Moses celebrates 100th EPL game with win

Stephen Keshi

Getting ready for the World Cup qualifying match against Ethiopia comes in different ways for Nigerian players. On Sunday, Victor Moses celebrated his 100th English Premier League appearance with the match against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. It was a superb outing for the Super Eagles attacker as his team Liverpool defeated their hosts 3-1 to move up to the second spot of the league table.

Moses who joined the Reds on loan from Chelsea at the start of the season said he was excited by the result. His key goal attempt was saved.

He wrote via his Twitter handle, “Buzzin with the win great result the lads were brilliant.”

Moses has been called up by Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi for the October 13 match in Addis Ababa in search of a Brazil 2014 World Cup ticket.

But the match was not just for the Nigerian as Luis Suarez crowned his Premier League return with a brace.

Having completed a 10-game ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last season, Suarez scored in each half at the Stadium of Light as Liverpool ended a run of three games without victory.

Daniel Sturridge had given Liverpool the lead with his fifth goal of the season, with Emanuele Giaccherini replying for Sunderland early in the second half after Suarez had made it 2-0.

It was Sunderland’s first league game since the dismissal of manager Paolo Di Canio, but although they are now four points from safety, interim coach Kevin Ball will have been heartened by their second-half reaction.

Both sides threatened from early set-pieces, Keiren Westwood denying Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and Sebastian Larsson rattling the visitors’ bar, before the away side went ahead in contentious circumstances in the 28th minute.

A left-wing corner found Sturridge unmarked at the back post and although he shaped to head the ball, it actually struck his elbow before bouncing over the line.

Sunderland’s defenders did not appeal, however, and eight minutes later Sturridge’s teasing low cross from the right allowed Suarez to slide home his first goal since completing his suspension.

The Uruguayan celebrated by lifting his jersey to reveal a T-shirt bearing a picture of his family with his new-born son Benjamin, who was born on Thursday. Moses son Brentley celebrated his first birthday last Friday.

The hosts were quick to react though, and after former Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet had saved with his feet from Craig Gardner and Adam Johnson had shot narrowly over, they drew level in the 52nd minute.

Mignolet could only parry a low drive by Ki Sung-yueng and Giaccherini swept the loose ball home with his left foot to reduce the arrears.

There were chances for both teams, Mignolet denying Gardner again, while Westwood saved from Victor Moses and Kolo Toure, before Suarez tucked in his second goal from another Sturridge cross in the 89th minute.

Stupid colleague caused our arrest –Suspect

Olusanya, Balogun and Oluwatosin

Some robbery suspects engaged in a war of words on Thursday at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters.

The suspects, who were recently arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, traded blames over who caused their arrest.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspects, Fatai Balogun, Wale Oluwatosin and Gbenga Olusanya, were arrested shortly after robbing a family in the Iju, Ishaga area of the state.

Police authorities said after the robbery, the suspects shared the loot and went their separate ways.

Oluwatosin was, however, spotted while hiding his gun at the backyard of his house.

An eyewitness was said to have reported to the police and Oluwatosin was arrested. It was learnt that through his confessional statement, the police apprehended his colleagues.

One of the suspects, Balogun, who claimed to be a barber, said he regretted following Oluwatosin for the robbery.

He said, “He (Oluwatosin) is a very stupid boy. He is just 20-years-old and I see him like a younger brother because we grew up in the same area. Some days ago, he told me that there was a man in the area drove a nice car and he had studied the man’s movements.

“We got guns and when it was midnight, we stormed the house. We stole about N500,000 and I felt this was enough, but Oluwatosin was not satisfied. He stole CDs, laptops, seven mobile phones, video games and other items that we did not need.

“Carrying such things around at night could draw suspicion to us and I told him this but he was too stubborn. As I predicted, he was the one that caused our arrest. He is stupid.”

Another suspect, Olusanya, said he was not an armed robber but a smuggler. He said he knew the gang but had only followed them for one operation.

He said, “I followed them for a robbery some months ago but we did not succeed. On that particular operation, we met policemen on the road and decided to turn back. However, the driver was drunk and we had an accident.

“We had to snatch another car which we used to escape. After the unsuccessful robbery, I went back to my smuggling business because I felt those guys were not serious armed robbers. They were too clumsy.”

Oluwatosin, who is the youngest among the suspects, said he went into robbery so he could impress the suspects.

He said the suspects usually gave him N7, 000 as an informant but he wanted to make more money which made him to lead the operation.

He said, “I knew Balogun was an armed robber and I looked up to him. He used to give me N7,000 as an informant, but I felt I could do more. I did not know I would get caught after my first robbery.”

Deputy Police Public Rleations Officer, Damasus Ozoani, said the suspects would soon be charged to court.

