Using CCTVs to Check Crimes in Our Cities
June 6, 2008 by 
JOACHIM EZEJI · Leave a Comment
The increasing wave of crime in urban Nigeria is already a cause for concern. Owerri and Port Harcourt, just like many other major towns in Nigeria are already taking their shares of many of these crimes. Crimes like Armed Robbery, Assassination, Car Snatching and kidnapping of human beings for ransom etc are already big blots in most of our cities.
These crimes have continued to happen without any effective mitigation strategy or arrest of perpetrators. Other dangerous trends on the rise are the unabated rate of fly-tipping in urban neighborhoods, street trading and traffic indiscipline and the sex sessions with insane (mad) women which often result in unwanted pregnancies etc.
In February 2008, I was one of those caught in the cross fire of armed robbers who had held Owerri city hostage for well over one-half hours. On that day, I had gone to the bank to get money and was one of those who missed the rain of bullet by whiskers. I had hastily taken refuse in the toilet of Intercontinental bank, lying flat on the toilet floor to be safe. It was a hell of experience which has stuck in the inner recesses of my memory though I have since devoted it all to God for his grace.
I still thank God, because he alone rescued me, and without him it would have perhaps been something unpalatable. I also know that many Nigerians have resorted to God, committing all to him, particularly their life and security. This is borne out of outright failure of the government to get on top of the everyday risks such as daylight armed robbery, assassination, car snatching and kidnapping of human beings for ransom etc that have come to haunt us.
Lagos State Roasts School Children
May 17, 2008 by Che Oyimnatumba · Leave a Comment
Ashimole Felix/Abuja.
In attempt to expand the narrow roads of Lagos State to accommodate the mega-city dream of the Lagos state government, an excavator working on the Ijegun-Iseri-Jakande Estate, Isolo road, ignited a combustion that has claimed not fewer than 30 lives. Nigerian Red Cross puts the casualty at 50. Some of the schools affected by this inferno are; Saint Saviour’s Nursery and Primary School; Queen Marie’s College and Ijegun High School.
A great number of pupils of this school cannot be accounted for as at press time.
Unlike previous pipeline explosions caused by faceless vandals, the Lagos State government should be held responsible and made to bear the brunt of the law. Is the Lagos State ministry of work not aware of the pipelines? The NNPC spoke person Dr. Levi Ajuonuma in a statement said that the Lagos State government embarked upon the construction along NNPC right of way without authorisation from NNPC.
In recent times, Lagos State in a bid to define the powers of the federating units in Nigeria have embarked on a lot of issues without due respect for the federal government. Under Governor Tinubu, it was the creation of Local Government Areas while his successor Governor Fashiola is baring his fangs by insisting that Lagos State government will start issuing her own drivers licence which has been the sole responsibility of the Federal Road Safety Commission.
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Commissioner Found Dead
April 3, 2008 by Che Oyimnatumba · Leave a Comment
The Edo State Commissioner of Information and Orientation, Barrister Calus Enoma, who went missing at the heels of the Edo state Gubernatorial Tribunal judgment has been found dead in Palm Royal Hotel Ugbowo Benin.
While the search lasted, the PDP led government, speaking through the Special Assistance on communication to Governor Osunbor, Mr. Tony Ikpasaja, fingered Adams Oshiomole of the Action Congress, demanding that the duo produce the missing commissioner within 48 hours or face dire consequences.
Edo State chapter of the AC debunked this accusation and blamed the PDP of attempting to create confusion in the State and prolong their inevitable evacuation from the Government House. The Election Tribunal in Edo had on 20th March entered judgment in favour of Adams Oshiomole and ordered his immediate swearing in ceremony. PDP has gone on appeal.
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WHO IS AFRAID OF OHAKIM?
February 24, 2008 by Che Oyimnatumba · Leave a Comment
Written By: Che Oyinatumba
The executive governor of Imo State, south-east of Nigeria,Chief Ikedi Ohakim in a state wide broadcast, alleged that some politicians are out to assassinate him.
From the text of his message, one can not but have sympathy for Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, who with naked innuendos the governor accused of being behind the plot.
I am not an Ararume loyalist. In fact if its only my vote that will swing the election in favour of Senator Ararume and this running mate Barrister Bethel Nzimako, I will cast the vote into Otamiri. You know the taste of an excretion from the smell of the fart.
These duo by their antecedents are not fit to rule Imo State. Barrister Bethel was one time Owerri-West Local Government Chairman. And while his tenure lasted, there was no significant project in Owerri-West. Same is applicable to Senator Ararume, who as chairman South-East caucus of the Senate, kept criminally silent during the raging third term issue. Furthermore, the immediate past President while endorsing Charles Ugwuh as the PDP gubernatorial flag bearer said unprintable things about Senator Ifeanyi Ararume. These utterances should be of concern to every eligible voter in Imo State.
