Fulani herdsmen on the lose: *As they rape, steal, destroy crops; *While community lives in fear of famine

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

Villagers of Ubima community, Gov Chibuike Amaechi’s hometown, in Ikwerre local government area of River State, are at the verge of going to war with the itinerant Fulani herdsmen. They are running out of patience with the herdsmen who have vehemently refused all entreaties to give peace a chance.

According to the villagers, the community’s trouble started some three years ago when the herdsmen invaded their farmland with their cattle. Their coming into the community’s farm had brought tears, bitterness, untold hardship, sorrow, anguish and agony. They started with grazing in the community’s farm, stealing animals caught by the traps laid by the village hunters and gradually graduated to raping women who go to farm without men.

The farmland is made of various adjoining roads known as farm roads, which belong to different families. Some of the farm roads municipally known as “Uzor,” are: Uzor Akpohia, Uzor Omuogube, Uzor Umuacho, Uzor Omuokunya, Uzor Omu-Oforu, Uzor Ahia, Uzor Mini and Uzor Ogbede among others.

On May 15, Daily Sun published the story of how the women of Ubima staged a peaceful protest to the Rivers State Government House with the headline, “Women protest alleged rape by Fulani herdsmen.”

Speaking on the plight of the villagers, the leader of Ubima Farmers’ Association, Mrs Gladys Amadi, who also led the women on protest to government house, Port Harcourt, said that before the women went on the peaceful protest, they had made several peace moves including writing a petition through their lawyer, Odinaka O. Dimkpa. In the letter, they appealed for government intervention to avert the impending bloodbath.

Living in Jankara: Disease epidemic looms

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

On Boxing Day, December 26, 2012, when the four-storey building at 44 Ojo Giwa Street, Jankara in Lagos Island Local Government Area, went up in flames, and affected o about 13 other buildings within the vicinity, the media as well as several government agencies and Nigerians were attracted to the area.  The fire, which was alleged to have started as a result of a spark from the fireworks packed in one of the shops, exposed the good, the bad and the ugly of living in Jankara. Media reports also revealed that the proximity of one building from the other within the area exacerbated the fire incident.

However, when Sunday Sun visited the area, it was discovered that life was hellish for the residents who are at the imminent risk of disease epidemic if urgent step is not taken. This is because the Onijegi Canal which opens from the Ojo Giwa Street through the Jankara extension and emptied into the lagoon by Adeniji Adele area of the Island is a health disaster waiting to happen. Sources informed our reporter that all the drainages in the Island are channelled to the Canal, which in turn empties into the lagoon at Adeniji Adele. 

Living in UK: How Nigerians survive through prostitution, arrange marriage, drug business; How Employment agencies short-change them

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

In recent times, media organisations as well as Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have tried in their own little way to highlight the plight of African immigrants in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom (UK). The picture being painted of the predicament of most Nigerians in the UK is so disturbing and alarming that it leaves one wondering why Nigerians have chosen to subject themselves to such unnecessary hardship. They will readily justify their quest to jet out of Nigeria with the old cliché that the economic situation in Nigeria has made it impossible for one to secure meaningful employment. Hence, they relish on the delusion that in UK, there are jobs for any willing hand.

But if the information emanating from the home country of the Nigeria’s erstwhile colonial overlords, the UK, is anything to go by, then it will be right to conclude that most immigrants go to UK oblivious of what awaits them. Life in the UK is tough, rough and better imagined than experienced.

The big porn market: Porn sites are the most visited – Psychologist

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

Like a thunderstorm, pornographic materials found a solid bearing in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria, especially in the city centres. They come in both motion and still pictures. And most Nigerians seem to enjoy watching them secretly in their closets. With such discovery, the apostles of these obscene pictures upped their ante by printing and selling them in a magazine format like newspapers. Most Nigerians, especially womenfolk would catch a glance and sigh or pout or even pretend as if they have just seen Satan, but right inside them, they would want to have more viewing sessions if not for what people will say.

