exposed for what they are.
The fact of the matter is that until these questions are answered and justice is done Nigeria will not know lasting peace and she cannot possibly achieve her fulll potentials. It is a spiritual thing. Abiola gave his life that we may have a better tomorrow yet we refuse to acknowledge it or to bring his killers to justice. We are repaying his good with evil and the consequences of that are set out in the Word of God. Whatever anyone may have thought of him as a person, the fact remains that had it not been for Abiola's sheer resilience, courage, steadfastness, sacrifice and gallant refusal to bow before the Nigerian military and give up his 1993 Presidential mandate we would not have democracy in Nigeria today. He was faithful to his cause to the very last. In return for that the least we could do is to ask the relevant questions, demand the appropiate answers and expose the bitter truth. We owe MKO Abiola, his wife Kudirat (who was also murdered) and all the other June 12th and NADECO footsoldiers and martyrs that much.
Femi Fani Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation
MKO Abiola, Susan Rice & a deadly cup of tea - By Femi Fani Kayode
Ambassador Susan Rice was up until recently the American Ambassador to the United Nations. Her long-standing aspiration of becoming the Secretary of State for her country was dashed when the Republicans in the Senate started sharpening their knives in anticipation of her formal nomination for that position by President Barak Obama.
Sensing that her nomination would not scale through the Senate and that she would not be confirmed as Secretary of State due to the role she played in the cover up of the Benghazi affair in which the American Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other American citizens were murdered by a group of islamist terrorists, her nomination was withdrawn.
Instead of Secretary of State, President Obama has now nominated her for the position of National Security Advisor which is a job that does not require Senate approval or confirmation. I wish Susan Rice well in her new assignment but I am constrained to ask the following questions and the people of Nigeria would like to have the answers. What did she put in the tea that she served to Chief MKO Abiola on July 8th 1998 just before he died? She was one of the last people that saw him alive, she served him some tea, he coughed violently, collapsed right in front of her and her team and one hour later he was dead. What was in the tea? Was it Abuja ''green tea'', Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Liptons or some other more exotic brand?
Can someone please ask Susan Rice what her role was in the death of MKO Abiola? Who sent her to do the job and who was she working for? At that time she was Assistant Secretary of State for America in President Bill Clinton's government. Was she acting on his direct instructions or simply on the instructions of her boss and controller in Langley?
Chief MKO Abiola was the winner of Nigeria's freest and fairest elections. That election took place on June 12th 1993. The following day it was annuled by General Ibrahim Babangida. Shortly after that, as a consequence of the sheer outrage that was generated by the annulement, Babangida was compelled to ''step aside'' and hand over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan. In what was clearly a strategic manouver he left General Sani Abacha (his own Chief of Army Staff) behind to be the Minister of Defence for the incoming administration.
A few months later Abacha toppled the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan which he had served and seized power for himself. Abiola was arrested and detained. He was never granted his freedom again. Four years later Abacha himself was murdered by forces that are yet to be identified and General Abdulsalami Abubakar took power. Exactly 30 days after Abacha was killed, those same forces that killed him murdered Abiola as well in an attempt to ''balance the equation''.
These are the facts and sequence of events. One thing is self-evident and cannot be denied no matter which side of the divide one may have been on in the June 12th saga- certain questions must be answered. And some of those questions are as follows. Who killed MKO Abiola? Who killed Sani Abacha? Who sent the respected Chief Emeka Anyaoku (the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth at the time) and Mr. Kofi Annan (the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time) to meet with Abiola and ask him to relinquish and renounce his mandate if he wanted to be released? What was their response when Abiola refused to do so? What role, if any, did officials of the Abubakar administration play in the murder of both Abacha and Abiola? What role did the CIA play and exactly what transpired in the room when Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice (as she then was), Ambassador Thomas Pickering and two other faceless and nameless officials from the American Embassy met with Abiola on that fateful day. For how long did Ambassador Pickering give him mouth to mouth resuscitation after he collapsed? Sadly instead of being revived and released that day Abiola died in what can only be described as mysterious and questionable circumstances.
This is all the more so because Abiola's security officer and the man that was charged with looking after him and protecting him throughout the time that he was incarcerated (an honest, upstanding and courageous police officer by the name of ASP Zadok) told the Oputa panel in 2002 that Abiola was ''hale and hearty'' and in ''very high spirits'' just before going into the meeting with the Americans. He went further by telling the panel that as he was about to enter Aguda House (the premises where the meeting was scheduled to be held) with Abiola he was asked to leave his principal, to step out of the premises and to go and pick up another car from somewhere else by one of General Abdulsalami's security officers. He promptly obeyed the order but half an hour later when he came back he found Abiola in a terrible condition, coughing violently, writhing all over the floor in pain and breathing his last breath. Thirty minutes later he gave up the ghost.
