Air Force helicopter crashes in Lagos

A helicopter belonging to the Nigerian Air Force has crashed in Lagos.

Dele Alonge, Air Force spokesperson, in a statement said the helicopter was a on a training mission in Lagos at about 10 a. m. on Friday when it crashed.

He said the helicopter, which suffered severe damage, was returning to the Apron after the completion of the training exercise when it crashed due to hydraulic failure while on taxi to the hanger.

Mr. Alonge said there was no casualty although the main Rotor debris caused damage to some ground equipment on location.
He added that the Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosun, has ordered an immediate investigation into the crash.

Boko Haram Kills 20 In Borno

Suspected Boko Haram militants on Thursday killed at least 20 people in an attack on a remote village near Askira Uba, Borno State.

Survivors, according to an online news medium, Premium Times, said the insurgents stormed Dile village at 2 a.m. in several vehicles, burning houses and killing anybody in sight.

Ibrahim Usman, a resident who fled to Mubi, said 20 persons were feared killed in the village and many others sustained injuries during the attack.

“Dozens of Boko Haram fighters attacked our village at about 2a.m. and killed 20 people,” Usman said.

“Many of us fled to the bush to avoid being killed. Everybody was running for his life. We don’t know the whereabouts of our family members.”

He called on military authorities to deploy troops to the area to check the activities of the militants.

Another fleeing resident, Gambo Abakura, said: “They just started burning houses and shooting at sight. Most of the insurgents had turbaned their heads; others in quasi-military uniform, chanting Allahu Akbar, meaning Allah is Great,” he said.

Although attempt to speak to military authorities in Yola was not successful but a security source confirmed the attack.

”Yes, there was an attack because many residents had fled to Mubi and they told us the insurgents have several camps in the bush around the area from where they wreak havoc on villages,” said a local vigilante in Askira, Mallam Baba.

Igbo lost $7bn to Boko Haram insurgency –Ohakim

Former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim has disclosed that Igbo resident in the North lost about $7 billion to Boko Haram insurgency. He also said that since the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, assured Nigerians before his election that Boko Haram will be a thing of the past as soon as he is elected, he should keep to the promise.
Ohakim who spoke to Abuja Metro on behalf of the Igbo Conversational Group‎ (ICG), while congratulating Buhari said the group believes he has what it takes to live up to expectations in that regard so that Nd’Igbo can go back to their businesses in the affected areas even after the huge loses.

Jonathan is outstanding
The former governor who is the chief convener of the group alongside, ‎Nze Chidi Duru, ‎Bishop Blaise Iwuogo and ‎Chike Maduekwe, also commended President Goodluck Jonathan’s comportment and deep sense of accommodation. Nigerians will forever remember him for steadfastly upholding democratic ethics and allowing space for every player. President Jonathan came to power when the nation was in a big quagmire and it is to his credit that the country had a smooth transition following the sudden demise of his predecessor, the late President Umar Yar’Adua. We salute him for his courage in conceding defeat while asking that he should remain available for the country to tap from his experience,” he said.
Ohakim also urged the president-elect to keep to his promises he made through a delegation he sent to the conversational meeting in Enugu on March 21, led by Prof. Pat Utomi‎, including the creation of two additional states in the South East to correct the imbalance in the country.

You made a promise
Ohakim said this was one of Buhari’s campaign promises, and that ‎the president-elect had assured it will be one of his priorities as he intends to do everything constitutionally possible to lobby for the creation of new states.
“This issue was dealt with elaborately in the earlier statement by the ICG and needs no emphasis here. Happily, it is one of the issues the president-elect promised to look into during his campaigns”, he said.
Ohakim further explained that: “Agreed though that demands made at the eve of an election is a common trait among politicians, it needs no exaggeration to state that the president-elect is a politician of a rare mould. We have no doubt whatsoever that going by his antecedents, the president-elect was under no pressure in agreeing to look into the plight of the Igbo.  Needless to say, we firmly believe that he will live up to his promises and go ahead to offer the Igbo the needed leverage that will enable them fully tap their enormous individual and collective potentials, as canvassed by ICG in our previous statements.

Clear doubts
‎In spite of the imperatives and nuances of electoral contest, the ICG expects the president-elect to be magnanimous in victory. He should take immediate and practical steps to allay all the fears hitherto held about his personality and every claims of a fixated mind over some sections of the country. And because the entire country is his constituency today, no part should be seen as an underdog. Above all, he must consult deeply and widely and be a good listener.