A couple of years back, the sight of porn magazines was everywhere in the city of Lagos. Then, it appeared as if any vendor who didn’t display such magazines didn’t know what he was doing or probably didn’t want to increase sales and make profit.

But, it got to a point when the Lagos state government prohibited the display of such pictures in the public. The move by the state government was to protect the under-aged and teenagers from the devastating and harmful influence such pictures would have on them.

Much as the move was applauded, the brains behind the sordid business only complied with the order just for the moment when the ovation was high.

Today, they are back in the game with a renewed vigour, but this time, instead of using the video which would instantly give them away, they have resorted to the use of magazine.

One would think it is a news magazine because of other pseudo stories the pictures are laced with but the truth is that the porn business is back and booming.

When our reporter visited some of the newspaper stands where these obscene magazines are displayed, about two of them were dominating the market. They are ‘Temptation’ sold for N100 a copy and ‘Banana Love’ also sold for the same amount. To the apostles of this obscene business, it doesn’t matter if children are watching them; what matters to them is the profit margin.

Driving is medicinal to me – female commercial driver

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

“What a man can do, a woman can do even better,” is a popular cliché by proponents of women liberation movement in Nigeria. The statement has not only become popular, it has also been proved to be realistic looking at several areas of human endeavours that women are actively involved in today.

As several women are creating lasting impressions in various professional fields as well as in politics, Mrs Yemisi Ogbara from Ilesha in Osun State, has also been representing womenfolk very well in the area of commercial driving. There are other women who are into commercial driving but they are mainly taxi drivers, who ply their business within the state of their residence. It is uncommon to find women who drive long buses for a long distance journey, like Yemisi.

The Ilesa-born Yemisi, who now drives her own 30-seater bus from Lagos to Seme, Cotonou in Benin Republic, said her commercial driving experience dates back to 1989, when she started driving a 504 Peugeot Wagon in Kano. Although, she was based in Kano where her husband then lived, her route was from Kano to Ibadan in Oyo State. She said her experiences with the policemen on the road made things very difficult for her and almost discouraged her, but because of her love for the job, coupled with her determination to prove that she could not just be intimidated because of her sex, she persisted. Today, according to her, the story is different; women now engage in commercial driving without any molestation, unlike what obtained during her early days in the job when policemen didn’t think that a woman was qualified to undertake such strenuous venture.

 “I drove intermittently because policemen on road block were always disturbing me. They would ask how I managed to get a driver’s license because then, it was strange for a woman to drive for such a long distance. Even stranger then was for a woman to engage in commercial driving,” she informed.

SIN CITY: Hard drugs, alcohol daily diets Women display breasts 24/7 Men gamble, watch x-rated movies all day

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

The enclave of Ijora Badia in Apapa/Ajeromi area council of Lagos State is a constellation of absurdity. It is indeed a melange of miscreants, roughnecks, gangsters, fraudsters and prostitutes. It is an enclave situated along the railway line that runs from Ijora to Iddo. The environment is filthy with euglena infested brackish lagoon, which harbours dangerous reptiles and breeds mosquitoes in their millions.

From Ijora bus-stop, a macadamized road which links the bus-stop with the Ijora Badia railway line community gives a wrong impression of where it leads to. On both sides of the link road are shops that display different wares ranging from electronic equipments to clothes, shoes, bags among other articles of trade. But the end of the link road exposes one to the railway line habitat which bubbles with plethora of indecent and unspeakable activities.

By the swampy side of the railway are clusters of large wooden cabin suspended up to six feet on top of the brackish lagoon. There are several of such accommodation housing half naked, haggard, dishevelled, fierce-looking women of all sizes, shapes and ages. In fact, one could rightly say the cabins are brothels on the lagoon. By 12 noon when our reporter visited the enclave, some of the women especially the older ones appeared worn-out with bulging, sleepy red eyes, which was an indication that they must have had a busy night the previous day. It is also an indication that business is booming. Even as they intermittently shut their eyes and nod their heads involuntarily as they fight against sleep trying to envelope them, reliable sources revealed that they are still ready for action if a customer calls.