Another question that needs to be answered is the one that the respected columnist Mr. Gbolobo Ogunsanwo has dubbed as ''the question of the missing one hour''. Permit me to explain. According to the testimony that was given to the Oputa Panel by Major Hamza Al Mustapha, who was General Abacha's Chief Security Officer, from the first day that Abiola was arrested right up until the day that he was murdered he (Al Mustapha) was in charge of his (Abiola's) security. Each time Abiola was moved from one safe house to another he had to sign for it. Each time Abiola ate his food or drank anything, his men tasted and drank it before-hand. He went as far as to say that each time Abiola went to the toilet he was made aware of it and that nothing happened around Abiola or to him without his direct permission and the involvement of his most loyal men. After Abacha was murdered and Abdulsalami Abubakar became Head of State, Al Mustapha was still in charge of Abiola's security and he still maintained direct responsibility for his life, his well-being and his welfare right up until the minute that he was murdered.
When Mustapha appeared before the Oputa Panel he exposed the fact that in the entire period of four years that he and his team watched over Abiola it was only in the one hour that he was killed that they had no knowledge or control of what was happening to or around him. According to him, Abiola was removed from the guest house that he had been staying without his (Al Mustapha's) signature or knowledge and without anyone seeking his permission. Simply put he was kept in the dark about the whole thing. Secret orders were given to keep him out of the loop, to take Abiola to a destination which he knew nothing about and to ensure that none of the usual trusted food tasters and minders were with him. The only person that accompanied Abiola from the old guard of those that had watched over him for the previous four years was ASP Zadok and when they arrived at Aguda House (the venue of the meeting) he was conveniently sent on a meaningless errand by General Abdulsalami Abubakar's Chief Security Officer and told to leave. Hence for the first time in four years Abiola was left completely on his own and he was surrounded by a coterie of strange faces who had no genuine affection or empathy for him. He was with them for one hour and during that hour not one of those that had watched over him, that had secured his safety and that he had grown familiar with over the entire four year period of his incarceration was with him. It was during that ''missing hour'', when he was all alone and very vulnerable, that he was poisoned.
Sadly by the time Zadok, who was undoubtedly loyal to him, returned to the scene Abiola was already dying. The question is who gave the order for Abiola to be brought to that meeting? Why did they keep Al Mustapha in the dark about it? Why was Zadok sent to bring another vehicle that was obviously not needed? That one hour, and what transpired during it's course, holds the key to everything. It appears that Abiola was lured into a trap by a group of smiling strangers who did not wish him well and who had sinister plans for him. It was like leading a lamb to the slaughter.
Given these circumstances I have no doubt that this was a case of premeditated murder but the question is whose call was it and why did it have to happen? What was the motive? Was it done just to ''balance the equation'' as some said at the time or was it done in an attempt to pave the way for an Obasanjo Presidency one year later? Could General Olusegun Obasanjo have been released from jail and elected President if Abiola had lived and if he had insisted on claiming his mandate? The Nigerian people have a right to know the truth and it is about time that those that have wielded power in this country for the last few decades told them. The powers that be must appreciate the fact that they cannot sweep things under the carpet forever and that one day, no matter how long it takes, they will be held accountable by God and the Nigerian people for the morbid, secret and oftentimes homicidal choices and decisions that they made.
Yet the truth is that the military operates like a cult and we may never get an honest answer from any of them about what really happened. This is because there are very few Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar's in the Nigerian military. Very few of them are prepared to break ranks with the leadership and break the ''omerta'' code of silence like Abubakar Umar did over the June 12th election. Very few of them are prepared to call a spade a spade, speak the truth, expose the lie and damn the consequences. Most of them continue to spin the yarn and tell the lie that Abacha and Abiola's deaths were both from natural causes and that it was just a coincidence that one dropped dead on June 8th 1998, just 4 days before the 5th anniversary of June 12th, and the other droped dead exactly one month later on July 8th 1998. As they say ''the secrets are embedded in the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates'' and, in this case, the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates really do tell an interesting and revealing story.
Yet no matter how hard they try to cover her up and silence her, truth is stubborn and she cannot be drowned. She is like a pack of straws that are held together and pinned down by an all-powerful hand at the bottom of a river. As long as she is held at the bottom of that river she cannot be seen or heard. Yet one day, in the fullness of time, that all-powerful hand that seeks to supress her forever will get tired and let go and at that point Lady Truth will happily float to the top of the water where she will be seen and heard by all. It is in the same way that one day, in the fullness of time, the pernicious and perfidious verdict of "death by natural causes" or "act of God" that the powers that be have claimed are the causes of Abiola and Abacha's deaths respectively will be exposed for what they are.
