NIGERIA LIFE:Strange snake swallows N36 million cash in JAMB office

Before now, JAMB candidates purchased scratch cards from JAMB state offices and other designated centers, to gain access to the Board’s website for either registration or to check their admission status but the reforms introduced by JAMB registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, recommended an end to the use of scratch cards. A mystery snake is said to have sneaked into the accounts office of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, in Makurdi, the Benue State capital and made away with N36 million cash.     

A team of auditors was dispatched to different state offices of JAMB to take inventory of the sold and unsold scratch cards and recover whatever money that might have either been generated or mismanaged during the period of the sale of scratch cards.
On their visit to Makurdi office of JAMB, a sales clerk, Philomina Chieshe, told JAMB registrar and his team that she could not account for N36 million she made in previous years before the abolition of scratch cards.

In the course of interrogation, Philomena confessed that it was her housemaid that connived with another JAMB staff, Joan Asen, to “spiritually” steal the money from the vault in the accounts office.
She said: “I was one of the four sales clerks attached to JAMB office in Makurdi. My responsibility was to sell scratch cards to candidates and not involved in handling the revenues. It was the responsibility of Joan Asen and my other senior colleagues. I only remit money when am done selling the cards.  
“Few months ago, there was issue of fraud in the Makurdi office. Auditors were sent from Abuja to carefully flip the record books of the office, to perhaps, ascertain the current state of affairs.
“The state Coordinator, Obilo, was not around when the audit team came. But in the course of the audit, N36 million was discovered to have been missing from the account. An investigation was launched. In the course of the investigation, it was discovered that Joan Asen, who is account staff and a lady outside JAMB have connived to steal the money.”
Philomina in her confessional statement said that Joan Asen and her accomplices confessed that they have been stealing the money “spiritually” through a mysterious snake that always sneak into the office to swallow the money from the vault.
According to her “It was a mystery to me too. I have been saving the money in the bank, but I found it difficult to account for it. So I started saving it in a vault in the office. But each time I open the vault, I will find nothing. I became worried and surprised how the millions of Naira could be disappearing from the vault. I began to interrogate everybody in the house and office, and no one could agree on what might have happened to the money. I continued to press until my housemaid confessed. She said that the money disappeared “spiritually”. She said that a “mysterious snake” sneaked into the house and swallowed the money in the vault.”

about seven Biafra activists were arrested in a Jewish synagogue in Aba during a prayer meeting.

A police source said the men were holding “illegal meeting,” an allegation which the men refuted, saying they were only praying in the synagogue before they were arrested.

Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr. Anthony Ogbizi, had while parading the suspects on Monday in Umuahia, said they were arrested with IPOB and Biafra insignia, arguing that IPOB remains an outlawed terrorist organization.

He said IPOB members had devised a new strategy to further their agitation for Biafra by joining the same religious group of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and using their synagogue as a clandestine meeting place.

Asked why police also paraded some members of Biafra Independent Movement since the organization is not proscribed, Ogbizi said if they did something contrary to the law, they would also be arrested.

He said the police would not allow any part of Abia to be used as a “breeding ground for terrorists.”

But irked by the development, Ohanaeze Youth Council has called for the immediate release of the Biafra agitators, insisting they have committed no offense to be paraded as criminals.

National President of OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said the police had no moral justification to arrest peaceful agitators seeking self-determination, whereas armed herdsmen have continued in their killing spree unchecked.

Isiguzoro urged the security agencies to go after “murderous herdsmen” who are “known terrorists committing genocide across Nigeria,” instead of dissipating energy on nonviolent agitators.

He called on the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to order the immediate release of the arrested Biafra activists so as not to create “unnecessary tension” in South East again. police have arrested and subsequently paraded some Biafra activists in Aba, Abia State.

It was gathered that about seven Biafra activists were arrested in a Jewish synagogue in Aba during a prayer meeting.

