NIGERIAN FORMER SENATOR ARRETED IN SAUDI ARABIA

Senator Hassan Barata was arrested by Saudi Arabian authorities after he was found travelling with a revoked diplomatic passport and claiming to be an employee of the Nigerian Embassy, a claim that was found to be false.

Barata was a former chairman of the Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism. He represented the Adamawa South Senatorial District between 2011 and 2015 as a PDP lawmaker. He defected to APC last February but returned to the PDP after losing the APC governorship ticket bid.

 The Federal Government has earlier directed the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to retrieve diplomatic and official passports from unauthorized holders.

The Nation

INCREDIBLE: NIPPLE THAT WAS BITTEN OFF AS EXHIBIT IN COURT

The story about a woman named Adelowo Taiwo, whose nipple was bitten off during a fight with her neighbor at their compound in Shasha, Lagos sub-urban (read here). Well, this is the nipple that was bitten off shown as exhibit in court.

UPDATE: UNICAL SUSPENDS PROFESSOR NDIFON FOLLOWING ALLEGATION THAT HE RAPED A 20-YEAR OLD STUDENT

Professor Cyril Ndifon, Dean of the Faculty of Law University of Calabar, has been suspended by the authorities of the school following an allegation that he raped a 20-year-old 400-level student (names withheld) in his office on August 29th. Read the story here

Confirming the incident, the Public Relations Officer of the University of Calabar, Effiong Eyo, said the school authority was investigating the matter.

“A panel has been set up to look into the matter. The authorities are looking seriously into it,” Eyo said.

The Cross Rivers state state Police Public Relations Officer, Hogan Bassey, confirmed they were also investigating the matter “The case of rape or sexual assault requires discreet investigation and we have to handle it with care.”

YORUBA: WELCOME TO OYOTUNJI VILLAGE IN SOUTH CAROLINA

This is Oyotunji village in South Carolina. The community was founded by a black America named Walter Eugene King who was born on October 5, 1928 in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

Eugene went to the Cass Technical High School and got fascinated by the African culture. He also got exposed to the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe at the age of 20 which increased his love for the African culture, particularly that of the Yorubas.

On August 26, 1959, Eugene became the first African born in America to become fully initiated into the Orisa-Vodun African priesthood by African Cubans in Matanzas, Cuba. This marked the beginning of the spread of Yoruba religion and culture among African Americans.

With a few followers, and after dissolution of the Order of Damballah Hwedo, Eugene founded the Sango Temple in New York and incorporated the African Theological Arch Ministry in 1960. The Sango Temple was relocated and renamed the Yoruba Temple the same year.

In the fall of 1970, Eugene founded the Yoruba Village of Oyotunji in Beaufort County South Carolina, and began the careful reorganization of the Orisa-Vodu Priesthood along traditional Nigerian lines. He was initiated to the Ifa priesthood by the Oluwa of Ijeun at Abeokuta, Nigeria, in August of 1972.

He was named king of Oyotunji community in 1972 with the designation,  His Royal Highness Oba (King) Ofuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I, born Baba Adefunmi. He later died and his son, Adefunmi Adejuyigbe took over as king.

MAN NARRATES HOW HE SPENT 15-YEAR IN PRISON FOR MURDER OF CHIEF ALFRED REWANE..A CRIME HE DIDN'T COMMIT

Nigerian police and their kangaroo investigations! The story of a man identified as Effiong Elemi-Edu, who was imprisoned for 15 years for the murder of politician,Chief Alfred Rewane, will amaze you, narrating his ordeal to Aljazeera, Effiong  who is from Cross Rivers, said on October 6th 1995 in the Ikeja part of Lagos state, he had gone out to buy ‘suya’ for himself and his wife when suddenly he heard gunshots. According to him, he took cover and later decided to run to his house. As he made the move to run home, he was halted by an order from a police officer.



"I stopped. There were police officers, lots of them."

They asked him where he was going and he told them but instead of letting him go on his way, the officers pushed him into their vehicle and accused him of being an armed robber.

"I didn't understand what they meant because I was not carrying any weapon on me, just the money I was going to use to buy suya. They took us, myself and one other guy to SARS [Special Anti-Robbery Squad] at Ikeja, where they kept me under a tree. Later, they came and took me to the 'theatre'. There, there were two drums filled with sand. I was tied like a goat, two of my hands at my back; they crossed an iron rod at my back, and then hanged me" He said he hung in that position for One hour, 20 minutes.