Faulty second Niger Bridge
The Igbo, Ohakim said were against the present arrangement to prosecute the second Niger Bridge project on a private-public partnership (PPP) ‎by the federal government as it was against their interest.
“We urge the in-coming government to review this immediately,” he called. “The second Niger Bridge is the only project under the N400 billion national intervention project of 2005 that is handled as PPP arrangement. In the alternative, we demand that South East share of the intervention project be channeled to the development of the Osemoto seaport.
“We wish to seize this opportunity to restate our demand that the federal government should as a matter of urgency revitalize the proposed seaport in Osemoto, Imo State.
Osemoto (Oguta LGA, Imo State)/Uzoakwa (Ihiala LGA, Anambra State) is the deepest natural harbour in Nigeria and will offer real naval and marine transportation platforms if developed.
“Most interesting, the ADB report shows that it lies only 18 nautical miles to Atlantic Ocean and will be a strategic hub for oil and gas industry and inland dry docking to promote trade and create employment. Above all, it will open the Igbo land to the sea.
“In addition, it will open up more than 3,000 square kilometers of the most fertile agricultural land that has one of the highest alluvial deposits which has been in existence for well over a million years.
“The Osemoto deep sea port and all the associated industry will create well over two million jobs for our teeming unemployed youths”, he said.

Aba power project
The ICG also made case for the Aba Integrated Power Project, and according to the former Imo State governor, “‎in 2005, the federal government under President Olusegun Obasanjo concessioned the Aba metropolis to the investors of a 141MW plant in Aba as a security for financing the project. The then President convinced many Igbo investors who rushed and set up various plants/factories on the understanding that this power plant will see the light of the day.
“The plant was completed by M/S Geometric Consortium with state-of-the-art equipment from General Electric (GE) with an investment of over N100b since 15 months ago.
Unfortunately, M/S BPE went ahead to double concession the same zone. The plant cannot take off. The investors are crying, unemployed youths are crying, Igbo are crying. This conspiracy and injustice must be addressed by the in-coming administration as soon as possible”.

Abandoned property in Rivers State
The group also complained bitterly over the 85 percent of property belonging to Igbo in Rivers State that have been classified as abandoned 45 years after the civil war, asking the new government to address it.
“The Igbo demands that the incoming administration should look into this matter as a top priority and bring to a closure this festering wound which remains an embarrassment to Nigeria. Under no circumstance should it be acceptable that the property of a Nigerian citizen is tagged abandoned in any part of the federation. The ICG calls on the in-coming federal government to review this injustice as a matter of urgency”, he said.

South East federal roads
He also said: “The ICG demands that in addition to the immediate rehabilitation of all federal roads in the Southeast with high economic value, we would like the Buhari administration to complete the Otuocha-Mmiata-Kogi Road. This road is less than 150km and will knock off about three hours from every journey from the South East to Abuja. This road was awarded to Nigercat in 2009 under President Umar Yar’Adua administration but curiously the federal government has not shown any interest in completing this project of high economic value to Nd’Igbo.”
On the fate of the Igbo in the new dispensation, Ohakim said, “‎the outcome of the 2015 presidential election has introduced a new vista to Igbo politics. Without any exaggerations, Ndigbo stand to benefit immensely from the change that has just taken place, in the sense that the new era will re-define Igbo politics more positively.
“Presidential power may become less accessible to Ndi Igbo but the current state of affairs offers an opportunity for a new and purposeful leadership to emerge in Igbo land.
“This new leadership must be people who will have the guts and intellectual capacity to become a credible opposition to the new dispensation if need be. In the new dispensation, politics of money and contract will have no place and in this regard, ICG is of the firm belief that the Igbo will be the biggest beneficiaries.
“Consequently, the ICG calls on Igbo youth to see the opportunity offered by the current development in the country to be more proactive and begin to think of ways of ridding Igbo land of the near zero intellectual content in its politics. Igbo youths should seize the present opportunity to come to the fore front on the fight against injustice to the Igbo.