The officials dragged to court were: Tukur Yusuf Buratai; Lawal Musa Daura; Ibrahim Attahiru; M.I. Ibrahim; Kasim Umar Sidi; Issah Maigari Abdullahi; Solomon Arase; Ibrahim Kpotun Idris; Okezie Ikpeazu; Willie Obiano; Habila Hosea; Peter Nwagbara; James Oshim Nwafor; Hosea Karma; Bassey Abang; and Johnson Babatunde Kokomo. The suit is grounded on two muscular United States’ statutes; the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA or ATS – the Alien Tort Statute); and the Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Both laws have extra-territorial reach, meaning that they allow US federal courts to assert long-arm jurisdiction that extends beyond the borders of America. In a statement, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful said: “Beyond the latest processes, and at the ensuing trial, Buratai, Ikpeazu, Obiano and others will be required to personally appear before the US court to testify under oath and probing cross-examination that will dwell on the details of the IPOB killings and the complicity of other unnamed Nigerian officials”. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has dragged 16 Nigerian officials to a United States District Court for the District of Columbia, for their complicity in the alleged extrajudicial killings of its members. The IPOB members were allegedly killed during protests in the wake of arrest and detention of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. “In a counter Motion filed on February 6, 2018, the US-based lawyers for the Biafran plaintiffs (IPOB) who brought suit against some Nigerian officials have strongly urged a United States federal court to proceed to trial on the merits, stressing the damning fact the the US State Department has rejected a request from the Buhari-led Nigerian government for the State Department to intervene and stop the suit based on the sovereign immunity defense”. “At Page 4 of the 35-page Motion obtained by IPOB, our lawyers stated that “Despite an overture by the Government of Nigeria, the United States Department of State has refrained from suggesting any Defendant is immune from Plaintiffs’ TVPA claims under federal common law or otherwise. Neither has the State Department suggested that any Defendant is a head of state in Nigeria”. “The counter Motion was necessitated by a motion filed by defence lawyers to dismiss the suit based on grounds that included the act of state doctrine, lack of jurisdiction and sovereign immunity. Dr Bruce Fein and associates, lawyers to IPOB argued in-opposite that such defenses are not allowed under the Statutes upon which the suit was brought”. “IPOB’s counsel also argued that defence Motions are questionable because the defense lawyers are, before the court, fighting amongst themselves as to who should be recognized to represent the defendants. Abia state governor Okezie Ikpeazu and Willie Obiano of Anambra State hired two law firms each and both sets of lawyers were fighting as to who will represent them in court” “We are not relenting in our pursuit of those responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent Biafrans,” Powerful stated.

The officials dragged to court were: Tukur Yusuf Buratai; Lawal Musa Daura; Ibrahim Attahiru; M.I. Ibrahim; Kasim Umar Sidi; Issah Maigari Abdullahi; Solomon Arase; Ibrahim Kpotun Idris; Okezie Ikpeazu; Willie Obiano; Habila Hosea; Peter Nwagbara; James Oshim Nwafor; Hosea Karma; Bassey Abang; and Johnson Babatunde Kokomo.

The suit is grounded on two muscular UniteThe officials dragged to court were: Tukur Yusuf Buratai; Lawal Musa Daura; Ibrahim Attahiru; M.I. Ibrahim; Kasim Umar Sidi; Issah Maigari Abdullahi; Solomon Arase; Ibrahim Kpotun Idris; Okezie Ikpeazu; Willie Obiano; Habila Hosea; Peter Nwagbara; James Oshim Nwafor; Hosea Karma; Bassey Abang; and Johnson Babatunde Kokomo.

The suit is grounded on two muscular United States’ statutes; the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA or ATS – the Alien Tort Statute); and the Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA).

Both laws have extra-territorial reach, meaning that they allow US federal courts to assert long-arm jurisdiction that extends beyond the borders of America.

