Boko Haram Attacks

More Attacks

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN When this radical Islamist sect nicknamed BOKO HARAM started their jihadist war some years ago, people thought it was a phase that would soon pass like the other sects that had reigned before them. What they did not know was that foreign sponsors are backing this particular sect and some highly placed Northerners are backing them too. I mean how do you explain where a leader of the Sect was arrested and the security agencies ie the police just allowed the man to 'escape'? ESCAPE Or they just opened their door and asked him to GO? Now the Leader of the Boko Haram Sect escaped and two days after, ther was this well cordinated attacks that left at least 143 people dead in Kano. The figure though not confirmed by our Government was given by an official in the Government hospitals that the corpse dead were deposited. The official said that the figure represented those in the mortuary as well as those whose bodies have already been claimed by families for burial. Unfortunately, our people will now come up with wrong figures because we dont even have correct census of people or statistics. Well Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the attacks that started Friday after their Jummai prayers. Soldiers and police officers have been guarding strategic places and areas in the city since last year. How come they were not able to stop the carnage and wanton destruction? We are talking about the bombing of Police Stations? What it means is that our Security Agencies are not effective and their usefulness remains a question to be answered by Government. I mean the armed personnels were the targets for daring to arrest their Sect leader as unfortunately, the uniformed bodies of many of their colleagues lay in the overflowing mortuary of Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano. An eye witness account stated this

There were bombs and then gunmen were attacking police and police came back with attacks

, In a statement issued late Friday, the Police spokesman, Olusola Amore said attackers targeted five police buildings, two immigration offices and the Zonal headquarters of the State Security Service, Nigeria's secret police. He did not confirm how many of their men were killed or injured.

Nwakpa O. Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said volunteers offered first aid to the wounded, and evacuated those seriously injured to the hospitals. He said officials continued to collect corpses scattered around sites of the attacks. A survey of two hospitals by their organisation showed at least 50 people were injured in Friday's attacks.

The State Government to avert more killings and bombing declared a 24-hour curfew late Friday. Residents and visitors meanwhile are hiding inside their homes amid the fighting. A Boko Haram spokesman claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message to journalists. He said the attack came as the state government refused to release Boko Haram members held by the police. The sponsors of Boko Haram must be very rich and influential. This kind of cordinated and daring attacks carried out with increasingly sophisticated weapons and ammunition must be costing a fortune. Its only the Politicians and the Oil cartels that have that kind of money and connections. These attacks are becoming bloody and spreading from Maiduguri to Niger State, Kaduna and now Kano. When will the Federal Government wake up to put a stop to this senseless killing and destruction of properties? Nigeria cannot implement strict Shariah laws as this is a SECULAR Nation. Can someone please tell the Boko Haram people pls.

OCCUPY NIGERIA

DAY 5 The strike continues today, day 5. So many stories are making the rounds about the cabal and cartel benefitting from the subsidy. Today there is a broadcast that the current Minister of Petroleum and her brother are milking us dry so who do we believe? I think if you are sick of exploitation and being taken advantage of, then you have to stop putting up with it and demand better.

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN Bowing his head down from carrying so much. How do you confront powerful people who have held the Nation hostage even before you ever thought of contesting for any electoral position?

DR, NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA The Minister of FINANCE

MALAM SANUSI LAMIDO SANUSI GOVERNOR OF CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA

The President and other members of the Economic team who met and came up with the new policy to remove the Oil Subsidy and put the money into developing infrastructure in the Country.

Mrs. DEZIANI ALLISON-MADUEKE Miister of Petroleum Resources

Mr. ONIWON Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation. The subsidy removed from kerosine and diesel, what have they done with it? Nigerians have not seen the benefits of the former subsidy removal so this time around, they protested. The protest is to demand for dividends of democracy and the reinstatement of the Oil subsidy. But shutting down the economy for a week? This is too much. I actually feel for the masses who are daily income earners.