Nigeria to host 2014 African Top 16 Cup

The International Table Tennis Federation has granted Nigeria the hosting right for the 2014 African Top 16.

According to the President of the African Table Tennis Federation, Khaled El-Salhy, the bid was approved based on the recommendation of the ATTF.

The ATTF president wrote, “This is to confirm that ITTF has approved the bid of Nigeria and recommendation of ATTF Executive Committee to stage the 2014 ITTF-Africa Top 16 Cup in Lagos from June 27 to 28, 2014.

We are confident the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation can organise a Continental/World Title event quite successfully. The Lagos Classics was quite successful in terms of media coverage, while the turnout of spectators really gave a good image to the event.

Moreover, the technical benefit for Nigerian players was also a big gain.”

He added, “The Lagos Classics was a pilot project for Nigeria and ATTF to use the media coverage to promote advertising/sponsorship resources, as well as the expected technical promotion for all African players especially Nigerian players.”

With the tournament already listed in the ITTF calendar for 2014, ATTF vice president, Olabanji Oladapo, believes Nigeria would derive a lot of gains from staging the championship.

An excited NTTF president, Wahid Oshodi, describes this development

as a sign of good things to come to the sport in Nigeria.

“We are pleased that the ATTF has granted the NTTF the hosting rights to the new premier competition in Africa. This is fallout of the successful Lagos Classics, which we recently held and it is recognition of the hard work the NTTF has put in over the last three months in developing the game in Nigeria,” Oshodi said.

JTF destroys 127 illegal refineries, arrests 29

The Joint (Military) Task Force in the Niger Delta says it has arrested 29 alleged oil thieves and destroyed 127 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta.

In a statement on Sunday, JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the suspects were arrested during the series of anti-oil-theft operations between September 16 and September 28. He added that the 29 suspects were currently undergoing preliminary investigations and would soon be handed over to relevant prosecuting agencies.

Nwachukwu explained that in Bayelsa State, troops of 343 Regiment of the JTF in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area clamped down on 98 illegal crude oil distillation sites.

He said the sites were operating with 119 illegal distillation tanks and 37 large open wooden boats (Cotonou boats) laden with stolen crude oil and illegally-distilled Automated Gas Oil.

He said in a separate operation, troops of 29 Battalion and the Gun Boat Patrol Company, arrested a barge with three crew and a vessel christened MT Tora Eagle with 11 crew members in Bodo waterways and Akassa creek in Rivers and Bayelsa states respectively.

Nwachukwu said, “The barge was intercepted while conveying some quantity of illegally sourced crude oil, while the vessel was laden with 3,600 drums of stolen petroleum product.

“The troops also scuttled five illegal crude oil distillation sites and 10 Cotonou boats filled with stolen crude oil along Lewe, Bodo, Elem Sagangama, Oluwasiri and Bodo West in Rivers State.”

He said the outfit’s Operation Pulo Shield, 19 and 3 Battalions’ troops covering Edo and Delta states scuttled 24 illegal oil distillation camps and 73 Cotonou boats.

He said 31 of such boats were intercepted at an illegal crude oil loading point close to an abandoned oil well in Warri North, while 27 of the arrested boats were intercepted in Egara creek along NNPC pipeline in Warri South Local Government Area.

Nwachukwu added, “The operation also swept through Ajide, Lagos; Makara, Egwu Aghara watersides in Warri-North, Warri North-West, Warri South West and Ethiope West Local Government areas of Delta, where oil stealing was also found to be thriving.

“The outfit intercepted 61 pieces of 75 HP speed boats and a truck laden with 33,000 litres of AGO while they were still lifting the stolen products. 502 drums, 22 steel tanks, four plastic surface tanks, 77 metal drums laden with stolen crude oil and illegally distilled AGO and four pumping machines used by the oil thieves were also seized during the operations.”

Obasanjo not part of us –New PDP

Members of the New Peoples Democratic Party have said former President Olusegun Obasanjo is not a member of the faction.

It said the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP was not directly or by proxy, linked to the faction of the ruling party.

A statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary of the faction, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze in Abuja on Sunday, also cautioned against arresting or ridiculing the former President over his alleged closeness to the faction.

Eze said former President Obasanjo played an important role in making Dr. Goodluck Jonathan the President of Nigeria and deserved respect.

He said, “We do not know why General Olusegun Obasanjo (retd.) is being linked with the New PDP.

“Let us state unequivocally that this foremost nationalist has not in any way – either directly or by proxy – had anything to do with our existence and operations.

“Ridiculing and plotting the arrest of such a distinguished personality that fought to keep this nation as one entity and contributed immensely in making the PDP the most vibrant, virile, versatile and biggest political party in Africa as a nobody is not the best strategy to use to fight the cause of President Jonathan, who knows what Chief Obasanjo did to make him President in the first place.”

