“Can they barge into a Mosque without permission?” – MFM replies SaharaReporters

After several days of subtle threats and manoeuvres, the authorities of the Mountain of Fire Church has released a public statement in which it tried to justify the abuse and detention of a SaharaReporters team during its recent New Year’s eve service.
In the event, previously reported by SaharaReporters, the church task force, police and the State Security Service molested and illegally detained Saharareporters’ crew during a “cross-over” night service on December 31, 2012.
In a statement signed by Pastor Oladele Bank –Olemoh, the chairman of the church’s Publicity Committee, MFM said that it has an open door policy as regards the media, and that many journalists were accredited to cover the
cross over night.
“Sahara crew never applied and was never accredited as one of the media organizations to cover the event, nevertheless, they were allowed inside the prayer city to film the event, and the crew was only stopped when they went beyond the parameters allowed for media men.”
The statement said nothing about the harassment meted out to the reporters, the illegal detention, or the degrading treatment.
Nor did it say anything about previous contacts between SaharaReporters and MFM PR teams following the publication of our story.
MFM’s statement followed days of covert pranks by the church staff and a former journalist of The Guardian newspaper, Idowu Ajanaku, who we learnt was hurriedly assigned the role to end the bad publicity against the church.
On January 8, Mr. Ajanaku called the publisher of Saharareporters, Omoyele Sowore, to express the “shock and disappointment” of the MFM General Overseer, Daniel Olukoya regarding the conduct of the church “Prayer City Task Force” in the molestation, false arrest and detention of his team by MFM Church’s security teams.
Mr. Ajanaku promised that the General Overseer was unaware of the cruel and degrading treatment and wanted to apologize to the SR crew.
Curiously, the same Ajanaku then said he would send to SaharaReporters Dr. Olukoya’s telephone numbers so that the reporters could call him and accept his apologies on behalf of MFM, and shortly after, delivered by text message two special telephone lines for Dr. Olukoya.
But Mr. Sowore replied that he was not interested in calling the overseer when it was his people that had abused and violated the rights of the reporters on church premises. Ajanaku’s response by text was that there were many versions of the incident and that the GO would like to hear directly from Mr. Sowore and his crew.
Mr. Sowore declined the invitation, insisting that the GO carry out independent findings on his own.
While that angle was in progress, it turned out that the GO had called Lagos blogger Seyi Macaulay and threatened “no one fights MFM and survives.”
Dr. Olukoya told Macaulay that he felt SaharaReporters had taken him for granted, but Macaulay said he told the pastor that it was necessary that the church make amends as the video published by SaharaReporters clearly shows that the crew was maltreated. Dr. Olukoya would later reveal to Macaulay that he saw things playing out while he was preaching that night and asked Macaulay to let Sowore know that he would be calling to apologize.
Macaulay then called Sowore to intimate him of the developments, including a statement that the GO gave him an appointment for an interview with the blogger.
Macaulay reported later that when he arrived for the interview at the church premises in Lagos, he met young church members on Facebook and the SaharaReporters website writing anonymous comments to condemn the Saharareporters crew.
The underhanded method had been in effect on the website for several days by church members who posed as different people to post comments on the website vilifying SaharaReporters. From members of a church that professes love and tolerance, the anonymous comments delivered various threats, insults and condemnations.
But the church’s statement by Pastor Bank –Olemoh attributed MFM’s “open door” media policy to its conviction that it is in the ‘interest of the public.’
The church then sought to justify its action of harassing and molesting the journalists on security challenges in the country, presumably in the North.
“In view of the security challenges facing the nation and the body of Christ in particular, MFM has the right to monitor the movement of people in and around our church premises”, the statement said.
Trying to prove that SaharaReporters was wrong and further needlessly demonizing northern Nigerian Muslims, the statement asked: “Can Sahara barge into a Mosque to cover an event without permission?”
Answer: Our crew in the North once covered for two years covered “great treks” by Muslim sects of the Shiites denomination walking long distance from Kogi, Niger, Lagos, Nassarawa, Abuja and Lokoja to Zaria. SaharaReporters crew in the North has attended breakfast meeting with Muslims several times without molestation. Our crewmembers have attended several events at the Sultan Bello mosque in Kaduna to cover sermons given by Sheikh Gumi and reported several of them on this page.
When in Zaria we attended event by Shiites, led by El Zazzaky, inside the sect’s Mosque without molestation or harassment–without prior accreditation.