Fuel Subsidy and corruption in Nigeria

Lately we have had so many stories around the CABAL exploiting Nigerians and benefiting from the subsidy paid by the Federal Government to Oil Marketers. The whole issue borders on Corruption especially from NNPC. Recently Dr. Levi Ajuonoma, their spoke person resigned claiming that the level of corruption and intriques in the Corporation is the worst he has ever seen. In the Nigerian Business News as posted below, we will see how one of them exposed some of these actrocities committed against Nigeria and Nigerians. Read and make your comments.

International Fuel Trade “Mafias” Behind failure of Refineries – Femi Otedola January 12, 2012 at 8:29 am by Afolabi Ogunde Tags: femi otedola, fuel subsidy, sahara energy, trafigura, vitola According to leaked United States diplomatic cables, the fraud associated with the cabal that has brought Nigeria’s fuel subsidy system to its knees has been ongoing for close to a decade and has remained virtually unchecked. The US cable coded 04LAGOS767 was created on the 8th of April 2004 and refers to discussions on April 2nd, 2004, between the then Chairman and Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Corporation of Nigeria (SPDC), Mr. Chris Finlayson and the then US consul general. Finlayson of Shell had told the US envoy that a scandal was imminent in the NNPC due to overpayments made by Nigeria’s apex oil body to international fuel marketers as a result of falsification of shipping documents on the part of the fuel marketers. He disclosed that the unscrupulous marketers had been amending the dates fuel shipments were loaded in order to “take advantage of particularly high market prices”. This was due to the NNPC’s contractual obligation pay marketers the market price of the refined cargoes on the day the cargoes were loaded. The US cable also highlights discussions on April 6th, 2004 with Femi Otedola, described as “President and CEO of Zenon Petroleum and Gas, the largest supplier of diesel fuel in Nigeria.” The cable states that Mr. Otedola “essentially corroborated” what Finlayson of SPDC had earlier revealed to the US consul general. The cable reveals, “Otedola said over $300 million has been overpaid by NNPC for fuel imports, and that many leading international traders are involved. According to Otedola, NNPC contracts to pay its suppliers the market price on the day a ship is loaded with fuel. He said NNPC recently discovered, however, that bills of lading were altered to reflect loading on days of high market prices. Discrepancies were found when comparing dates on the bills of lading with dates of landing in Lagos.” NNPC Headqaurters, Abuja...where many of these over-payments were approved The cable goes on, “Pointing to examples, Otedola said that while a tanker loading fuel at a refinery in Bahrain usually takes four weeks to arrive in Lagos, comparisons between the bills of lading and dates of arrival of some shipments reflected only a four-day difference, and in other cases, if taken at face value, indicated the journey took nine months. Otedola said 73 shipments from refineries in the Persian Gulf, England, and Venezuela listed delivery times of only one day. NNPC is attempting to get compensation for the over-charge. Otedola went on that most of the fuel traders supplying Nigeria are implicated in over-charging NNPC, and showed a list of 17 companies that supplied fuel in the first quarter of 2004, several of which, he said, are significant players in international markets, such as Trafigura and Vitol. Otedola added that three companies clearly not involved in the scandal are British Petroleum, ChevronTexaco and Shell.” “Otedola recommended that NNPC stop contracting with international fuel traders and negotiate purchases directly from refineries worldwide. According to him, such a move would have two positive effects. Otedola calculates that NNPC would save some four billion dollars a year in expenditures on imported fuel. (Note: Prior to deregulation in October 2003, NNPC, then the sole importer of fuel, lost two billion dollars per year because it sold stock to retailers below purchase price. After October 2003, NNPC initially stopped subsidizing fuel sales, letting marketers import fuel to be sold at market prices. However, sources agree that NNPC is back in the business of subsidizing gasoline sales while it maintains a facade of deregulation by encouraging private marketers to import fuel that NNPC purchases at market price. NNPC then sells the fuel to marketers and retailers at a reduced price to ensure that those companies maintain a profit margin while holding consumer prices to informal caps set by the Department of Petroleum Resources.” “Otedola added that by cutting out the international traders, NNPC would also enhance the environment in which Nigeria’s refineries could be restored and operated. Otedola said he believes international fuel trade “mafias” are behind the failure to bring Nigeria’s refineries back on-line and to capacity. Otedola is convinced these traders arrange for the vandalization of crude oil feeder pipelines, which keep the refineries at Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna closed or under-capacity. He said the international traders generally receive at least one million dollars per shipload of fuel to Nigeria and have grown accustomed to the easy money Nigeria offers as long its refineries remain down.” Finally the cable touches on discussions centering on Sahara Energy, an indigenous energy firm, no stranger to media scandal, recently in the news for allegedly passing on DPK (household kerosene) to airlines as ATK (aviation fuel). Speaking on Sahara, the cable discloses, “Otedola described an arrangement the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) had with Sahara Energy for the provision of diesel to an emergency power generation plant in Abuja. He said that while a pipeline was under construction to deliver fuel to the main power plant, NEPA paid some five billion dollars to Sahara over four years for diesel to the back-up plant. It was later discovered that NEPA had received only about one billion dollars worth of fuel, according to Otedola. Otedola said that he, too, was contracted to deliver diesel fuel to the plant on occasion; however, he petitioned the president to investigate the matter after becoming suspicious of NEPA’s ongoing contract with Sahara and the fact that the pipeline for the power plant was never finished. He said his intervention led to an investigation that ultimately resulted in the cancellation of NEPA’s contract with Sahara.”