The fact of the matter is that until these questions are answered and justice is done Nigeria will not know lasting peace and she cannot possibly achieve her fulll potentials. It is a spiritual thing. Abiola gave his life that we may have a better tomorrow yet we refuse to acknowledge it or to bring his killers to justice. We are repaying his good with evil and the consequences of that are set out in the Word of God. Whatever anyone may have thought of him as a person, the fact remains that had it not been for Abiola's sheer resilience, courage, steadfastness, sacrifice and gallant refusal to bow before the Nigerian military and give up his 1993 Presidential mandate we would not have democracy in Nigeria today. He was faithful to his cause to the very last. In return for that the least we could do is to ask the relevant questions, demand the appropiate answers and expose the bitter truth. We owe MKO Abiola, his wife Kudirat (who was also murdered) and all the other June 12th and NADECO footsoldiers and martyrs that much.
Femi Fani Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation
Sensing that her nomination would not scale through the Senate and that she would not be confirmed as Secretary of State due to the role she played in the cover up of the Benghazi affair in which the American Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other American citizens were murdered by a group of islamist terrorists, her nomination was withdrawn.
Instead of Secretary of State, President Obama has now nominated her for the position of National Security Advisor which is a job that does not require Senate approval or confirmation. I wish Susan Rice well in her new assignment but I am constrained to ask the following questions and the people of Nigeria would like to have the answers. What did she put in the tea that she served to Chief MKO Abiola on July 8th 1998 just before he died? She was one of the last people that saw him alive, she served him some tea, he coughed violently, collapsed right in front of her and her team and one hour later he was dead. What was in the tea? Was it Abuja ''green tea'', Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Liptons or some other more exotic brand?
Can someone please ask Susan Rice what her role was in the death of MKO Abiola? Who sent her to do the job and who was she working for? At that time she was Assistant Secretary of State for America in President Bill Clinton's government. Was she acting on his direct instructions or simply on the instructions of her boss and controller in Langley?
Chief MKO Abiola was the winner of Nigeria's freest and fairest elections. That election took place on June 12th 1993. The following day it was annuled by General Ibrahim Babangida. Shortly after that, as a consequence of the sheer outrage that was generated by the annulement, Babangida was compelled to ''step aside'' and hand over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan. In what was clearly a strategic manouver he left General Sani Abacha (his own Chief of Army Staff) behind to be the Minister of Defence for the incoming administration.
A few months later Abacha toppled the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan which he had served and seized power for himself. Abiola was arrested and detained. He was never granted his freedom again. Four years later Abacha himself was murdered by forces that are yet to be identified and General Abdulsalami Abubakar took power. Exactly 30 days after Abacha was killed, those same forces that killed him murdered Abiola as well in an attempt to ''balance the equation''.
These are the facts and sequence of events. One thing is self-evident and cannot be denied no matter which side of the divide one may have been on in the June 12th saga- certain questions must be answered. And some of those questions are as follows. Who killed MKO Abiola? Who killed Sani Abacha? Who sent the respected Chief Emeka Anyaoku (the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth at the time) and Mr. Kofi Annan (the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time) to meet with Abiola and ask him to relinquish and renounce his mandate if he wanted to be released? What was their response when Abiola refused to do so? What role, if any, did officials of the Abubakar administration play in the murder of both Abacha and Abiola? What role did the CIA play and exactly what transpired in the room when Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice (as she then was), Ambassador Thomas Pickering and two other faceless and nameless officials from the American Embassy met with Abiola on that fateful day. For how long did Ambassador Pickering give him mouth to mouth resuscitation after he collapsed? Sadly instead of being revived and released that day Abiola died in what can only be described as mysterious and questionable circumstances.
This is all the more so because Abiola's security officer and the man that was charged with looking after him and protecting him throughout the time that he was incarcerated (an honest, upstanding and courageous police officer by the name of ASP Zadok) told the Oputa panel in 2002 that Abiola was ''hale and hearty'' and in ''very high spirits'' just before going into the meeting with the Americans. He went further by telling the panel that as he was about to enter Aguda House (the premises where the meeting was scheduled to be held) with Abiola he was asked to leave his principal, to step out of the premises and to go and pick up another car from somewhere else by one of General Abdulsalami's security officers. He promptly obeyed the order but half an hour later when he came back he found Abiola in a terrible condition, coughing violently, writhing all over the floor in pain and breathing his last breath. Thirty minutes later he gave up the ghost.