Members of the sect even offered us water and food, but the same cannot be said for out detention at MFM, where we were denied water even when we offered to buy.
At the cross-over event, the MFM members were hostile, bestial and intolerant, not only to us but petty ware sellers that converged on the church to make a living. We repeat that some of those poor traders were being openly whipped and that one man was chained to a door close to the dirty toilets at the church’s security post.
Members of MFM may also like to hear that two days after our nightmarish experience at their church, we “barged” into a Masquerade festival in Erekiti, Ondo State. As a forthcoming footage on Youtube will show, the masquerades and their handlers were nice and warm to us in broad daylight, in complete contrast to our experience in the church.
MFM asked: “Is Sahara which is based in The United State of America saying it does not know the normal procedure for covering an event?”
Answer: In the United States we can “barge” into churches and shoot videotape as long as the church invites the public to their crusade or service. Television stations routinely enter churches uninvited to carry out their journalistic duties.
But above all, it is important to state that these contradictory and childish questions has already been answered by the MFM church by stating in its release that we duly asked permission and was granted permission by church officials after declaring our intention to film the “Cross Over” service, in fact, three times during our sojourn in the church auditorium we had our identity cards checked by church officials after fully disclosing that we wanted to get to film Dr. Olukoya up close.
SaharaReporters would like to state that there was no way its crew could have gone beyond the spot allowed them by the church who showed them the way to their location in the massive auditorium because Dr. Olukoya operated exclusively from a heavily guarded fenced perimeter where his podium was located. At no time did our crew go beyond the perimeter before the church task force attacked us.
MFM asked: “Can Sahara barge into an event in USA to cover without an accreditation?”
Answer: Yes. The US maintains an open society, as restated recently by President Barack Obama when a public petition drive targeted a British national, Piers Morgan of CNN, because he “barged” into internal American politics by asking for gun control.
It should be noted that most Nigerian journalists who apply for accreditation to cover events do so to collect honorarium, otherwise known as ‘brown envelopes,’ at events. The practice of accreditation has imposed strong limitations on the ability of most Nigerian journalists to perform their duties independently, conduct investigations, and work without fear or favor. It is the reason that over 25 Nigerian journalists accredited by MFM for the cross-over missed one of the most important events of that night or failed to report it even though they saw it: the arrest and abuse of the SaharaReporters crew.
Finally, the church deliberately left out from its statement, two key questions. The first is the illegal imprisonment and roughening -up of the reporters for four hours.
The second is that SaharaReporters also wrote about the brutal treatment, seizure of equipment, and illegal detention of some teenagers within the church premises for selling Christian literature, praise and worship song notes, handkerchiefs and petty items. MFM, self-absorbed, also ignored this.
The Statement by Pastor Oladele Bank-Olemoh:
The attention of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries has been drawn to a story on SaharaReporters, alleging how Mr. Omowole Sowore and his crew were mishandled at the cross over night at prayer city on January 1st 2013.
In as much as we don’t want to join issues with the media organization, we hereby state our position as regards the issue for the benefit of the public.
MFM has an open door policy as regards the media, as many journalists were accredited to cover the cross over night.
Besides, the event was live on social media. Sahara crew never applied and was never accredited as one of the media organizations to cover the event, nevertheless, they were allowed inside the prayer city to film the event, and the crew was only stopped when they went beyond the parameters allowed for media men.
In view of the security challenges facing the nation and the body of Christ in particular, MFM has the right to monitor the movement of people in and around our church premises.
Can Sahara barge into a Mosque to cover an event without permission?
Is Sahara which is based in The United State of America saying it does not know the normal procedure for covering an event?
Can Sahara barge into an event in USA to cover without an accreditation? Therefore, we appeal to the media to respect the authority of the church just as our doors are open to media organizations in the discharge of duties.
God bless you all.
Signed
Pastor Oladele Bank – Olemoh.
Chair Mfm Publicity committee