Sodom and Gomorrah in Lagos

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

For most residents of Lagos State, Agboju in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, is not a popular place, save for people living around  Mile 2, Festac, Ojo Barracks, Okokomaiko down to Badagry axis. Names like Ajegunle, Ijora Olopa or Badia as well as Obalende are widely known by over 90 percent of Lagos residents; even if for negative activities, at least they are known but not Agboju.

Even for the very few who are conversant with Agboju, the name Itiro is out of it. Itiro is a very small habitat; very obscure and quiet such that not many who trade even in the Agboju market are aware of its existence. It is an alley that links the Old Ojo Road with the Mile 2 – Badagry Expressway. Located behind the root and herb market in Agboju by Mile 2-Badagry Expressway and directly opposite Baale Street by the Old Ojo Road, Itiro bubbles 24 hours every day. It is a beehive of morally depraved activities.

It is home to all kinds of absurdities. It relishes in the bad and the ugly. It harbours prostitutes of the weirdest class, serial rapists as well as drug and alcoholic addicts.

Man loses wife to pastor

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

“What God has joined together, let no man put asunder,” is a popular verse in the bible, which is probably cited at any Christian wedding ceremony by the officiating priest or pastor. But, when men who join couples together as husband and wife before the children of God in the house of God and who advise them to defend the biblical injunction with their last breath, allow themselves to be the instrument with which such injunction is broken, it raises a lot of questions. When Jude Emeka Isaac from Ogunwukwu village, Ntueke in Ideato South Local Government Area of Imo State walked down the aisle with then Miss Cynthia Osunbor, ‘his sweet sixteen,’ from Igbanke in Edo State, he got the same advice alongside his heartthrob. He went ahead to seal up the injunction with another one like it, ‘till death do us part.’ But all that has been thrown to the wind. Three years after the couple wedded at Ss. Joachim & Anne Catholic Church, Omoroga, FHA Estate Meiran, Agbado-Ijaiye area of Lagos State, the two biblical injunctions have since assumed different meanings to them. Right now, both couples are still alive but they are no longer living together as husband and wife. Their marriage that was joined together by God on November 6, 2010 as witnessed by the congregation at the above-mentioned Catholic Church has been severed by man. That much was revealed by Mr Isaac himself who alleged that a certain pastor (names withheld by us) of one of the Pentecostal churches located at Agbado-Ijaiye, Ojokoro Local Government Area of Lagos State currently co-habits with his wife. 

Unknown man defiles 2-year-old baby in school

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

Men of the Nigeria Police, Lagos State Command, Ikeja, have set their brains cracking to unravel the mystery man who defiled a two-year-old baby in her school. The case was transferred to the Commissioner of Police, X Squad, Unit D, State Headquarters, Ikeja from the Ajamgbadi Police Station where it was initially reported.

The two-year old only child was discovered by her mother to have been defiled after she was brought back from school by the school bus. According to the baby’s mother, Mrs Okoye, her baby attends Salvation Nursery/Primary School, Shibiri, where she pays as high as N17, 800 per term. She said she would always take her to school while the school bus dropped her at home after school hours. That, according to her, has been the routine, but on that fateful Tuesday, July 16, she discovered to her amazement blood stains in the baby’s private parts, after the school bus had dropped her and left.