"They tried to force me to admit I was an armed robber - they even shot me in the leg. I have never robbed anyone in my life. I was just a young man struggling to save money to get admission into a higher institution to further my education."

Effiong who had a dream of becoming a mass communicator had his hope dashed because an influential politician Delta state, Alfred Rewane, had been assassinated that morning by unknown gunmen at his residence in Ikeja GRA, a few hundred metres from Effiong's home.

Effiong was in the wrong place at the wrong time

"They held me for days. There was no phone at that time and there was no way for me to get in touch with my family. It was my wife who learned about it. I think the people who saw me when I was taken away told her. Then she travelled home to inform my mother. They wanted me to copy a statement they had written to say that I am an armed robber and that‎ I conspired with the others in the murder of Rewane. I refused. They beat me till my face was covered with blood which was pouring from my left ear.‎ I didn't want to die, so I recopied the statement in my own handwriting. The statement is what they used in implicating us. As I was recopying the statement, the only thing on my mind was that I didn't do anything and that my God will let everyone know the truth. It was later that one of the‎ policemen came to tell us that he was sorry, that it was an order from above.‎ Later, they charged eight of us with the murder of the man. I don't know the man, never heard of him. Those that I was charged with murder with, I had never seen any of them in my life."he said.

After being tortured and forced to admit guilt, seven of the men were arraigned before a high court, and sent to Kirikiri prison to await trial. But when the men arrived at the prison, prison officials insisted that the police take them to hospital to have their wounds treated. Instead, they took them to a police station - where four of the men subsequently died, reportedly due to the injuries sustained while being tortured by the police.

"The torture and suffering were too much," Effiong reflects.

Rewane's killing was later linked to the military junta of Nigeria's then dictator, the late Sani Abacha. But Effiong and two other men - Elvis Irenuma and Lucky Igbinovia, who had both worked for Rewane - continued to languish in prison.

Then, after 15 years, more than 200 adjournments and the prosecution's inability to produce any evidence linking the suspects to the crime‎, the trial judge discharged the case and acquitted the suspects, upholding a 'no case submission' made by the defence counsel.

"It appears to me that all the police did was to visit the venue of the incident and arrest the workers," the judge declared in her judgement.

So it was that, 15 years after they were arrested, three of the seven arraigned men - Effiong Elemi-Edu, Lucky Igbinovia and Elvis Irenuma - walked out of prison.

But gone was the fit 25-year-old who was picked up that night. In his place was a balding 40-year-old man who walks with a limp,  a constant reminder of the torture he endured.

"I spoke with Lucky recently, he's in Switzerland now," Effiong says. "I don't know what he is doing there. We speak but not regularly. [And] I saw Elvis in June this year. I am supposed to call him, only I don't have enough units in my phone."

As for Effiong, things are not going according to plan.

"I've been facing a lot of challenges, accommodation-wise, money-wise. I need to get my own place. Right now I'm squatting with my brother and his wife in a one-room apartment. That's why I'm praying to God to help me get a place of my own. "When we were over there [in prison] ... at times these churches [would] ... come over to visit. Immediately [when] you ... come out and say you want to go to church and give a testimony, they will look at you and say 'Where is this guy going?' Once, somebody came out [and] they accommodated him. [But] ... the guy packed everything away [stole from them]. So they [the churches] stopped helping other people."

Early on in his imprisonment, his wife would visit him. But the visits stopped without warning, and when Effiong was released, he heard that she had remarried. He had no idea where to begin looking for her.
Two years later, Effiong also remarried. His new wife, Juliet, lives in Cross River, where Effiong is originally from.

"My daughter is one year and four months now. I'm yet to set my eyes on [her]. Her name is Rose. They sent her picture to me. [But] I haven't travelled home to Cross River since 2013 because financially I'm not okay‎. I'm so down. If I see money now, I will travel home today, today, today. I can't tell you a lie, life has not been easy. What will I do? It's only by the special grace of God that one is surviving and living. Things are really so tough in the sense that I just leave everything to God. These days I watch football. Then listen to gospel songs. If I'm alone, I just go through my Bible. They wasted my time. They wasted the talent that God gave to me. At times it pains me, when I look at the way things are going. I know the level my friends are at now. Is it not my classmate in secondary school that is a commissioner in Cross River? The other one is working in Central Bank. The other one is a lawyer in Port Harcourt. But I don't dwell on those things. If I do, one day I'll just be struck down by a stroke. So I have to put all those things behind me [and] let the will of God be done."he said

Source: Aljazeera