EFCC Arrests Aides Of Nigerian Billionaire, Folorunsho Alakija For Fraud

An aide of Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, Chief Executive Officer, The Rose of Sharon, a Non-Governmental Organization, Mr Vincent Ayewah and six others have been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in a case of abuse of office, conspiracy, forgery, impersonation and theft of N3million (Three million naira only).

Their arrest was the sequel to a petition by Alakija, alleging that Vincent, one of her employees fraudulently misappropriated the funds meant for the beneficiaries of the foundation’s empowerment scheme. She alleged that he impersonated and stole various cheques and withdrew monies meant for orphans and widows in care of the Foundation.
Vincent allegedly forged cheques of the Foundation’s Stanbic IBTC Bank Account and got one Miss Florence Ayewah and their friends to cash the forged cheques by presenting them with fake identity cards.
In the course of investigation, it was discovered that Vincent used his position to enlist his family members as beneficiaries of the scheme.
Specifically, the Foundation had been able to prove his mother who is a widow in a petty trade and was paying the school fees of his sister, Florence Ayewah who is a student of Lagos City Polytechnic.

Vincent confessed that he fell for the scam due to his poor upbringing and being the only bread winner of his family.

He admitted that when cheques are ready for some beneficiaries of the Foundation, “I divert them and get my siblings and friends to cash at banks, I also arrange ID cards bearing the name on cheques with their faces on it for bank clearance”.

Florence was arrested at a Stanbic IBTC bank in Lagos while trying to cash a forged Cheque number 03378 in the sum of N97, 000 in favour of one Ms Olubunmi Juliana Ishola
Besides Vincent, six other members of the syndicate involved in the scam and who have also been arrested are George Ehizibolo, Onwuwa David, Okonkwo Chikadibia, Emmanuel Ayewah, Florence Ayewah and Chinyere Awanah
Vincent admitted having at, various times, sent his younger sister, Florence and her friend Chinyere and his younger brother Emmanuel to banks with fake identity cards. He also admitted having acquired a Honda Accord car with registration number: UA 845 AAA from the proceeds of crime.
The suspects will be arraigned in court soon.

Owners of ‘arrested’ goats fined N10,000 by OWMA

The owners of the five goats arrested by officials of Osun state Waste Management Agency OWMA, at Dele-Yesa area of Osogbo, Osun state on the 8th of Jan have been ordered to pay a sum of N10,000 each as fine to the coffers of the state government.
Mr. Henry Ogunbanwo, Director of Environmental Management and Sanitation in the Agency, disclosed this in Oshogbo over the weekend.
He noted that any of the owners of the goats, who failed to pay the fine within seven days would lose his or her goat.
Ogunbanwo emphasised that the agency was acting in accordance with the provisions of the article 101 of the 2002 laws of Osun State which prohibits rearing of animals in residential areas, stressing that the agency had the backing of the court.
He further explained that the Agency had been empowered by a court of competent jurisdiction to arrest any animal roaming around residential areas within the state.
It would be recalled that residents of Dele-Yesa area, Osogbo, Osun state were taken by surprise on Tuesday, when the officials of Osun State Waste Management Agency, OWMA, arrested five Goats roaming the streets.