My Birthday

Today, 13th January 2012 is my Birthday. I thank God for keeping me alive. I Thank God for keeping me, preserving my sanity and life. I thank God for the gift of salvation and life. Last year was particularly difficult for me. What with the betrayal from a relationship that i had nurtured and watered. Lies and deception was on the lips of people i thought were close. I felt helpless and hopeless. I was actually depressed for months that it affected my health. My blood Pressure shot up and one side of my body was affected. I thank God for Counsellors, and two Pastors who constantly spoke to me and prayed with me. It was a really trying period for me. I was really hurt but I asked God to help me to forgive and let go. The HOLY SPIRIT became my counsellor and God dealt with me on the issue of forgiveness.

It was not easy forgiving someone who lived with you and kept secrets that were damaging. The secrets were life changing and this person was going on as if all was fine. It was not easy at all. Initially when the secret was exposed, oh i wanted revenge. I wanted to fight back. I wanted to end the relationship and make him suffer some form of embarrassment and pains. But God intervened. Secrets can be a huge burden on our life. I saw what it did to my relationship and i hope others will learn. This year will be different from other years in JESUS name.

OCCUPY NIGERIA

Faces of Strike Actions in Nigeria

The Strike started on Monday ,9th January 2012 as called by Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress. The strike in Nigeria is called

OCCUPY NIGERIA

Its been successful so far because for 3 days we are all at home monitoring the strike from the streets, televisions and the radios. Heard that the Police have killed some protesters in Lagos, Kano and Kaduna. I pray no more protestors would be killed.

Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota renamed Freedom Park

Mor pictures from the Freedom Park

Labour is insisting that protest against the fuel subsidy removal continues until the Government has a change of heart.

The Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Mr. Kingsley Kuku stressed on National Unity and pleaded that what we have achieved so far in terms of peace and together since after the civil war not be sacrificed on the altar of selfishness.

