Abdulmutallab shows no sign of remorse as he gets life sentence.

The Nigerian “underwear bomber” who triedto blow up a packed airliner on Christmas Day 2009 must spend the rest of his life behind bars, a US judge ruled Thursday.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 25, pleaded guilty in October to eight charges, including the attempted murder of 289 people on board Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

Boko Haram:SSS declares ex-soldier wanted.

Following intensive interrogation of the captured spokesperson of the Boko Haram sect, Abul Qaqa, the State Security Services, SSS, has declared another member of the sect, an ex-soldier, Habibu Bama wanted.

Prof. Omo Omoruyi would have been killed like kudirat (part 2)....Interview.

Cont'd......

Annulment of June 12 deprived Maryam of winning Nobel Prize.

And let me tell you if Abiola had become the President,MaryamBabangida would have won the Nobel Prize because for the first time, that Kenyan woman Wangari Maathai who got the prize and Mrs Babangida were two popular women who were pioneering women development in this country.Maryam was pioneering Better Life for Rural Women.It was unique.And the Kenyan woman was pioneering their forestation.Abiola helped Mrs Babangida a lot inpursuing that agenda worldwide. There were two things MKO pursued and if he had become President,he would have made this country proud. One of the things MKO would have pursued to the end was reparation. Abiola also pursued Maryam'sagenda. MKO gave money to pursue the concept of reparation. And I remember attending a conference on reparation in the US . He wanted the whites to return all our stolen artifacts.Babangida was very proud of the reparation thing and he carried it to the OAU. I am sure that thing is dead today
which is sad also. So the annulment ofJune 12, killed these two items unfortunately.Mrs Babangida would have won the Prize if Babangida had not annulled the June 12 election.We will think that it was Abiola who lost, but that is not true.We all lost. I was very close to Abiola. We were together at the Constituent Assembly in 1977 and I warned him that the people he was going out with will not make him President. He said no it cannot be.But I said to him,good luck. When he joined the SDP, fortunately or unfortunately,I told him there was vacancy in Aso. What does that mean, that Babangida was ready to go. Maybe I was wrong.The way the man ended still haunts me. When I sat on my bed and remember him, I regretted asking him to run for the election.In 1994, he visited me at my hospital bed, he was a good man.May his soul and that of Kudirat rest in peace.

IBB's decision to retire from politics.

I managed his exit twice, 1993 and 1996. In 1996I went to him, to tell him that Gen.Obasanjo was tricking him.
But it took him time to believe me.When he finally believed me, I said go to him and find out. I managed his exit but that time people around him were saying why must he get out. And I am glad he got out because Obasanjo would have humiliated him. And I was not happy when he was involved in this zoning thing because I know he does not believe in that.If you read the speech IBB delivered in 1988 at the constituent Assembly, which I drew up for him, we rejected zoning, we rejected religion ,we rejected many of these things. So when he started the zoning thing, I said may be he has found new consultants. So,saying he is quitting politics today is not a big deal. He should have quit since,even before Jonathan'selection and support Jonathan who is from the minority.

Boko Haram

It raises fundamental question whether this country can continue as one. I have said it long ago that this country cannot continue as one under the present arrangement.Some people said I am trying to disintegrate the country, I said no that is
not the issue. What ever the Boko Haram are preaching should be obvious to all of us now. I don't blame Jonathan because he does not have an answer, which is unfortunate.Look at what happened to us now at African Union. He was to be made the President of the AU but because the home is not in order they gave it to Boni Yayi of Republic of Benin . So that is the kind of problem we are having today because the home is not inorder. I have said it over and over if you read the tale of June 12, that we can only bring about peace through a fundamental restructuring of this country.At one time I said there are two questions,how Nigerians can live together and how Nigeria can be governed.Those two issues have not been addressed.Nigerians cannot live together under the present arrangement.Don't let us deceive ourselves. Whatever Boko Haram preaches and response from government,they are all in error.

Prof. Omo Omoruyi would have been killed like kudirat (part 1)....Interview.

An interview with the former director general of centre of democratic studies (CDS) Prof. Omo Omoruyi.

How would you react to the death sentence passed on Maj.Hamza Mustapha by the court?