Court sacks Oyinlola as PDP National Secretary

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The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the removal of the National Secretary of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, from office forthwith.
The court sacked Oyinlola yesterday and asked that he be put in prison for criminal disobedience of court order, following a suit against him by the party chieftains  in Osun State.
The state chapter of the PDP led by its Chairman and Secretary, Chief Adebayo Dayo and Semiu Sodipo, had in their suit, alleged that Oyinola emerged as the national scribe of the party through a kangaroo process they said was perfected by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former National Vice Chairman, PDP South West, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo.
They argued that in view of two separate judgments of a Federal High Court in Lagos that nullified the South West Zonal congress which produced Oyinlola as candidate, his continued stay in office was illegal, null and void since his candidacy had earlier been voided.
According to the plaintiffs, “something cannot be built on nothing.”

*Oyinlola

Counsel to the plaintiffs, Dr. Amaechi Nwaiwu, SAN, had formulated three questions for determination by the court among which was: “whether the candidacy of Oyinlola as a nominee of the South West Zonal Chapter of the PDP and his consequent election to the office of National Secretary at the National Convention in March 2012 were not invalid, null and void by reason of the order and judgments of the Federal High Court made respectively on April 27, 2012 in suit no FHC/L/CS/282/2012 and May 2, 2012 in suit no FHC/L/CS/347/2012 nullifying the South West zonal congress of March 2012 from which Oyinlola emerged or ought to have emerged?”
Besides asking the court to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to delete Oyinlola’s name from its records and replace same with another candidate that will emerge from a fresh zonal congress to be ordered by the court, the plaintiffs, further sought “a declaration that the candidacy of Oyinlola as a nominee of the South West Zonal chapter of the PDP and his consequent election to the office of National Secretary in March 2012 were invalid, null and void by reason of the order of the said Federal High Court on April 27, 2012.
In an affidavit deposed to by one Miss Abimbola Okuwoga, an assistant in the chambers of Nwaiwu, the plaintiffs told the court that Oyinlola was foisted on the party by ex-President Obasanjo, consequent upon which he (Oyinlola) was unanimously elected on the understanding that he was the nominee of the South West.
They said: “however, the South West Congress conducted on March 21, 2012 was nullified by the order and judgment of the Federal High Court on April  27 and another on May 2, 2012 on the ground that it violated a Federal High Court order of February 16, 2012.
“That the failure to properly nominate Oyinlola at the said congress was fatal to his candidacy.”
They further maintained that the PDP however, refused to comply with the various prohibitory and mandatory orders of courts of competent jurisdiction by allowing Oyinlola to remain in office, an action they said was capable of ridiculing the judiciary.
Oyinlola and the PDP had in separate preliminary objections, urged the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that it bothered on internal affairs of a political party which they said was non-justiceable, even as they challenged the locus-standi of the plaintiffs to institute the action.
Arguing that the suit did not disclose any reasonable cause of action, Oyinlola, further challenged the jurisdiction of the high court to entertain the matter.
In his judgment yesterday, Justice Kafarati, held that Oyinlola was not fit to continue in office as the National Secretary of the PDP, saying, his action amounted to a criminal conduct capable of attracting prison sentence for  flagrant disobedience to subsisting court orders.
Kafarati then ordered Oyinlola to vacate the office, adding that, there was merit in the suit.
According to Justice Kafarati, Oyinlola,  the third defendant in the case could not have emerged as the nominee of the PDP in view of the two subsisting court orders restraining the South West zone of the party from conducting the congress where he purportedly emerged.
The judge who relied on the provision of section 251(R) of the 1999 constitution insisted that he had jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter, noting that an order of a court must be obeyed whether valid or not, adding that any action taken by Oyinlola as the National Secretary of the PDP amounted to nullity.
Dismissing the contention of the defendants that the subject matter of the suit bothered on internal affairs of a political party, Justice Kafarati, said the suit did not arise from an activity of the PDP but aimed at enforcing a valid court order.
He said: “It is my opinion that the plaintiffs have the locus-standi to institute this action and I hold that the suit disclosed a reasonable cause of action. Therefore, the two preliminary objections filed by the second and third defendants are hereby dismissed. The election of the third defendant (Oyinlola) was a breach of valid court orders. All the three questions raised by the plaintiffs are hereby answered in the affirmative and reliefs four and five are granted as prayed.”