Eze also raised the alarm over an alleged plan to begin a crackdown on members of the faction, including the seven governors.

Governors in the New PDP are Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano); Murtala Nyaho (Adamawa); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).

He said members of the faction had received intelligence reports that the Presidency was putting finishing touches to what it called “Operation Total Crackdown on G7 and their allies in the New PDP.”

He said when the report got to them that members of the faction were going to be arrested and jailed without charges, they discarded it, describing it as a joke.

However, he said an interview granted an online medium by Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, in which he allegedly said there were pressures on President Goodluck Jonathan to arrest both Obasanjo and a former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, showed that such plan was in the offing.

Eze said, “The sin of these two distinguished Nigerian statesmen, according to those plotting their ‘demystification,’ is their alleged support for the New PDP, including the G7 Governors.”

He said in view of the seriousness of the plot, the National Chairman of the New PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje had summoned an emergency meeting of the National Working Committee of the faction on how best to respond to the situation.

Though he said that they concluded at the meeting not to be intimidated for any reason, even if it means death, as the members believed that they were fighting a just cause, Eze nevertheless said Baraje directed the members to prepare their Will.

In his reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Ibrahim Jalo, said all the aggrieved governors would soon return.

Jalo said, “Our governors, though aggrieved, would soon return to us. No one would leave a winning team, or abandon a bright future for an uncertain one.

Another policeman caught on video demanding N10,000 bribe

The policeman

For the third time in the past two months, another policeman has been caught on video demanding a bribe of N10,000 from a motorist.

The footage, secretly filmed by a passenger at the back seat of a vehicle in Onitsha, Anambra State, has so far received thousands of hits on YouTube. The three-minute 18-second video which first appeared on the YouTube channel of one Tola Tim, has since become an Internet sensation.

In the video, a policeman apprehended the driver of a vehicle that was coming from Akure, Ondo State to Umuahia, Abia State. The policeman sat in the front seat with the driver, and after checking the vehicle particulars, declared that he had discovered some discrepancies between the documents and the chassis number.

In the video, the policeman explained that the number ‘0’ was the last number on the chassis number inscribed on the vehicle, while number ‘3’was the last number on the documents presented to him for perusal.

The driver was seen arguing with the policeman that he had asked him to veer off the road in order to enable him (policeman) do proper checking of the vehicle. Once the alleged discrepancies were discovered, the policeman insisted that he would collect N10,000 before he would release him.

The driver’s appeal that there was an unintended mix-up somewhere and that the vehicle was not a stolen one fell on deaf ears. A nursing mother who sat at the back also appealed to the policeman.

The man in uniform bellows, “Settle us. Just give us N10,000 make I waka comot. Or is it too much? If I knew you stole the vehicle, I won’t collect money from you.”

But the driver, on noticing the adamance of the policeman, said he won’t give in to his demands.

“It is three much! I want you to take me to your station. I’m not afraid of anything. I can go back to Akure. At worst, I will miss my appointment in Umuahia. Why will I part with N10,000 on the vehicle I didn’t steal? No sir! I can’t do that.

“I will rather go back to Akure, get the registration officer and other supporting documents, come back with another vehicle and clear myself. And that is to tell you that I have not done something wrong,” the driver said.

The unidentified driver also calmed the nerves of the apprehensive nursing mother who clutched a baby girl to herself. “My sister, don’t worry! At worst, you will sleep in a hotel with your baby when I go back to Akure,” the driver added.

The policeman replied, “Eh eh. It is three much. Wetin make am too much?” After ruminating over the issue for some seconds, the policeman, who was armed with a gun, ordered, “Driver, come down.” And the video went dead.

Meanwhile, outrage has trailed the incident on various social media platforms. Those who have watched the video online describe the encounter as a pointer to the depth of rot and decay in the Nigeria Police Force.

They urged the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to conduct an orderly room trial to ascertain the policeman’s culpability in the alleged crime and place appropriate sanctions on him if found guilty.

An anonymous reader on lindaikeji.blogspot.com says apart from condemning the act of corruption and sacking the culprit, more needs to be done to cater for the welfare of the rank and file of the police.

The reader said, “If you have a police officer as your relative, you will understand better. The income they get can’t even feed them alone not to talk of their families. The country doesn’t cater adequately for their needs. Many police barracks look like refuse dumps and they are expected to live there with their children.”

But a YouTube user, Paul Saint, argued that there is no excuse for being corrupt, attributing the behaviour to greed.

Saint stated, “This has nothing to do with the service welfare of the police. Corruption in Nigeria has nothing to do with low or high salary pay. If you are corrupt, no matter what you earn, you will still find ways to illegally enrich yourself. Most cases of corruption recorded in this country are perpetrated by persons who are otherwise fairlycomfortable with bribes.