Honestly, this whole thing is making me remember a lot and it is making me sad. Many of our love ones have been wasted in this country and yet we have not changed as a nation. The death of Kudirat Abiola reminds me of what I passed through when I was shot February 3, 1994.We were not surprised because at that time, you will recall the Abacha period, many people were being killed and some of us were lucky that we survived.So a day before she was killed,she called me just as the husband also spoke to me a night before he was arrested. I am very close to them and I know how committed she was to the June 12, and the actualization ofher husband'smandate but unfortunately,Nigeria was not prepared to fight for democracy and that was how she died. It remains one of the many sore issues in this country which we never
really appreciated.To me, just as I felt it when she was killed, so also I felt when the husband died because the death of her husband was really possible because of the annulment of June 12. Their death was only possible because of the death of June 12. So when I left this country, I left with only one suitcase and all I had in it was about three shirts and two trousers. I wept when she died.And when one started reading about Mustapha and so on, and how it dragged on for too long, it is sad.If you read some of my writings,you will read when Gen.Useni asked me to go and meet Mustapha, and that Mustapha will take me to Abacha. I spent three nights in Lagos. He spoketo me but I could not see Abacha.I came to Benin and of course, I met my waterloo in Benin . I was shot. And I ask somebody to go to the police stations in Benin City and find out how far about my incident. He said yes the police knew about it but they have removed all the files that have to do with my case. And yet, the Commissioner of Police came
with Ogbemudia to see me in the hospital.And the man said Prof., don't you know that they after you? But before then, they have served us a notice that they will close my mouth if I won't stop talking. So when I remember February 3, 1994 when I was shot and I am still carrying eight pellets in my lower hip today, I don't have to be reminded that I could also have died. When you read one article titled "When Violence Buffets a Nation", you will see my name on the list ofthose who survived the Abacha era. You will also see the list of those who were killed. I am still carrying eight pellets in my lower hip.So one went through all these,then now came another one called cancer. Asa matter of fact,it was after Rewane's death that Baba Enahoro fled. He left because he knew they were going to go after him. I left the country immediately I came back from London . I managed to come to UNIBEN to enable me seek for a place in America. They said I opened my big mouth then and Abacha'speople went to attack
UNIBEN authority.Then, why did they allow me to flee the country?The VC then told them that I went on leave. So due to the pressure, he decided to cancel my leave and said that I should pack out of the office within 24 hours but I was already in the United States. My lawyer Barr.Omonuwa has to go, change the door, the keys, took out my books and gave the book to the University of Benin.Up till date,UNIBEN has not acknowledged that library which I gave to them.And then the Minister of Education, my friend Prof.Tunde Adeniran was the one who reinstated me in UNIBEN because before then, my file had disappeared from the university.Prof.Adeniran now came and said no, it will be wrong not to reinstate me after I served the school for years. That was how they reinstated me and granted me my leave and my pension.When one looked at all that and you look at the long list of those who died, then you begin to wonder, nothing has changed as far I am concerned in this country. And Kudi's children are about six or seven and
with the help of the international community, we took them to the US . The eldest of them Hamzat worked so hard to raise the siblings..........to be cont'd.

Just click on the part 2...

A curious escape.