Nigeria deploys troops to Mali

Nigerian troops will be deployed to Mali where  militants have launched an insurgent attack on the northern part of the country and are threatening to over run the state capital Bamako.
President Goodluck Jonathan who stated this in Abuja, Monday,  said Nigerian troops will be deployed before next week to Mali to help restore peace to that country.
He stated this when he hosted members of the diplomatic corps resident in Nigeria to cocktail Monday  evening.
According to him, all hands must be on deck to fight extremism as no country knows when it will be her turn.
“We are confronted presently with a situation in Mali, let me assure you and the global community that as a nation we will work with other nations to make sure that the problem in Mali is solved.

“Already our technical team are already in Mali so definitely the Nigerian troops will be in Mali before next week.
“Of course we members of ECOWAS  are meeting this weekend. Our expectation is that by next week most other ECOWAS countries that pledged troops would have sent them so that our men will be on ground to assist Mali to liberate the country.
“We can no longer surrender any part of the globe to extremism, because it doesn’t pay and we don’t know the next victim. We must collectively discourage individuals or group of individuals that will take laws in to their hands and make the world a place that is not safe for all of us”.
President Jonathan expressed his appreciation to all the heads of governments that stood by Nigeria during her trying times of floods, Dana and Helicopter crashes, terrorism attacks, the death of his younger brother and other tragedies.
“I want to through you thank your heads of governments for standing with us at our various challenges and difficult moments. During the floods, the terrorism attacks, the air mishaps of Dana and the helicopter crashes and when I lost my brother.
“I also want to thank them for the support and goodwill for my administration last year and I look forward to work for our mutual benefits.

Now who can stop the PDP governors?

SENATOR Jibril Aminu’s frustrations after failing to bring Governor Murtala Nyako under control could not be hidden at the press conference penultimate Sunday in Yola, the Adamawa State capital. Blurting out his anger over how governors had ganged up to bolster Nyako, a man who only few years ago was his political disciple, Prof Aminu said: “We are talking of terrorists in Nigeria; the main terrorists are members of the Governors’ Forum. They are terrorizing ministers, senators and state assembly members. In fact, everybody in the country is under the threat of the Governors’ Forum. It is not good for democracy and must be removed for the system to grow,” he said.
His denunciation of the Governors’ Forum which arguably, has taken over from the Senate to become the country’s most exclusive club resonates in many quarters. And largely among many who may have fallen victim to the increasingly assertive powers of Nigeria’s 36 governors.
While Senator Aminu could openly protest what many consider as the overbearing influence of the governors, many others with similar observations, however, are not so bold. Notably among those still cowed are members of the National Assembly, senior officials of the PDP, state legislators, and many presidential aides who are often on the wrong side of some of the actions and aspirations of the governors.

Ogbulafor, Bello, Baraje and Nwodo

Just before he became the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate in 2007, Nyako was at Senator Aminu’s beck and call. He was one of the regular political disciples of Aminu that flocked around the former senator ahead of Aminu’s pronouncement on who would fly the PDP gubernatorial ticket. But once Nyako emerged governor in May 2007, such subservience to Aminu disappeared as the governor bared his fangs.
All over the country the ‘overbearing’ influence of the governors is clearly evident. But only few would dare go the extent of Senator Aminu in describing governors as power terrorists. But in reality, they bear terror to many around them. And no other political party in the country bears the scars of the governors’ influence like the PDP.
The latest proof of that sway was seen in last week’s macabre dance by the PDP’s National Working Committee when the party unashamedly disowned its recent actions in Adamawa State. The most intriguing display of the power-show of the governors was displayed in the way and manner the governors compelled the national leadership of the party to reverse the suspension of the state executive committee of the Adamawa State chapter of the party. It was a decision firmed in power survival as the NWC members panicked as the governors moved with vengeance to get a pound of flesh from the party leadership.
Last October, the NWC through its spokesman, Chief Olisa Metuh had justified the dissolution of the Adamawa State executive thus: “Elders, leaders and stakeholders of the party have been petitioning on issues, bordering on zoning, lopsidedness, irregularities that has to do with the composition of the state executive committee; it isn’t the national chairman that has been doing that.