Okrika gas leakage: We want the pipes buried – Residents cry out · Say it’s a time bomb

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

“He limps till today. It happened in 1993. We were in Junior Secondary School, Form III and we used to play on the surface pipelines because we didn’t know the danger it posed to our lives. Then, one day, one of my friends, Patrick Solomon Ogoh slipped and his right leg was stuck in between the gas pipes. Unfortunately, that was when the refinery was pumping gas, so the pipes were pressured and they expanded and squeezed Patrick’s left leg in the process. The hotness of the pipes due to the gas pressure burnt the flesh on the leg until it got to the bone. He cried for help but before the company could get information, the damage had been done. Today, Patrick, a 35-year-old man limps and bears unquenchable anger against the Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHCR), a subsidiary of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), whose property the pipelines are, for his fate and for not caring about him ever since the incident some 20 years ago.” That was Sunny Agbani’s description of how the gas pipeline that traversed Ibulya Ama community in Okrika land, disabled one of his secondary school mates in 1993.

For the people of Ibuluya Ama, Koniju Town, Okrika in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, February 9, 2013 will never be forgotten in a hurry. It will remain fresh in their memory as a black day in the annals of the ancient community not because what happened on that fateful day never happened before but because it was the worst of its kind. It was the day the entire community was engulfed by poisonous gas resulting from the PHRC gas pipelines leakage.

Behold Nigeria’s oldest prison: 112-yr-old Ida Prison - a prison within prison

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

Located in the quiet, stony ancient Ida, the headquarters of Igala Kingdom in Kogi State, North-central Nigeria, Ida Prison built in 1901 by the British colonialists, is unarguably the oldest existing prison in Nigeria at present. An outsider who sees the prison’s high fence would begin to wonder if it has existed for that length of time since it has the semblance of other prison fences across the country. But that is the fence built by the federal government of Nigeria much later to give the colonial prison a modern outlook. As you wade through the tight security at the main gate, you will find yourself inside a compound that serves as the frontage of the administrative block which forms part of the modern fence. Then, right in front of you is the ancient building with all the attributes of an antiquity. Divided into two wings of male and female sections and a kitchen standing in-between, there appears a small and narrow entrance into the main prison compound, which is made of a very thick and strong iron rod. A peep through the narrow gate quickly brings into focus, inmates seated in clusters and chatting. The impenetrable walls are made of stones and the roofing appears to have suffered so much under the weather elements. But, they are still very solid from all indication, although the zinc looks rusty; an indication that they could be leaking when it rains.

From death to life: How 38-yr-old man was acquitted after seven yrs on death row · His wife abandoned after death sentence

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)
“God is awesome. Nobody could understand Him because his ways are different from our ways. He restores hope to the hopeless. He makes the dry bones to rise again. He is wonderful and incomprehensible.” Those were the correct English translation of what 38-year-old Ahmed Salami, from Okene in Igbira Local Government Area of kogi State, muttered in ‘Pidgin English’ on July 8, 2013, after he miraculously escaped the hangman’s noose. Ahmed had spent seven years in prison on death row, having been sentenced to death by hanging by an Abeokuta High Court for armed robbery. But like the saying goes: “Man proposes but God disposes.” God’s awesomeness manifested when a human rights lawyer, who preferred anonymity stumbled over Ahmed’s case file at a High Court in Ibadan, and decided to seek justice for the helpless Ahmed who had resigned his fate to God.

How customs officers battered me – Iloka

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

The story of assault and battery on the defenceless civilians by both the military and Para-military men in Nigeria is no longer news. What baffles most Nigerians is that the issues that lead to suck attacks are always so infinitesimal; matters that ordinarily could not have even attracted a mere argument, let alone assault. 

The case of a middle-aged restaurant and bar operator on 202 roads, Festac town, Lagos, Mr CY Iloka, who narrowly escaped death in the hands of some customs officers, has again increased the tally. The Abatete in Idemili Local Government Area of Anambra State-born Iloka bears a bold bandage on his forehead. Beneath the bold bandage, according to him, are two deep cuts. He sustained the cuts when some power-hungry customs officers from the Festac Command of the Nigerian Customs went berserk, threw decorum to the wind and descended heavily on him. But he is still thankful to God for sparing his life by giving him the strength to escape when it was evident to him that the mission was to leave him permanently disabled thereafter.