THESE are
desperate times
for the Jonathan
Administration
and the
government
might do worse
than seeking
desperate
solutions.
Although the
streets might be
free of
protesting
Nigerians, the
smoke from the
bonfires made by
them to register
their opposition
to the careless
increase in the
pump price of
petrol is nowhere
near being
cleared.
Indeed, Abuja
has had to resort
to a heavy-
handed approach
to keep things
from keeling
over. The streets
of Lagos are still
being kept by
soldiers and the
State
government and
the opposition
Action Congress
of Nigeria are
crying
themselves
hoarse
demanding that
the soldiers be
returned to their
barracks.
For the first time
since he became
president,
Goodluck
Jonathan is
baring his fang to
show he could
bite if he has to.
Except that he
might have
chosen the
wrong people to
bite now. It’s all
part of the
desperation that
a desperate
government has
to take to assure
itself it is still in
control.
Perhaps, the
government has
little choice in the
matter given the
security situation
in the country in
which Boko
Haram has no
doubt made
nonsense of our
security agencies.
The murderous
group has been
going about its
business, daring
the government
to stop it if it
could. Its
members are
always more
than a step
ahead of the
security
agencies, striking
with deadly
accuracy and
without
restraint. They
practically
advertise their
agenda and go
ahead to carry
them out as
planned.
In spite of police
claims to be atop
of the security
situation, Boko
Haram continues
to prove that
they could do
exactly as they
please. They kill
at random and
without any
motive beyond
inhuman
bloodlust. They
made the last
Christmas a
harvest of
deaths for many
Nigerians
especially
worshippers at
St. Theresa’s
Catholic Church in
Madalla, Suleija.
It was a
mindless
slaughter on one
of the holiest
days on the
Christian
calendar. They’ve
since harvested
more deaths and
are promising
more. And in
utter
helplessness
President
Jonathan cried
out that the
group has all but
taken over his
government. But
just when it
looked like the
drowsy police
hierarchy was
waking from its
slumber and
getting close to
unravelling the
people behind the
Madalla
massacre, up
came the curious
escape of their
prime suspect,
Kabiru Sokoto,
pouring cold
water over the
entire
investigation.
The escape of
Kabiru Sokoto is
proof of no other
that Boko Haram
enjoys the
sympathies of
people high in the
society. Quite
frankly such
support is not
limited to Boko
Haram but
available to
anyone or group
ready to lend
themselves to
any desperate
measures.
We cannot forget
too soon the
vow by some to
make the
country
ungovernable for
this president
after he won the
last election
despite
attempts by
those who
thought power
ought to have
remained in the
North following
the death of
President Umar
Yar’Adua. They
found a leader
who failed to
assert himself at
the very moment
he ought to have
done so; he
allowed some
cowards to
resuscitate a
finished group
that is now bent
on dragging the
country down
the slippery slope
of an ethnic or
religious war,
whichever could
happen first.
The entire secret
of the apparent
invincibility of
Boko Haram is
now out in the
open. I have said
it now and again
here that the
group has been
lionised
unnecessarily;
attributed
powers it does
not possess. It’s
impossible that a
so-called group of
illiterate zealots
would possess
the increasingly
sophisticated
means that Boko
Haram employs
without the
strong support
of influential
people.
One moment the
group is killing in
different parts
of the North-
East and the
next it has
moved its
operational base
to Kaduna and
then Abuja
where it bombed
the central
establishment of
Nigeria’s security,
nearly taking out
the IG, Hafiz
Ringim himself.
Sending out
messages on the
internet and
detonating
bombs, products
of so-called
Western
education it
loathes, like a
child who has
just found a
priced means of
diversion, Boko
Haram members
go about their
kind of business
under the nose
of our security
agencies.
Surely, the
incompetent
handling of the
investigation
that led to the
escape of Kabiru
Sokoto was
contrived. Even
reports indicating
he might have
been arrested, in
the first
instance, in a
facility of the
Borno State
government are
pointers to the
link of the
suspect and the
group he
represents to
influential
members of
society.
Sokoto’s Houdini-
like escape, with
handcuffs and all,
was a planned
work to cover
the trail of those
sponsoring Boko
Haram.
Demanding
explanation from
Hafiz Ringim and
suspending
Zakari Biu, Police
Commissioner in
charge of
Investigation
whose past
history and role
during the
Abacha regime
ought to have
disqualified him
from such
responsibility if
not the Police
Force, may be
necessary step.
But that is not
far enough. Abuja
has to dig deep
and should follow
this trail further.
It sure leads to
more preys.
The calibre of
people that have
been linked with
Boko Haram,
politicians and
security
personnel, says
something of
how connected
some Nigerian
leaders are to
the group. Even
those that have
been arrested
and pencilled for
investigation
have all been
granted some
form of bail or
another. It’s only
here that
terrorists are
granted bail and
made to visit
their homes
during a search.
My conclusion to
last week’s
column in which I
provided reason
for the Jonathan
administration’s
failure to take on
the so-called
cabal in the oil
sector seems
appropriate to
end this piece
and I quote it
here at some
length:
This government
plays too much
of the ostrich.
What it needs to
do is take on the
cabal that
continues to
make nonsense
of attempts to
make Nigerians
enjoy better life.
Expose the cabal
and let Nigerians
see those behind
their misery.
But we all know
things would
never come to
that level for the
very people
responsible for
the criminal
fleecing of Nigeria
are the same
ones sponsoring
candidates into
our legislative
and executive
arms of
government.
They are the big
financiers of
presidential and
gubernatorial
campaigns and
donate the
largest sums
during political
events.
They dictate
who become our
security chiefs
and heads of our
financial sectors.
How can a
commissioner of
police arrest
some goon in the
pay of the
moneybag who
sponsored his
appointment as
the head of
police? To cross
them is to incur
the wrath of the
devil himself.
And it is in this
sense that we
must understand
the cry by
Jonathan which
amounts to
abdication really
that his
government is
under the control
of Boko Haram.
Since he can’t
fight his
tormentors, the
president has
chosen to turn
his fear on
Nigerians. But as
I once warned
here, nobody
wins a war
against their own
people.