Amaechi, Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum; and the national chairman, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur

“What is the issue is the serial breaches of the constitution of the party and that’s what the NWC is addressing. The Adamawa State executive disregarded, disobeyed an order of the NWC, not an order of the national chairman.”
One of the breaches and irregularities was the notable fact that the state party chairman, Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama comes from the same local government and ward with Governor Nyako.
Another reason given by Metuh was what was claimed to be the insubordination of the state executive to the decisions of the NWC on the submission of names of candidates for the local government election.
In both cases, the national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur was believed to be on the disadvantage in the local politics of Adamawa. The dissolution was obviously to correct the disadvantages and put the national chairman at an advantage over and against the governor ahead of the 2015 gubernatorial election where Tukur’s son, Awal is largely speculated to be interested in contesting.
The Adamawa chairman, Kugama is known to be an unflinching loyalist of Nyako. Both men are from the same local government area in the state. So, what he lost in Adamawa, Tukur was believed to be using his reaches in the NWC to win back, a development that stirred the governors.
Particularly instructive was the determination of the governors to resolve the dispute in the favour of their colleague. As one governor in the front of the battle for Nyako said: “Today it is Nyako, tomorrow it could be me,” and hence the governors’ decision to mobilise themselves to confront the national leadership. Their threat was to use their influence upon other members of the National Executive Committee, NEC of the party to instigate the dissolution of the NWC either directly or through forcing a national convention.
Remarkably, the governors had following mediations by President Goodluck Jonathan last December offered Tukur a soft landing. That was through the establishment of the Governor Sule Lamido intra-party panel on the Adamawa crisis. The Governor Sule panel it was learnt, was to prescribe the reversal of the dissolution following which the NWC would use the panel’s recommendation as a yardstick so that Tukur would not be seen to have been humiliated.
However, contrary to expectations the national secretariat continued to push for a new executive in Adamawa during the Christmas and New Year holidays with the release of schedules for congresses in the state.
It was an action that stirred the governors to roar. And when they roared last week with a warning to the NWC it was no surprise that majority of the NWC members who had earlier fully backed Tukur turned against him by reversing the dissolution.
Now after retrieving the Adamawa executive for their colleague, the governors are expected to go for issues that directly concern all of them. Their first target would be the renewed attempt by the national leadership of the party to reintroduce the campaign for e-registration. The e-registration of party members and its automated base is one which governors had in the past shot down. Their fear it is claimed, is that such a scheme would remove the party from their hands as it would transmit power directly to the people.

President Jonathan; Senate President, David Mark and Speaker, House of Reps, Hon Aminu Tambuwal

The same scheme was shot down during the regime of Dr. Okwesileze Nwodo when the governors even compelled the president to abort the project after the president had personally flagged off the scheme. The governors are also expected to now start preparing themselves for the 2015 project after their first thirst of blood.
That the governors allowed President Jonathan to have his way in foisting Tukur as the national chairman was according to one party insider a tactical move by the governors.
“When they (governors) were putting him there they knew that it could only be for some time knowing that it would only be a matter of time before Bamanga would bungle and now he has bungled seriously.”
The party source added: “Many were expecting that Bamanga would help the president to actualise his candidacy in 2015 and in return the president would help him put his son as governor of Adamawa, but now both ambitions are turning into far dreams.”
Remarkably, the governors seem to be getting an unsolicited hand of fellowship ahead of 2015 from an unexpected quarter. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has lately been criss-crossing the country reaching out to many governors.
Obasanjo according to sources has confided that he knows where the power of the party is and that it rests with the governors. So given his own personal agenda of reverting power to the north it is not surprising that he is positioning himself for a possible alliance that would be to the realisation of a common goal with most of the second term governors, many of whom do not want to leave President Jonathan behind in office as president in 2015.
Having effortlessly shaken Tukur and asserted their dominance over the polity, there is no doubt that the governors have drawn a battle line with Tukur’s sponsors in the presidential villa. The question now is ‘who or what can stop the governors’?