Another question that needs to be answered is the one that the respected columnist Mr. Gbolobo Ogunsanwo has dubbed as ''the question of the missing one hour''. Permit me to explain. According to the testimony that was given to the Oputa Panel by Major Hamza Al Mustapha, who was General Abacha's Chief Security Officer, from the first day that Abiola was arrested right up until the day that he was murdered he (Al Mustapha) was in charge of his (Abiola's) security. Each time Abiola was moved from one safe house to another he had to sign for it. Each time Abiola ate his food or drank anything, his men tasted and drank it before-hand. He went as far as to say that each time Abiola went to the toilet he was made aware of it and that nothing happened around Abiola or to him without his direct permission and the involvement of his most loyal men. After Abacha was murdered and Abdulsalami Abubakar became Head of State, Al Mustapha was still in charge of Abiola's security and he still maintained direct responsibility for his life, his well-being and his welfare right up until the minute that he was murdered.
When Mustapha appeared before the Oputa Panel he exposed the fact that in the entire period of four years that he and his team watched over Abiola it was only in the one hour that he was killed that they had no knowledge or control of what was happening to or around him. According to him, Abiola was removed from the guest house that he had been staying without his (Al Mustapha's) signature or knowledge and without anyone seeking his permission. Simply put he was kept in the dark about the whole thing. Secret orders were given to keep him out of the loop, to take Abiola to a destination which he knew nothing about and to ensure that none of the usual trusted food tasters and minders were with him. The only person that accompanied Abiola from the old guard of those that had watched over him for the previous four years was ASP Zadok and when they arrived at Aguda House (the venue of the meeting) he was conveniently sent on a meaningless errand by General Abdulsalami Abubakar's Chief Security Officer and told to leave. Hence for the first time in four years Abiola was left completely on his own and he was surrounded by a coterie of strange faces who had no genuine affection or empathy for him. He was with them for one hour and during that hour not one of those that had watched over him, that had secured his safety and that he had grown familiar with over the entire four year period of his incarceration was with him. It was during that ''missing hour'', when he was all alone and very vulnerable, that he was poisoned.
Sadly by the time Zadok, who was undoubtedly loyal to him, returned to the scene Abiola was already dying. The question is who gave the order for Abiola to be brought to that meeting? Why did they keep Al Mustapha in the dark about it? Why was Zadok sent to bring another vehicle that was obviously not needed? That one hour, and what transpired during it's course, holds the key to everything. It appears that Abiola was lured into a trap by a group of smiling strangers who did not wish him well and who had sinister plans for him. It was like leading a lamb to the slaughter.
Given these circumstances I have no doubt that this was a case of premeditated murder but the question is whose call was it and why did it have to happen? What was the motive? Was it done just to ''balance the equation'' as some said at the time or was it done in an attempt to pave the way for an Obasanjo Presidency one year later? Could General Olusegun Obasanjo have been released from jail and elected President if Abiola had lived and if he had insisted on claiming his mandate? The Nigerian people have a right to know the truth and it is about time that those that have wielded power in this country for the last few decades told them. The powers that be must appreciate the fact that they cannot sweep things under the carpet forever and that one day, no matter how long it takes, they will be held accountable by God and the Nigerian people for the morbid, secret and oftentimes homicidal choices and decisions that they made.
Yet the truth is that the military operates like a cult and we may never get an honest answer from any of them about what really happened. This is because there are very few Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar's in the Nigerian military. Very few of them are prepared to break ranks with the leadership and break the ''omerta'' code of silence like Abubakar Umar did over the June 12th election. Very few of them are prepared to call a spade a spade, speak the truth, expose the lie and damn the consequences. Most of them continue to spin the yarn and tell the lie that Abacha and Abiola's deaths were both from natural causes and that it was just a coincidence that one dropped dead on June 8th 1998, just 4 days before the 5th anniversary of June 12th, and the other droped dead exactly one month later on July 8th 1998. As they say ''the secrets are embedded in the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates'' and, in this case, the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates really do tell an interesting and revealing story.
Yet no matter how hard they try to cover her up and silence her, truth is stubborn and she cannot be drowned. She is like a pack of straws that are held together and pinned down by an all-powerful hand at the bottom of a river. As long as she is held at the bottom of that river she cannot be seen or heard. Yet one day, in the fullness of time, that all-powerful hand that seeks to supress her forever will get tired and let go and at that point Lady Truth will happily float to the top of the water where she will be seen and heard by all. It is in the same way that one day, in the fullness of time, the pernicious and perfidious verdict of "death by natural causes" or "act of God" that the powers that be have claimed are the causes of Abiola and Abacha's deaths respectively will be exposed for what they are.
The fact of the matter is that until these questions are answered and justice is done Nigeria will not know lasting peace and she cannot possibly achieve her fulll potentials. It is a spiritual thing. Abiola gave his life that we may have a better tomorrow yet we refuse to acknowledge it or to bring his killers to justice. We are repaying his good with evil and the consequences of that are set out in the Word of God. Whatever anyone may have thought of him as a person, the fact remains that had it not been for Abiola's sheer resilience, courage, steadfastness, sacrifice and gallant refusal to bow before the Nigerian military and give up his 1993 Presidential mandate we would not have democracy in Nigeria today. He was faithful to his cause to the very last. In return for that the least we could do is to ask the relevant questions, demand the appropiate answers and expose the bitter truth. We owe MKO Abiola, his wife Kudirat (who was also murdered) and all the other June 12th and NADECO footsoldiers and martyrs that much.