Be that as it may, the latest attack on Ararume and the PDP, to the extent of importing militias from outside the state to cause mayhem during the welcome back into PDP rally. This phobia by Ohakim, gives one a sense of de javu. As such antics was used by Orji Uzo Kalu, when he ran out of steam in his battle with President Obasanjo before he decamped to form PPA, which true to call, is cloning a millipede of Kalus. If not why should a chief security officer wake up with this fear for his life?
Ohakim’s ill-advised broadcast has shown him as a weakling who can not hold the state. Who is Ararume that the governor should loss sleep? Or more aptly, who is PDP in a PPA controlled state? If the governor knew all he bared at the broadcast, what is stopping the Commissioner of Police from arresting Ararume? Leadership is not friendship, it takes men of courage to take a decisive decision and do that which is for the greater good of the majority of the ruled.
I guess I am getting senile, how could I have forgotten that Ohakim became governor by default and by the lingering crisis in PDP between Onongaono and Abuja PDP. With the arrow head of Abuja PDP in Imo, pacified with an ambassadorial appointment and Onongaono in firm control of all the structures in Imo State, Ohakim’s insecure feeling is manifesting in his reasoning. After all he who rides on the back of the tiger, often ends in the belly of the tiger.
Governor Ohakim, if you want to discredit Ararume, do not fan the ambers of insecurity in Imo State. If your fears are hinged on the out come of the electoral tribunal, don worry, re-present yourself in the fresh election and see whether it was the people of Imo that gave the mandate or was it a mid-night underhand dealing, presided over by the PDP war dogs now in the camp of Ararume, lapping and panting for a taste of your political blood.
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Lack of Education Contributes to Crime
February 21, 2008 by OCI · Leave a Comment
Written by: Fabiola Castillo
As more and more low-income families move into neighborhoods that once catered to the middle or upper class, one must be on the lookout for his own personal safety and report any criminal activity going on in their surroundings. Crime is everywhere in these neighborhoods where kids find too much time on their hands after school hours or after the school year lets out.
What also contributes to the crime rate in such places? Is it just the lack of money for low income families? Sometimes, crime can be attributed to the lack of education on the part of the perpetrator or their families.
It is a statistical fact that the crime rate is inversely proportional to the education level of the culprit. Kids who grow up in families that do not stress the importance of getting an education are more likely to be living out on the streets, doing drugs, joining gangs, or ending up in prison.
Sometimes parents who raise such kids were raised in similar conditions when they were youngsters. Nothing has changed. An education should be foremost on parents’ minds when rearing their kids. In fact, an education is the key out of poverty. As the old saying goes, “The way out of the gutter is with a book and not a basketball.”
Kids who do not have a good education in school are more likely to have difficulty with finding jobs, getting into college, or staying out of trouble with the law. Many times they have family issues that are attributed to the loss of a parent at a young age due to a death or an incarceration.
African Ostrich(es)
February 16, 2008 by OCI · Leave a Comment
**Postscript:This was written before the bubble burst in Kenya**
Africa Buries Her Head in Sand as Looters Drain Coffers
Written By: John Mulaa
The most momentous news to come out of Kenya these past few days was not the celebratory roar by supporters of the winners of respective ODMs presidential nominations.
It was the deafening silence that attended the release of a report linking allies of former President Daniel Moi to massive looting that allegedly saw billions of dollars taken out for safekeeping and investment out of the country.
One searched in vain for clamour for action by politicians and citizens in general to, at the very least, establish the veracity of the Kroll Report. Instead, the Government Spokesman was on the frontline shooting the report down as hearsay and rumour. Former officials who were adversely mentioned were given opportunity to rebut the findings.
For all intents and purposes, the matter is going to end there, which is entirely expected given the country’s history, class and political configurations.
About two years back, it looked as if the country favoured political and economic class aka elite was about to unmask itself. For a few days mud flew from all directions as representatives of factions that collectively constitute about one per cent of the population — but collectively own or control virtually everything in the country — accused one another of looting public resources.
James Ibori Released
February 13, 2008 by OCI · Leave a Comment
Former Governor James Ibori of Delta State has been released from Kaduna prisons having met the conditions for the bail earlier granted him yesterday by the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Shuaibu.
Meanwhile, former Governor Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State is still making efforts to meet his own conditions and will spend another night in his cooler at Enugu prisons.
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