WAEC official blames school administrators for exam malpractice

Lagos – Mrs Comfort Agwu, the Deputy Registrar, West African Examinations Council (WAEC), has blamed school administrators for examination malpractice.
Agwu said that examination malpractice would not succeed in schools without their knowledge.
She said that the council would not hesitate to clamp down on schools that were involved in examination malpractice.
“We shall close down any school involved in malpractice in any form henceforth.
“That is why we are sparing time to educate school principals and proprietors on the evil effects of the malpractice,’’ she said.
Agwu stressed the need for administrators to educate their students and staff on the ills of malpractice ahead of 2013 May/June SSCE.
The official also urged principals to desist from registering fake candidates or external candidates for WAEC examinations.
She added that some principals register candidates with defaced photographs with the intent of replacing the photographs after the examinations.

File Photo: Students

“This has caused delay in the issuance of certificates and the council will not tolerate this any longer,’’ she said.
Agwu also urged administrators to stop advertising their schools with the promise of assisting students to get distinctions in WAEC examinations.
“Great men of today did not make distinctions or credits in all the subjects at one sitting; our individual performance should have at least the normal curve.
“Some teachers go as far as writing the answers on the board for candidates in the examination hall while some photocopy answers for them.
“We have our spies in all the zones and there will be no escape route this time around for exam cheats,” the WAEC official said.
Agwu advised school administrators to report any inspector or supervisor who tried to intimidate or demand bribe from them to the council.
A school proprietor, who preferred anonymity, told NAN that the high cut-off marks by higher institutions was responsible for the malpractice.
“The demand for credits in one sitting in SSCE by higher institutions from students seeking admissions has contributed to examination malpractice
.
“If they allow two or more sittings, the desperation will not be there to get the credits or distinctions in one attempt,’’ he said. (NAN)