April 11: Vote for APC, Nkire urges Igbo in Lagos

Former National Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), and now member of the Board of Trustees (BoT), of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Sam Nkire, has urged Igbo in Lagos to vote for the APC and all its candidates in Lagos State on Saturday.
Nkire, in a telephone conversation with Daily Sun correspondent yesterday advised his kinsmen in Lagos State to vote the party, pointing out that, “that is where the political trend is going now in Nigeria,” adding that, “without mincing words, that is where our benefits are.”
The APC BoT member, who recalled that, “we Igbo are itinerary businessmen and women,” said, “and thus, we should seek peace with our host communities” advising that, “we should always play their politics because it would benefit us at the end of the day.”
While opposing the idea of imposing particular political parties on anybody, Nkire said: “As a democrat myself, I know that democracy is a matter of choice.” He, however, urged the Igbo community across the nation and even abroad to “always exercise good judgement to be part of the community where they live.”
Speaking further, the APC chieftain stated the need to be friendly with and not to be hostile to the host communities where the Igbo find themselves just as he advised host communities to integrate their fellow Nigerians from other parts of the country especially from the eastern part of the country, whom he said were travelers in search of good things of life through legitimate means.
“Igbo in Lagos are part of Lagos and should play Lagos politics. It is not advisable to do anything that could aggravate our insecurity. And the host community should see them as part of that community and therefore, accommodate and integrate them by giving them slots in political offices like local government chairmanship, House of Assembly, both at the state and national levels as well as commissionership slots,” Nkire advised.
According to him, Igbo community in Lagos has a huge population that could not be ignored and would always want to utilise their population to seek for political relevance but advised that, “Igbo should not join the wrong team because today, Nigeria is going the way of the APC and Igbo community should join the winning team.”
The APC BoT member regretted that wrong politicking had robbed the Igbo Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives, by putting all their eggs in a wrong basket, enthusing however that, “we still have time to amend by joining the main stream politics in Nigeria.”
His words: “Buhari is going to reposition the country and we should be part of it. Why should we be part of the fading Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? In the next four years, if Buhari does well, I am afraid if the Igbo would not be held responsible for being part of the rot and bad deeds of the past 16 years. As a member of the APC’s BoT, and one of you, I cannot misadvise you,” Nkire submitted.

Messages of hope from blind JAMB candidates -photo-

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) seems to be one  of the many innovative agencies in Nigeria considering their tendency to adapt technologies to their oeprations.
This year, it conducted a full computer-based tests for all its candidates.
Moreover, it took more steps to procure machines and equipment to enable disabled candidates, especially the visually challenged ones to be part of the test.
During the last JAMB examination, Abuja Metro at the Chams Centre  had a wonderful interaction with some visually-impairedcandidates as they took their exams with brail computers fitted with hearing aids to read the exam questions to them.
They all admitted it was a sweet and wonderful experience that has become a boost to their ambitions.
The candidates said the Computer Based Test (CBT) that held last month touched their lives in special ways and made them feel important, remembered and part of the system that encourages them realize their potential in education and career development.

Friendly machines
The Braillenote Apex did play its role in accommodating the visually impaired and gave all candidates equal chances in the exam regardless of their challenges. The Braillenote Apex was acquired from a software giant, Humanware based in Europe. It enabled the visually impaired candidates to read and answer questions via voice or Braille.
At the centre, Abuja Metro discovered that the special candidates were properly taught while preparing for the CBT test how to make best use of the gadgets. The exam environment was very conducive. The paraphenalia consisted of a round table with eight or five candidates with just two sessions. They were provided with refreshment because of the long five hours their exams lasted. They all confirmed using the Braillenote Apex for the first time and tagged it easy or interesting. Prior to the time of JAMB Computer Based Test, such candidates used typewriters to write exams that came with a lot of mistakes.
Even the Minister for Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, who was quite impressed, pointed out that the BrailleNote Apex provided by JAMB for the 150 visually impaired candidates taking the exams was first of its kind in Africa and encouraged the special candidates on his visit to a center in Abuja that the ministry is out to assist them actualize their dreams. “We are catching up with modalities; we are catching up with technology particularly in enabling the blind candidates. It is the first of its kind in the continent.”
One of the visually impaired candidates, referred to as Pastor Lucky who attended the Government Secondary School Gwale felt excited about the experience and said he is hopeful of attaining his ambition to study law wants to study law in the university. “I find it very much interesting and I cherish the experience. It is encouraging and I must say the government has demonstrated that it really has the challenged persons in mind by putting up the facilities for the examination.
“Initially, when we were told this year’s exam will be computer based, I was worried about what will become of the visually impaired, but surprisingly, we were made to understand that there is provision for us. I say kudos to the government and more power to their elbow. They should do more so we can catch up with the modern world and even set the trend.”
Another candidate, Kingsley Uche, of Naka Memorial School in Platuea State, described the procedure for the examination as simple. He said “if you know how to use the facilities, it is very simple because you don’t have to worry if your type writer ink is coming up well or not, you just have to do the thing without stress. It is better.
“I must appreciate the government for making this possible, this is how great Nigeria starts. I also commend JAMB for this wonderful effort. It is an ideology that cannot be joked with. No one would have any problem with loss of papers after the exams, thereby stopping the person’s admission.  I will see my result the next day unlike the typewritten exam where we have to wait for months.”