Mr. Kingsley Kuku

Occupy Nigeria

JANUARY 1st 2012

The Agency that regulates the pump prices of Petroleum Products in Nigeria announced that the price of Petroleum had increased from N65 to N141.00 It was so shocking to Nigerians because we were told the current budget will run till March 2012. Why the sudden change of plan by the Federal Government? This is not the New Year gift we wanted so why inflict this punishment on us? Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi are the champions of this oil subsidy removal and they are very vocal about their views. We are supposed to applaud them for being the modern day "voltron" defending the universe called Nigeria from the evil cabals who have been exploiting Nigerians. But the timing is very wrong. These two individuals are smart and intelligent and i believe they would have done their homework very well because this removal was allowed. The Petroleum Industry bill before the National Assembly has a clause that Oil subsidy removal will not be effected until the four Refineries in Nigeria are working at full capacity after the Turn Around Maintenance and two additional ones would be built. This is to ensure that locally we can refined the crude produced in Nigeria and not resort to importation of refined crude from abroad. Unfortunately the Bill has not been passed and the 4 Refineries are not working at full capacity. The proposed 2 new Refineries are not built and the Senate President David Mark saye he has 3 different Petroleum Industry Bills on his table. Let take a look at the analysis of a reknown Professor and a stakeholder in the Oil industry. The Analysis below is from Professor Tam David West former Petroleum Minister: 1) One barrel of Crude Oil = 42gallons or 159 litres 2) Our Refineries installed combined capacity = 445,000 barrels per day 3) Actual refineries capacity due to ageing equipment = 30% i.e133,500 barrels per day 4) 133,500 BARRELS = 21.2MILLIN LITRES 5) Local Required Consumption ( F. O. S) =12 millions litres 6) It means that even our MORIBOND Refineries can actually meet our Local consumption need of Petroleum 7) The cost structure of crude oil (i.e Qua Iboe Crude Oil) production; -Findings / development - $3.5- Production cost $1.5, Refining Cost - $12.6, Pipeline/transportation- $1.5 Distribution/Bridging fund Margin - $15.69 8)Cost of one litre of Petroleum anywhere in Nigeria should be : Total sum cost - $34.8. i.e $34.8/159 Naira equivalent. 0.219xN160 = N35.02K - Add tax N5. That will be N40.02K 9) This is how Federal Government arrived at N65.00 per litre in the first place. 10) Locally refined products cannot be sold at International price 11) We do not need FGN SUBSIDY as there was NONE 12) CORRUPTION is the problem but the WILL to enforce LAW on it is lacking from our Government. According to El Nasir Rufai, if the fuel is refined locally, THE TRUE COST OF A LITRE WILL BE N40.02 WHY ARE WE STILL IMPORTING? WHY NOT START REFINING LOCALLY? WHO IS BENEFITING FROM THE IMPORTATION OF FUEL FROM ABROAD? THE CABAL IS REAPING SO MUCH FROM OIL SUBSIDY BY GOVERNMENT AND THEY WILL DO EVRYTHING TO ENSURE ITS NOT REMOVED. The Government needs to deal with these people ruthlessly and not punish all of us. It is like throwing the baby out with the dirty bath water.

Fuel Subsidy removal

Fuel Subsidy removal

The riot on Ikorodu Road yesterday and today against Fuel Subsidy removal has seen destructions, lost of properties mostly Government owned vehicles and lost of lives. It so unfortunate that the beginning of the year would be this violent and chaotic.

The streets were deserted as people did not want to be caught in the middle between the law enforcement agents and the protesters. The protesters were actually heading to Alausa, the seat of Government of LAGOS STATE. In the process, the Area Boys decided to start looting and burning BRT buses. A friend said that she had to run back home from Onipanu Bus stop. Luckily, she was not touched but her pair of shoes was destroyed. Whew!!!

We are told the Minister of Finane Mrs. OKONJO IWEALA is threatening to resign if the President goes back on the removal. Can someone tell me, is this the dividend of DEMOCRACY? I bought a litre of Fuel for Naira 141.00 from Naira 65.00. The Refineries are not working and they said few individuals are the beneficiaries. Cant the Government force these beneficiaries of the subsidy to put back their gains into the Economy? Why are we forced to suffer for a few? OH GOD HELP US.