“Corruption is as a result of greed only. Not poverty or low pay. We must condemn corruption at all times and not make excuses for it. But even if they are not well paid, there is no excuse for corruption. The most corrupt persons in Nigeria started off with collecting less than N10,000 and because we excuse them or celebrate them, they step up their demands to millions and billions. Well paid or not, do not demand or collect bribe.”

It will be recalled that three cops have so far been dismissed by the police authorities after being filmed demanding bribes from motorists.

A police sergeant, Chris Omeleze, who was caught on video camera extorting N25,000 from a motorist in Lagos in August was the first casuality of the social media whistle-blowing.

Two traffic policewomen, corporals Elizabeth Itolor and Jennifer Azingbe, who were also videotaped receiving N100 bribe from a commercial bus driver at the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway were dismissed earlier this month.

Jonathan meets security chiefs, says ‘I’m depressed’

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday had an emergency meeting with service chiefs over the killing of 50 students of the College of Agriculture in Yobe State.

Jonathan disclosed this while fielding questions during the Presidential Media Chat broadcast live on television stations. He had earlier at the 53rd Independence Anniversary Interdenominational Church Service at the National Christian Centre, Abuja, admitted that activities of the sect were depressing him and his administration.

He said after meeting with the service chiefs, he directed them to meet and come up with ideas on how to step up the efforts aimed at curbing the attacks and killings by the insurgents which he described as “ embarrassing.”

The President said, “Like I said earlier today (Sunday), sometimes one needs a lot of courage to move on. My seat as the President can be very hot and can also be very cold.

“I held a meeting with service chiefs on the killings of students in Yobe State before coming for this media chat. We discussed and resolved that we must do more.

“You will agree with me that incidence of attacks came down after I declared state of emergency in some states but it is coming up again. I have asked the service chiefs to meet again now and see what we can do to stop these embarrassing attacks.”

When asked to respond to allegations that operatives of the State Security Service killed innocent people alleged to be members of Boko Haram at the Apo Legislative Quarters in Abuja, the President said there was enough reason to believe that those shot were suspected terrorists.

Jonathan, who added that some of those arrested had made confessional statements, said that security agencies had even foiled several plots by insurgents to bomb Abuja this month.

He said, “I have been briefed about it and people have made confessional statements. That is why I say sometimes, some of these people who call for probe don’t mean well for this country. And I always say that when there are confrontations between certain operatives and criminals in a place where people live, maybe one or two people who may be innocent probably might be affected during the exchange of fire. But definitely, there were Boko Haram elements among them .

Again, if you monitor global trend, there was this feeling about Al-Qeada network having links with Al-Shabab and Boko Haram because these criminal gangs have networks. And the feeling was that in September, they would bomb many cities across the world to commemorate 9/11. It happened in many parts of the world. What happened in Nairobi, Kenya, is being linked to that and people attempted to also bomb Abuja in September.

“Some were arrested and some were killed but people confessed. There were obviously Boko Haram elements among them.”

At the Independence anniversary church service tagged “Living with certainty in uncertain times,” the President said he lacked words and courage to explain to the bereaved families, and indeed Nigerians, what happened to the College of Agriculture students on Sunday.

While describing Boko Haram activities and other challenges facing his administration as creations of the devil meant to slow him down, Jonathan vowed that the insurgents would not succeed.

He pledged that although forces of evil would continue to attempt to drag the nation back, he would leave the country better than he met it.

He said, “Today, you will agree with me that if you were in my shoes, you will lack words to say. We had this programme in mind when we went to bed last night that by this time, we would all gather here to thank God for what he has done for this great country.

“But then, only a few minutes after midnight, reports came in that about 21 students were murdered in Yobe State by a group that described themselves as Boko Haram.

“If you are wearing my shoes, what courage will you have to stand here before Nigerians? What message will you send to Nigerians and the parents of these people, our future leaders, students of a college of agriculture?

“Will you say that the killing of these students is political? The students belonged to which political group? People who killed them don’t even know them. Will you say it is ethnic cleansing? They belonged to which ethnic group in Nigeria?

“Will you say it was based on religious belief or what? These killed students, are they Christians, Muslims or what? This is the situation almost on a daily basis. It’s quite depressing!

“But having listened to the message of the CAN President (Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor), you will agree with me that all of us have hope. By God’s grace, we will get to where we want to get to as a nation.

“The journey of a nation is just like the journey of an individual. We will encounter obstacles. Sometimes, it gets darker when you are getting nearer. The challenges we are seeing now are very transient and we will surely get over them.

“No Boko Haram or any group can suffer this country. We may suffer pains just like Jesus Christ said at critical moment that though the spirit is willing, the body is weak.

“I believe these challenges are the creations of the devil to slow down our development as a nation but we have reached the turning point where we must all move to join the developed society.”