Femi Fani Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation
MKO Abiola, Susan Rice & a deadly cup of tea - By Femi Fani Kayode
Ambassador Susan Rice was up until recently the American Ambassador to the United Nations. Her long-standing aspiration of becoming the Secretary of State for her country was dashed when the Republicans in the Senate started sharpening their knives in anticipation of her formal nomination for that position by President Barak Obama.
Sensing that her nomination would not scale through the Senate and that she would not be confirmed as Secretary of State due to the role she played in the cover up of the Benghazi affair in which the American Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other American citizens were murdered by a group of islamist terrorists, her nomination was withdrawn.
Instead of Secretary of State, President Obama has now nominated her for the position of National Security Advisor which is a job that does not require Senate approval or confirmation. I wish Susan Rice well in her new assignment but I am constrained to ask the following questions and the people of Nigeria would like to have the answers. What did she put in the tea that she served to Chief MKO Abiola on July 8th 1998 just before he died? She was one of the last people that saw him alive, she served him some tea, he coughed violently, collapsed right in front of her and her team and one hour later he was dead. What was in the tea? Was it Abuja ''green tea'', Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Liptons or some other more exotic brand?
Can someone please ask Susan Rice what her role was in the death of MKO Abiola? Who sent her to do the job and who was she working for? At that time she was Assistant Secretary of State for America in President Bill Clinton's government. Was she acting on his direct instructions or simply on the instructions of her boss and controller in Langley?
Chief MKO Abiola was the winner of Nigeria's freest and fairest elections. That election took place on June 12th 1993. The following day it was annuled by General Ibrahim Babangida. Shortly after that, as a consequence of the sheer outrage that was generated by the annulement, Babangida was compelled to ''step aside'' and hand over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan. In what was clearly a strategic manouver he left General Sani Abacha (his own Chief of Army Staff) behind to be the Minister of Defence for the incoming administration.
A few months later Abacha toppled the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan which he had served and seized power for himself. Abiola was arrested and detained. He was never granted his freedom again. Four years later Abacha himself was murdered by forces that are yet to be identified and General Abdulsalami Abubakar took power. Exactly 30 days after Abacha was killed, those same forces that killed him murdered Abiola as well in an attempt to ''balance the equation''.
These are the facts and sequence of events. One thing is self-evident and cannot be denied no matter which side of the divide one may have been on in the June 12th saga- certain questions must be answered. And some of those questions are as follows. Who killed MKO Abiola? Who killed Sani Abacha? Who sent the respected Chief Emeka Anyaoku (the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth at the time) and Mr. Kofi Annan (the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time) to meet with Abiola and ask him to relinquish and renounce his mandate if he wanted to be released? What was their response when Abiola refused to do so? What role, if any, did officials of the Abubakar administration play in the murder of both Abacha and Abiola? What role did the CIA play and exactly what transpired in the room when Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice (as she then was), Ambassador Thomas Pickering and two other faceless and nameless officials from the American Embassy met with Abiola on that fateful day. For how long did Ambassador Pickering give him mouth to mouth resuscitation after he collapsed? Sadly instead of being revived and released that day Abiola died in what can only be described as mysterious and questionable circumstances.
This is all the more so because Abiola's security officer and the man that was charged with looking after him and protecting him throughout the time that he was incarcerated (an honest, upstanding and courageous police officer by the name of ASP Zadok) told the Oputa panel in 2002 that Abiola was ''hale and hearty'' and in ''very high spirits'' just before going into the meeting with the Americans. He went further by telling the panel that as he was about to enter Aguda House (the premises where the meeting was scheduled to be held) with Abiola he was asked to leave his principal, to step out of the premises and to go and pick up another car from somewhere else by one of General Abdulsalami's security officers. He promptly obeyed the order but half an hour later when he came back he found Abiola in a terrible condition, coughing violently, writhing all over the floor in pain and breathing his last breath. Thirty minutes later he gave up the ghost.