In a statement, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful said: “Beyond the latest processes, and at the ensuing trial, Buratai, Ikpeazu, Obiano and others will be required to personally appear before the US court to testify under oath and probing cross-examination that will dwell on the details of the IPOB killings and the complicity of other unnamed Nigerian officials”. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has dragged 16 Nigerian officials to a United States District Court for the District of Columbia, for their complicity in the alleged extrajudicial killings of its members.

The IPOB members were allegedly killed during protests in the wake of arrest and detention of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. “In a counter Motion filed on February 6, 2018, the US-based lawyers for the Biafran plaintiffs (IPOB) who brought suit against some Nigerian officials have strongly urged a United States federal court to proceed to trial on the merits, stressing the damning fact the the US State Department has rejected a request from the Buhari-led Nigerian government for the State Department to intervene and stop the suit based on the sovereign immunity defense”.

“At Page 4 of the 35-page Motion obtained by IPOB, our lawyers stated that “Despite an overture by the Government of Nigeria, the United States Department of State has refrained from suggesting any Defendant is immune from Plaintiffs’ TVPA claims under federal common law or otherwise. Neither has the State Department suggested that any Defendant is a head of state in Nigeria”.

“The counter Motion was necessitated by a motion filed by defence lawyers to dismiss the suit based on grounds that included the act of state doctrine, lack of jurisdiction and sovereign immunity. Dr Bruce Fein and associates, lawyers to IPOB argued in-opposite that such defenses are not allowed under the Statutes upon which the suit was brought”.

“IPOB’s counsel also argued that defence Motions are questionable because the defense lawyers are, before the court, fighting amongst themselves as to who should be recognized to represent the defendants. Abia state governor Okezie Ikpeazu and Willie Obiano of Anambra State hired two law firms each and both sets of lawyers were fighting as to who will represent them in court” “We are not relenting in our pursuit of those responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent Biafrans,” Powerful stated.d States’ statutes; the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA or ATS – the Alien Tort Statute); and the Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA).

Both laws have extra-territorial reach, meaning that they allow US federal courts to assert long-arm jurisdiction that extends beyond the borders of America.

In a statement, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful said: “Beyond the latest processes, and at the ensuing trial, Buratai, Ikpeazu, Obiano and others will be required to personally appear before the US court to testify under oath and probing cross-examination that will dwell on the details of the IPOB killings and the complicity of other unnamed Nigerian officials”. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has dragged 16 Nigerian officials to a United States District Court for the District of Columbia, for their complicity in the alleged extrajudicial killings of its members.

The IPOB members were allegedly killed during protests in the wake of arrest and detention of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. “In a counter Motion filed on February 6, 2018, the US-based lawyers for the Biafran plaintiffs (IPOB) who brought suit against some Nigerian officials have strongly urged a United States federal court to proceed to trial on the merits, stressing the damning fact the the US State Department has rejected a request from the Buhari-led Nigerian government for the State Department to intervene and stop the suit based on the sovereign immunity defense”.

“At Page 4 of the 35-page Motion obtained by IPOB, our lawyers stated that “Despite an overture by the Government of Nigeria, the United States Department of State has refrained from suggesting any Defendant is immune from Plaintiffs’ TVPA claims under federal common law or otherwise. Neither has the State Department suggested that any Defendant is a head of state in Nigeria”.

“The counter Motion was necessitated by a motion filed by defence lawyers to dismiss the suit based on grounds that included the act of state doctrine, lack of jurisdiction and sovereign immunity. Dr Bruce Fein and associates, lawyers to IPOB argued in-opposite that such defenses are not allowed under the Statutes upon which the suit was brought”.

“IPOB’s counsel also argued that defence Motions are questionable because the defense lawyers are, before the court, fighting amongst themselves as to who should be recognized to represent the defendants. Abia state governor Okezie Ikpeazu and Willie Obiano of Anambra State hired two law firms each and both sets of lawyers were fighting as to who will represent them in court” “We are not relenting in our pursuit of those responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent Biafrans,” Powerful stated.