Air pollution reduces visibility in Beijing, Chain

BEIJING  (AFP) – Public anger in China at dangerous levels of air pollution, which blanketed Beijing in acrid smog, spread Monday as state media queried official transparency and the nation’s breakneck development.
The media joined Internet users in calling for a re-evaluation of China’s modernisation process, which has seen rapid urbanisation and dramatic economic development at the expense of the environment.
Dense smog shrouded large swathes of northern China at the weekend, cutting visibility to 100 metres (yards) in some areas and forcing flight cancellations. Reports said dozens of building sites and a car factory in the capital halted work as an anti-pollution measure.
Doctors at two of the city’s major hospitals said the number of patients with respiratory problems had increased sharply in the past few days, state media reported.
“Now it has been dark with pollution for three days, at least people are starting to realise how important the environment is,” said one posting on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
At the height of the smog Beijing authorities said readings for PM2.5 — particles small enough deeply to penetrate the lungs — hit 993 micrograms per cubic metre, almost 40 times the World Health Organisation’s safe limit.
Experts quoted by state media blamed low winds, saying fog had mixed with pollutants from vehicles and factories and had been trapped by mountains north and west of Beijing. Coal burning in winter was also a factor, they added.
In an editorial Monday the state-run Global Times called for more transparent figures on pollution and urged the government to change its “previous method of covering up the problems and instead publish the facts”.
Officials in China have a long history of covering up environmental and other problems.
Earlier this month a chemical spill into a river was only publicly disclosed five days after it happened, and authorities were widely criticised for initially denying the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003.
“The choice between development and environmental protection should be made by genuinely democratic methods,” the Global Times said. “Environmental problems shouldn’t be mixed together with political problems.”
Official PM2.5 statistics have only been released for China’s biggest conurbations since the beginning of last year, and expanded to cover 74 cities earlier this month.
The paper ran a story on differences between air quality index (AQI) figures given by Chinese authorities and by the US embassy in Beijing — which are correlated with but not directly equivalent to pollutant concentrations.
The tightly-controlled media has previously raised concerns over health problems linked to industrialisation. Observers say the statistics’ increasing availability has forced them to confront the issue more directly.
The Xinhua state news agency criticised the “pollutant belt” that had spread across the country and warned that the authorities’ stated goal of building a “beautiful China” was in jeopardy.
“A country with a brown sky and hazardous air is obviously not beautiful,” it said.
“The environmental situation facing the country will be increasingly challenging,” it said. “There is no reason to be too optimistic.”
Smog levels eased in the capital Monday, with the national monitoring centre putting the PM2.5 AQI figure at 183, or “light pollution”, in the evening — although the US embassy gave it a “hazardous” 335.
Levels remained high in many parts of China, with PM 2.5 AQI standing at 405 in Zhengzhou south of Beijing and 342 in Xian to the southwest.
Share prices of environment-related companies surged, with face mask producer Shanghai Dragon soaring by its 10 percent daily limit.
The smog dominated discussion on Sina Weibo. “This pollution is making me so angry,” said one user, posting a picture of herself wearing a face mask.

Fate Of Pregnant Prisoners

INMATES having babies in prison is a global phenomenon defying solutions.  Authorities of Port Harcourt Prisons are denying warders were responsible for the pregnancies. In the United States, where some prison officials have been convicted for their roles in sexual abuse of prisoners, more than 25 per cent of inmates get pregnant while serving their term.
Arguments of an official of Port Harcourt Prisons, that in all cases the women arrived pregnant, are unattainable.  They are too dumbfounding that they leave no room for important prison reforms. What can be done about pregnant prisoners? How can general prison conditions be improved? Do we ever worry that children born in prison without adequate care could become criminals?
More concern in other places centre on better treatment for children born in prison. There are no easy solutions. Even in USA where six States -  California, Connecticut, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York and Washington – permit “conjugal visits” to aid family bonding, the visits have partly been blamed for the pregnancies, there are no firm plans for the children. Do we punish children too for their mothers’ offences?

File photo: The Kaduna Central Prison.

Current conditions in Nigerian prisons are deplorable. The food is poor; the quantity is not enough for healthy living, worse for pregnant inmates. The hygiene levels are abysmally low. It is almost unthinkable that children are born in these settings. Prisoners, most of them poor, cater for the children until relations take them, or they are put up for adoption. What is their future?
With the generally unacceptable conditions in which Nigerians live, it is easier to ignore prisoners and their plight. They are part of society. If the laws were a little more stringent, more Nigerians, the mighty moreso, could be in jail.
The point is validly made that prisoners – some of who are awaiting trial for years, and who may eventually be released for lack of evidence to prosecute them – have rights. The fact that nobody cares about their rights do not mean they do not exist.
The USA for years lived in denial of the abuses in its prisons. Women were shackled while giving birth, more than 1.5 million children were born in jail over 25 years, sexual abuses were nobody’s concern until some years back when the reforms began. Prison officers are being jailed for abuses; some prisons are building nurseries for the children.
We cannot address abuses in prisons without admitting them. There would be no seriousness without punishing offending officials and setting new standards for conduct. Fears of the truth would delay the reforms that fate of pregnant prisoners deserves.  We have a major prison challenge in our hands, we cannot pretend otherwise

The husband and wife who fine pass?