Another question that needs to be answered is the one that the respected columnist Mr. Gbolobo Ogunsanwo has dubbed as ''the question of the missing one hour''. Permit me to explain. According to the testimony that was given to the Oputa Panel by Major Hamza Al Mustapha, who was General Abacha's Chief Security Officer, from the first day that Abiola was arrested right up until the day that he was murdered he (Al Mustapha) was in charge of his (Abiola's) security. Each time Abiola was moved from one safe house to another he had to sign for it. Each time Abiola ate his food or drank anything, his men tasted and drank it before-hand. He went as far as to say that each time Abiola went to the toilet he was made aware of it and that nothing happened around Abiola or to him without his direct permission and the involvement of his most loyal men. After Abacha was murdered and Abdulsalami Abubakar became Head of State, Al Mustapha was still in charge of Abiola's security and he still maintained direct responsibility for his life, his well-being and his welfare right up until the minute that he was murdered.
When Mustapha appeared before the Oputa Panel he exposed the fact that in the entire period of four years that he and his team watched over Abiola it was only in the one hour that he was killed that they had no knowledge or control of what was happening to or around him. According to him, Abiola was removed from the guest house that he had been staying without his (Al Mustapha's) signature or knowledge and without anyone seeking his permission. Simply put he was kept in the dark about the whole thing. Secret orders were given to keep him out of the loop, to take Abiola to a destination which he knew nothing about and to ensure that none of the usual trusted food tasters and minders were with him. The only person that accompanied Abiola from the old guard of those that had watched over him for the previous four years was ASP Zadok and when they arrived at Aguda House (the venue of the meeting) he was conveniently sent on a meaningless errand by General Abdulsalami Abubakar's Chief Security Officer and told to leave. Hence for the first time in four years Abiola was left completely on his own and he was surrounded by a coterie of strange faces who had no genuine affection or empathy for him. He was with them for one hour and during that hour not one of those that had watched over him, that had secured his safety and that he had grown familiar with over the entire four year period of his incarceration was with him. It was during that ''missing hour'', when he was all alone and very vulnerable, that he was poisoned.
Sadly by the time Zadok, who was undoubtedly loyal to him, returned to the scene Abiola was already dying. The question is who gave the order for Abiola to be brought to that meeting? Why did they keep Al Mustapha in the dark about it? Why was Zadok sent to bring another vehicle that was obviously not needed? That one hour, and what transpired during it's course, holds the key to everything. It appears that Abiola was lured into a trap by a group of smiling strangers who did not wish him well and who had sinister plans for him. It was like leading a lamb to the slaughter.
Given these circumstances I have no doubt that this was a case of premeditated murder but the question is whose call was it and why did it have to happen? What was the motive? Was it done just to ''balance the equation'' as some said at the time or was it done in an attempt to pave the way for an Obasanjo Presidency one year later? Could General Olusegun Obasanjo have been released from jail and elected President if Abiola had lived and if he had insisted on claiming his mandate? The Nigerian people have a right to know the truth and it is about time that those that have wielded power in this country for the last few decades told them. The powers that be must appreciate the fact that they cannot sweep things under the carpet forever and that one day, no matter how long it takes, they will be held accountable by God and the Nigerian people for the morbid, secret and oftentimes homicidal choices and decisions that they made.
Yet the truth is that the military operates like a cult and we may never get an honest answer from any of them about what really happened. This is because there are very few Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar's in the Nigerian military. Very few of them are prepared to break ranks with the leadership and break the ''omerta'' code of silence like Abubakar Umar did over the June 12th election. Very few of them are prepared to call a spade a spade, speak the truth, expose the lie and damn the consequences. Most of them continue to spin the yarn and tell the lie that Abacha and Abiola's deaths were both from natural causes and that it was just a coincidence that one dropped dead on June 8th 1998, just 4 days before the 5th anniversary of June 12th, and the other droped dead exactly one month later on July 8th 1998. As they say ''the secrets are embedded in the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates'' and, in this case, the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates really do tell an interesting and revealing story.
Yet no matter how hard they try to cover her up and silence her, truth is stubborn and she cannot be drowned. She is like a pack of straws that are held together and pinned down by an all-powerful hand at the bottom of a river. As long as she is held at the bottom of that river she cannot be seen or heard. Yet one day, in the fullness of time, that all-powerful hand that seeks to supress her forever will get tired and let go and at that point Lady Truth will happily float to the top of the water where she will be seen and heard by all. It is in the same way that one day, in the fullness of time, the pernicious and perfidious verdict of "death by natural causes" or "act of God" that the powers that be have claimed are the causes of Abiola and Abacha's deaths respectively will be exposed for what they are.
The fact of the matter is that until these questions are answered and justice is done Nigeria will not know lasting peace and she cannot possibly achieve her fulll potentials. It is a spiritual thing. Abiola gave his life that we may have a better tomorrow yet we refuse to acknowledge it or to bring his killers to justice. We are repaying his good with evil and the consequences of that are set out in the Word of God. Whatever anyone may have thought of him as a person, the fact remains that had it not been for Abiola's sheer resilience, courage, steadfastness, sacrifice and gallant refusal to bow before the Nigerian military and give up his 1993 Presidential mandate we would not have democracy in Nigeria today. He was faithful to his cause to the very last. In return for that the least we could do is to ask the relevant questions, demand the appropiate answers and expose the bitter truth. We owe MKO Abiola, his wife Kudirat (who was also murdered) and all the other June 12th and NADECO footsoldiers and martyrs that much.