The officials are: Tukur Yusuf Buratai; Lawal Musa Daura; Ibrahim Attahiru; M.I. Ibrahim; Kasim Umar Sidi; Issah Maigari Abdullahi; Solomon Arase;

 
The counter Motion was necessitated by a motion filed by defence lawyers to dismiss the suit based on grounds that included the act of state doctrine, lack of jurisdiction and sovereign immunity. Dr Bruce Fein and associates, lawyers to the Biafran Plaintiffs argued in-opposite that such defenses are not allowed under the Statutes upon which the suit was brought.
Plaintiffs’ counsel also argued that defence Motions are questionable because the defense lawyers are, before the court, fighting amongst themselves as to who should be recognized to represent the defendants.
The case is pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against sixteen Nigerian officials for their direct or indirect complicity in the extrajudicial killings of IPOB members/Biafrans who had launched peaceful protests in the wake of arrest and detention of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
The officials are: Tukur Yusuf Buratai; Lawal Musa Daura; Ibrahim Attahiru; M.I. Ibrahim; Kasim Umar Sidi; Issah Maigari Abdullahi; Solomon Arase; Ibrahim Kpotun Idris; Okezie Ikpeazu; Willie Obiano; Habila Hosea; Peter Nwagbara; James Oshim Nwafor; Hosea Karma; Bassey Abang; and Johnson Babatunde Kokomo.
In the counter motion, counsel to Plaintiffs argued, amongst others, that jurisdiction has vested through service of the summons and complaint by certified international courier on all defendants.
The Suit is grounded on two muscular United States’ statutes – the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA or ATS – the Alien Tort Statute); and the Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Both laws have extraterritorial reach, meaning that they allow US federal courts to assert long-arm jurisdiction that extends beyond the borders of United States.
Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) provides that ‘the district courts shall have original jurisdiction on any civil action by an alien (foreigner) for a civil wrong committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States’. Since 1980, courts have interpreted this statute to allow foreign citizens to seek remedies in US courts for human rights violations for conduct committed outside the United States.
Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 is a statute that permits civil suits in the United States against foreign individuals who – acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation – committed torture and/or extrajudicial killings.
In the suit, Plaintiffs lawyers argued that ‘The factual case against the Defendants is convincing. The world already knows of the widespread beatings and slaughter of protesting Igbos/IPOB by elements of Nigerian security forces at various locations after Nnamdi Kanu was arrested. Amnesty International and other credible foreign sources have confirmed those killings and torture’. Those reports were filed in Court.
Beyond the latest processes, and at the ensuing trial, Defendants will be required to personally appear before the US court to testify under oath and probing cross-examination that will dwell on the details of the IPOB killings and the complicity of other unnamed Nigerian officials.
In a counter Motion filed on February 6, 2018, the US-based lawyers for the Biafran plaintiffs who brought suit against some Nigerian officials have strongly urged a United States federal court to proceed to trial on the merits, stressing the damning fact the the US State Department has rejected a request from the Buhari-led Nigerian government for the State Department to intervene and stop the suit based on the sovereign immunity defense.
At Page 4 of the 35-page Motion obtained by this reporter, Plaintiffs lawyers stated that “Despite an overture by the Government of Nigeria, the United States Department of State has refrained from suggesting any Defendant is immune from Plaintiffs’ TVPA claims under federal common law or otherwise. Neither has the State Department suggested that any Defendant is a head of state in Nigeria”.

Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr. Anthony Ogbizi, had while parading the suspects on Monday in Umuahia, said they were arrested with IPOB and Biafra insignia, arguing that IPOB remains an outlawed terrorist organization.

Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr. Anthony Ogbizi, had while parading the suspects on Monday in Umuahia, said they were arrested with IPOB and Biafra insignia, arguing that IPOB remains an outlawed terrorist organization.
He said IPOB members had devised a new strategy to further their agitation for Biafra by joining the same religious group of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and using their synagogue as a clandestine meeting place.
Asked why police also paraded some members of Biafra Independent Movement since the organization is not proscribed, Ogbizi said if they did something contrary to the law, they would also be arrested.
He said the police would not allow any part of Abia to be used as a “breeding ground for terrorists.”
But irked by the development, Ohanaeze Youth Council has called for the immediate release of the Biafra agitators, insisting they have committed no offense to be paraded as criminals.
National President of OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said the police had no moral justification to arrest peaceful agitators seeking self-determination, whereas armed herdsmen have continued in their killing spree unchecked.
Isiguzoro urged the security agencies to go after “murderous herdsmen” who are “known terrorists committing genocide across Nigeria,” instead of dissipating energy on nonviolent agitators.
He called on the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to order the immediate release of the arrested Biafra activists so as not to create “unnecessary tension” in South East again.                             

Police have arrested and subsequently paraded some Biafra activists in Aba, Abia State.

It was gathered that about seven Biafra activists were arrested in a Jewish synagogue in Aba during a prayer meeting.
A police source said the men were holding “illegal meeting,” an allegation which the men refuted, saying they were only praying in the synagogue before they were arrested.

Pa Joseph Chukwueme, father of a 49-year-old, Mr. Gregory Chukwueme, has lamented the harassment of his son by security agencies for being a member of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/01/father-laments-harassment-exiled-son-ipob-link/

IPOB made the allegation in reaction to the arrest of its members from the Shalom Synagogue Church of Israel in Aba, Abia State.

We want to bring it to the notice of the entire world what IPOB in particular and Biafrans are suffering in general at the hands of this Buhari administration. The world must therefore prevail upon Nigeria to desist from this blatant religious persecution and release those in their custody.
“Members of the Shalom Synagogue of Israel in Aba did not commit any crime known to law. They are a spiritual congregation merely being persecuted for their spiritual connection to the holy land of Israel.
“It is the responsibility of the government and people of Israel as custodians of the Judaic faith to rise to this challenge the same way Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries defend Muslim faithful all over the world”.
 Security operatives whose constitutional role is to protect the lives and property of citizens, have now turned to instruments of oppression against innocent civilian populations.
“Arresting members of Shalom Christian Church because they are connected to the Jews in Israel is religious discrimination of the worst kind. Every religion has a root and in as much as nobody can deny that Saudi Arabia is the root of Islam, nobody can deny that Israel is the foundation of both Judaism and later Christianity. Discrimination based of religious affiliation to Israel is misplaced and a crime against the very principles of freedom of worship and association.
“Since President Trump announced US recognition of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel, the wave of arbitrary arrests and persecution of Biafrans that practice Judaism in Aba and Igweocha (Port Harcourt) have dramatically increased.
“Nigerian Government, by towing this path, is setting a very ugly and dangerous precedent. Those arrested for their faith must be released immediately including all those illegally detained for expressing their legitimately held views that they are better off in Biafra than Nigeria.




IPOB made the allegation in reaction to the arrest of its members from the Shalom Synagogue Church of Israel in Aba, Abia State.
The pro-Biafra group stated that said it was unfortunate that the Nigerian government through the instrumentality of the police and the Department of State Services, DSS, have reduced themselves to playing the role of religious police.
In a statement by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, the group stressed that the police and DSS have effectively constituted themselves into instruments with which enemies of Israel in the Nigerian government are now using to suppress those practicing Judaism.
The statement reads, “It is on record that IPOB activities are firmly anchored on the finest Judeo-Christian traditions, which has made Biafrans and IPOB in particular the target of these state sponsored indiscriminate and arbitrary arrests of innocent civilians by agents of Nigerian government in pursuit of an Islamist agenda. There has been repeated raids of synagogues and places of worship in Aba and Igweocha (Port Harcourt) respectively.    
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on Wednesday alleged that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is persecuting people of the South East.