Improved facility
Talking about the efficiency of the BrailleNote Apex over the typewriter, Pastor Lucky said: “It is better than the typewriting because with this I will make my corrections whenever I make mistake. But with the typewriter, once you make a mistake, it remains. It can’t be corrected. But here you can easily, go back and correct it. I think it will be great if the facility is provided in the universities.”
He explained some shortcomings in the equipment and said they have brought such complaints to the notice of the examiners and wished they were corrected for future tests.
“There are some corrections that ought to be made. In English language for instance, there should be a way the computer would help visually impaired candidates to detect phonetic  symbols or fill gaps on dotted lines.”
Kingsley Uche on his part said: “Rome was not built in a day, JAMB has tried their best and I believe tomorrow, more will be done. But to me this is the best, and I know more can come as innovation keeps coming. I appreciate JAMB for this opportunity.”
Kingsley Uche is a young man who boils with passion for law and wishes to help victimized people in the future. He said: “By the special grace of God I want to study law because the passion has been there since my childhood, I want to speak for the less privileged, talk on behalf of the widows, oppressed, depressed and suppressed. The people are suffering, and I am a victim of one or two things but I don’t want to go into that. So, I don’t want people to face it anymore, I want the upcoming generation to have a voice.”
While these special candidates expressed gratitude to the government and JAMB, they hope that using the computer will not just end at the JAMB level, but extended to the universities and possibly that the BrailleNote Apex computer can be affordable to the candidates for personal use.

Magic machine
According to expert information, personal Braille Note Apex has the thinnest and lightest Braille note taker, soft key applications for dynamic real-time communications, enhanced support for large documents and media files, plug-and-play visual display, convenient user-replaceable battery. It also possesses integrated real-time clock that maintains time and date for 30 days without battery power.
The comfortable full-size Braille keyboard makes note taking quick and easy. Signature thumb keys make extensive reading a real pleasure and effortless. The BrailleNote Apex offers outstanding stereo sound capabilities for playing back recordings, listening to audio books, interviews, news, music or any Internet radio programs.

Presidential poll: OMPALAN greets Buhari, hails Jonathan

National leader and chairman, BoT of Oil Mineral Producing Areas Landlords’ Association of Nigeria (OMPALAN), Bishop Udo Azogu, has congratulated General Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the victory at the presidential election. He also hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for his statesmanship in conceding defeat.
He said Jonathan’s “show of robust statesmanship has worn the hearts of Nigerians and has written his name indelibly in gold on the sands of time, setting a bench mark for future presidents of Nigeria and indeed Africa.”
Speaking at his Oguta country home, Imo State, Azogu said “Buhari’s victory is as a result of divine intervention. Nigerians have spoken, and we must all respect the verdict of the plurality of Nigerians through a valid democratic process.”
He praised the INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, and his team for being focused and delivering credible elections “even though they did not come without perceived challenges in some areas of the country.” He thanked the international community especially the United States, Britain, ECOWAS and the AU for ensuring that the elections went smoothly.
The OMPALAN national leader and Primate of Our Sanctuary Gospel Church, advised Buhari “to forgive all those who offended him and pursue policies that will unite the Country and deepen good governance in all facets of the economy.”
Azogu called on all Imolites to return Governor Rochas Okorocha to power on April 11, describing Okorocha as “a gift not only to Igbo land but, to Nigeria. His decision in pulling out from APGA and aligning with APC at the nascent stage of the formation of the mega party has revealed an uncommon political sagacity that projects the governor as the acclaimed leader of the Igbo race.
“Let us not pretend that all is well like the proverbial ostrich, Azogu. All is not well with the Igbo race in the new opposition party. Rochas is the anointed leader of the Igbo people who is destined to lead us to the Promised Land.
“I wish to appeal to the good people of South East to realign with the new government at the centre and vote massively for APC in the forthcoming gubernatorial and house of assembly elections. Not doing so will be a deliberate ploy by selfish politicians to plunge South East into perpetual spiritual and physical thralldom.