Femi Fani Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation
Sensing that her nomination would not scale through the Senate and that she would not be confirmed as Secretary of State due to the role she played in the cover up of the Benghazi affair in which the American Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other American citizens were murdered by a group of islamist terrorists, her nomination was withdrawn.
Instead of Secretary of State, President Obama has now nominated her for the position of National Security Advisor which is a job that does not require Senate approval or confirmation. I wish Susan Rice well in her new assignment but I am constrained to ask the following questions and the people of Nigeria would like to have the answers. What did she put in the tea that she served to Chief MKO Abiola on July 8th 1998 just before he died? She was one of the last people that saw him alive, she served him some tea, he coughed violently, collapsed right in front of her and her team and one hour later he was dead. What was in the tea? Was it Abuja ''green tea'', Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Liptons or some other more exotic brand?
Can someone please ask Susan Rice what her role was in the death of MKO Abiola? Who sent her to do the job and who was she working for? At that time she was Assistant Secretary of State for America in President Bill Clinton's government. Was she acting on his direct instructions or simply on the instructions of her boss and controller in Langley?
Chief MKO Abiola was the winner of Nigeria's freest and fairest elections. That election took place on June 12th 1993. The following day it was annuled by General Ibrahim Babangida. Shortly after that, as a consequence of the sheer outrage that was generated by the annulement, Babangida was compelled to ''step aside'' and hand over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan. In what was clearly a strategic manouver he left General Sani Abacha (his own Chief of Army Staff) behind to be the Minister of Defence for the incoming administration.
A few months later Abacha toppled the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan which he had served and seized power for himself. Abiola was arrested and detained. He was never granted his freedom again. Four years later Abacha himself was murdered by forces that are yet to be identified and General Abdulsalami Abubakar took power. Exactly 30 days after Abacha was killed, those same forces that killed him murdered Abiola as well in an attempt to ''balance the equation''.
These are the facts and sequence of events. One thing is self-evident and cannot be denied no matter which side of the divide one may have been on in the June 12th saga- certain questions must be answered. And some of those questions are as follows. Who killed MKO Abiola? Who killed Sani Abacha? Who sent the respected Chief Emeka Anyaoku (the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth at the time) and Mr. Kofi Annan (the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time) to meet with Abiola and ask him to relinquish and renounce his mandate if he wanted to be released? What was their response when Abiola refused to do so? What role, if any, did officials of the Abubakar administration play in the murder of both Abacha and Abiola? What role did the CIA play and exactly what transpired in the room when Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice (as she then was), Ambassador Thomas Pickering and two other faceless and nameless officials from the American Embassy met with Abiola on that fateful day. For how long did Ambassador Pickering give him mouth to mouth resuscitation after he collapsed? Sadly instead of being revived and released that day Abiola died in what can only be described as mysterious and questionable circumstances.
This is all the more so because Abiola's security officer and the man that was charged with looking after him and protecting him throughout the time that he was incarcerated (an honest, upstanding and courageous police officer by the name of ASP Zadok) told the Oputa panel in 2002 that Abiola was ''hale and hearty'' and in ''very high spirits'' just before going into the meeting with the Americans. He went further by telling the panel that as he was about to enter Aguda House (the premises where the meeting was scheduled to be held) with Abiola he was asked to leave his principal, to step out of the premises and to go and pick up another car from somewhere else by one of General Abdulsalami's security officers. He promptly obeyed the order but half an hour later when he came back he found Abiola in a terrible condition, coughing violently, writhing all over the floor in pain and breathing his last breath. Thirty minutes later he gave up the ghost.
Another question that needs to be answered is the one that the respected columnist Mr. Gbolobo Ogunsanwo has dubbed as ''the question of the missing one hour''. Permit me to explain. According to the testimony that was given to the Oputa Panel by Major Hamza Al Mustapha, who was General Abacha's Chief Security Officer, from the first day that Abiola was arrested right up until the day that he was murdered he (Al Mustapha) was in charge of his (Abiola's) security. Each time Abiola was moved from one safe house to another he had to sign for it. Each time Abiola ate his food or drank anything, his men tasted and drank it before-hand. He went as far as to say that each time Abiola went to the toilet he was made aware of it and that nothing happened around Abiola or to him without his direct permission and the involvement of his most loyal men. After Abacha was murdered and Abdulsalami Abubakar became Head of State, Al Mustapha was still in charge of Abiola's security and he still maintained direct responsibility for his life, his well-being and his welfare right up until the minute that he was murdered.
When Mustapha appeared before the Oputa Panel he exposed the fact that in the entire period of four years that he and his team watched over Abiola it was only in the one hour that he was killed that they had no knowledge or control of what was happening to or around him. According to him, Abiola was removed from the guest house that he had been staying without his (Al Mustapha's) signature or knowledge and without anyone seeking his permission. Simply put he was kept in the dark about the whole thing. Secret orders were given to keep him out of the loop, to take Abiola to a destination which he knew nothing about and to ensure that none of the usual trusted food tasters and minders were with him. The only person that accompanied Abiola from the old guard of those that had watched over him for the previous four years was ASP Zadok and when they arrived at Aguda House (the venue of the meeting) he was conveniently sent on a meaningless errand by General Abdulsalami Abubakar's Chief Security Officer and told to leave. Hence for the first time in four years Abiola was left completely on his own and he was surrounded by a coterie of strange faces who had no genuine affection or empathy for him. He was with them for one hour and during that hour not one of those that had watched over him, that had secured his safety and that he had grown familiar with over the entire four year period of his incarceration was with him. It was during that ''missing hour'', when he was all alone and very vulnerable, that he was poisoned.
Sadly by the time Zadok, who was undoubtedly loyal to him, returned to the scene Abiola was already dying. The question is who gave the order for Abiola to be brought to that meeting? Why did they keep Al Mustapha in the dark about it? Why was Zadok sent to bring another vehicle that was obviously not needed? That one hour, and what transpired during it's course, holds the key to everything. It appears that Abiola was lured into a trap by a group of smiling strangers who did not wish him well and who had sinister plans for him. It was like leading a lamb to the slaughter.
Given these circumstances I have no doubt that this was a case of premeditated murder but the question is whose call was it and why did it have to happen? What was the motive? Was it done just to ''balance the equation'' as some said at the time or was it done in an attempt to pave the way for an Obasanjo Presidency one year later? Could General Olusegun Obasanjo have been released from jail and elected President if Abiola had lived and if he had insisted on claiming his mandate? The Nigerian people have a right to know the truth and it is about time that those that have wielded power in this country for the last few decades told them. The powers that be must appreciate the fact that they cannot sweep things under the carpet forever and that one day, no matter how long it takes, they will be held accountable by God and the Nigerian people for the morbid, secret and oftentimes homicidal choices and decisions that they made.
Yet the truth is that the military operates like a cult and we may never get an honest answer from any of them about what really happened. This is because there are very few Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar's in the Nigerian military. Very few of them are prepared to break ranks with the leadership and break the ''omerta'' code of silence like Abubakar Umar did over the June 12th election. Very few of them are prepared to call a spade a spade, speak the truth, expose the lie and damn the consequences. Most of them continue to spin the yarn and tell the lie that Abacha and Abiola's deaths were both from natural causes and that it was just a coincidence that one dropped dead on June 8th 1998, just 4 days before the 5th anniversary of June 12th, and the other droped dead exactly one month later on July 8th 1998. As they say ''the secrets are embedded in the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates'' and, in this case, the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates really do tell an interesting and revealing story.
Yet no matter how hard they try to cover her up and silence her, truth is stubborn and she cannot be drowned. She is like a pack of straws that are held together and pinned down by an all-powerful hand at the bottom of a river. As long as she is held at the bottom of that river she cannot be seen or heard. Yet one day, in the fullness of time, that all-powerful hand that seeks to supress her forever will get tired and let go and at that point Lady Truth will happily float to the top of the water where she will be seen and heard by all. It is in the same way that one day, in the fullness of time, the pernicious and perfidious verdict of "death by natural causes" or "act of God" that the powers that be have claimed are the causes of Abiola and Abacha's deaths respectively will be exposed for what they are.
The fact of the matter is that until these questions are answered and justice is done Nigeria will not know lasting peace and she cannot possibly achieve her fulll potentials. It is a spiritual thing. Abiola gave his life that we may have a better tomorrow yet we refuse to acknowledge it or to bring his killers to justice. We are repaying his good with evil and the consequences of that are set out in the Word of God. Whatever anyone may have thought of him as a person, the fact remains that had it not been for Abiola's sheer resilience, courage, steadfastness, sacrifice and gallant refusal to bow before the Nigerian military and give up his 1993 Presidential mandate we would not have democracy in Nigeria today. He was faithful to his cause to the very last. In return for that the least we could do is to ask the relevant questions, demand the appropiate answers and expose the bitter truth. We owe MKO Abiola, his wife Kudirat (who was also murdered) and all the other June 12th and NADECO footsoldiers and martyrs that much.
Femi Fani Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation
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