Presidential election made Jonathan hero

Sometime last year, President Goodluck Jonathan gave  a verdict on himself and his administration . He declared  that, though his government had acquitted itself on several fronts, he, ironically, had received a barrage of  tackles and criticisms  far more than his predecessors .
Like a prophet, he  predicted that before he would leave office, he would  become the most celebrated President.
Many people brushed aside the prediction. They wondered what kind of miracle the President would perform in office that would transform him overnight. But Jonathan’s prediction came to pass last week, barely two months to the May 29 expiration of his tenure.
It is no longer news that his ambition to lead the country for another term of four years was aborted last week when he lost the 2015 presidential polls to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
But the President turned his loss into a blessing of sort following his decision to concede defeat and congratulate Buhari long before the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega,  finished announcing the results of the polls. The move took Nigerians and the international community by surprise.
The global reaction is understandable. The President’s  telephone conversation with Buhari, his critics and supporters would agree, helped to reduce if not erase the palpable tension that had engulfed the country . More surprisingly is the fact that that those who had  been shouting “crucify him,” at President  Jonathan quickly made a u-turn and hailed him  as the true hero of democracy.
An elated Chairman of the National Peace Committee on 2015 Elections, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar,  at the end of the closed-door meeting with President Jonathan, described the President as a man of his word . The President, had prior and during the election maintained   that no blood of any Nigerian was worth his ambition.
The former Head of State noted that Jonathan would go down in history as the first contestant in Nigeria to congratulate his rival on real using that he lost the election. Abubakar urged  all Nigerians including those celebrating and sorrowing to join hands with the President to peacefully handover to the next government.
Abubakar said, “We were at the middle of a meeting with the international observers to try to see how we can still water the tension down, when gladly I called Gen. Buhari that we are going to see him, he told me that Mr. President has called him at about 5:15 p.m. and congratulated him and conceded defeat.
“We were spellbound and the reason we have come here is to thank President Jonathan for this statesmanship. In the history of Nigeria I think this is the first time where a contestant has called his rival to congratulate him and through this point, President Jonathan maintained a point that the blood of Nigerians is not worth his presidency and by his action he has proved that. He has proved that he is a man of his word‎ because during our interaction on this peace committee he has always maintained that he is going to accept the result of the elections which ever way it is done. And he has proved this.
“And I think we need Nigerians, all of us to join hands in making sure we assist him in the peaceful handing over. And I will appeal to all politicians, ‎those who are celebrating and those who are sorrowful to give peace a chance to be moderate. In any contest, there is always going to be a winner and President Jonathan has accepted that he lost and we want to thank him.
“On behalf of Nigerians I want to thank President Jonathan for being the statesman that he is, he has approved that he is a statesman and he has the love of this country in his heart. So Nigerians should please help him to ensure this is real.”
The APC which before now never had anything good to say about the President, showered praises on him for conceding defeat and congratulating Gen. Buhari, even before he was formally declared as the winner of the presidential election, by INEC. The opposition party described the President’s action as a rare display of maturity and sportsmanship.‎
Buhari on his part congratulated President  Jonathan for peacefully relinquishing power on Wednesday, a day after becoming the first Nigerian politician to unseat a sitting leader at the ballot box.
The President-elect said “President Jonathan was a worthy opponent and I extend the hand of fellowship to him. We have proven to the world that we are people who have embraced democracy. We have put one-party state behind us.”
The deluge of commendation and praises that came to Jonathan were not restricted to the shores of the country alone. The US President Barack Obama, hailed the President a day after the election was formally announced by INEC.
Obama insisted that Jonathan’s action showed “Nigeria’s commitment to democratic principles.”
He  said in a White House statement, “President Jonathan has placed his country’s interests first by conceding the election and congratulating president-elect (Muhammadu) Buhari on his victory. I look forward to working with President Jonathan throughout the remainder of his term, and I thank him for his many years of service and his statesmanlike conduct at this critical juncture.”
Elated by the public’s appreciation of his sacrifice Jonathan, who ,some have  described as the best youth president, posted  text of his broadcast to the nation, following INEC’s confirmation of Gen. Buhari victory at the polls on his facebook page.
Not even when former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, was quoted as saying “I Want To Thank President Goodluck Jonathan‎ For Bringing Facebook To Nigeria” at Jonathan’s ‘Facebook’ book launch  held on Monday December 20, 2010 at Eko Hotel, Lagos, did it generate so much comments.
As at the time Abuja metro visited his page at 5.43 p.m. Saturday his posts had generated 67,222 likes and 38,718 comments.
Many of the comments saluted President  Jonathan, for being statesmanly and making history as  the first ever president to concede defeat at a  presidential election, describing him as a rare gem.