The paradox of our time in history is greatly affecting our
upward surge to greater and reliable positions. We are becoming captives of our
own identities, living in prisons of our own creation.
We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways,
but narrower view points. We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy
less. We have bigger houses, but smaller families, more conveniences, but less
time. We have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment;
more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We
talk too much, but act less, commit more, but forgive less. We have been all
the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a
new neighbour.
We have learned how to make a living, but not a life. We have added
years to life, not life to years. We conquered outer space, but not inner
space, we have done larger things, but not better things. We have cleaned up
the air, but polluted the soul. We have conquered atom, but not our prejudice. We
write more, but learn less, plan more, but accomplish less. We have learned to
rush, but not to wait.
These are times of fast food and slow digestion, big men and
small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are days of two
incomes, but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway
morality, one night stands, overweight bodies and pills that do everything,
from cheer to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in showroom but
less in the stockroom.
A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time
when you can choose either to share this insight or to just hit delete.
If we must fight this paradox, we must choose to ponder and
reverse the situations, but we shall always remember, “Life is not measured by
the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away”.
A taxi driver, Femi Ajibola, will never forget July 1, 2012 in a
hurry. At about 5.30 pm on that day, he received a phone call from a
young woman in the Lekki area of Lagos and had quickly answered the
subsequent invitation to pick her up.
“The lady introduced herself as Susie. She called me to come and pick
her and her friend. They told me to come pick them up at Mobolaji Estate
near Lekki Second Roundabout. Later, I took them to a hotel at Lekki
Phase I to meet one of their friends.
“From there we left for Beni Apartment in Victoria Island. They said
that I should wait for them and promised to be back soon. Not long
afterwards, one of the girls began to scream as she was coming towards
my car. Behind her, I saw David Adeleke (Davido) and four of his
bouncers.
“The girl was running towards me. I think the men had assaulted her.
She said I should open the door for her so that she would enter. I
opened the door for her; as she was about to enter the car, Davido
caught up with her and slapped her face,” Ajibola said.
In a bid to save the girl from further assault, Ajibola switched on
the engine of his cab and was about to drive off when the youthful
singer suddenly dealt him a slap.
The cabbie said, “He left the girl and faced me. He said I was the
one that brought the girls, that I am their boyfriend. He knocked my
face against the steering wheel of the cab. This made blood begin to
come out from my ear drums. He seized my car keys and in the process,
injured me.
“Before I knew what was going on, his four bouncers began to beat me
up. They beat me severely and took my car keys from me and chased me
away. This happened around 11pm. I went to report the matter at the Bar
Beach Police Station, which was the nearest one. I was asked to come
back the next morning to report the case.”
The cab at the scene of the incident
Unfortunately, Ajibola had just taken delivery of the vehicle he was
using for his transport business and had not paid the dealer in full
before the incident. He said that the balance of N100,000 was in the car
before the incident had happened. In the whole confusion, he could not
pick the money as he was ordered to leave the car by the bouncers.
“I had taken delivery of the vehicle about two weeks before the
incident. I had paid my dealer N50,000 and the other N100,000 was in the
car because I could not pay it in the bank. The money was in the car
and since they had sent me away from the car, I could not retrieve it.
“The following day, I did not find the money in the cab. They did not
even let me wind the car windows up before they chased me out. I
noticed that the car was ransacked. I managed to obtain Davido’s phone
number and called him. But he did not pick his call. So I sent him a
text message. Thirty minutes after I sent him the message, someone
picked up the call and promised to pass the message to him. I did not
get my car key throughout that day. I went to the police station to file
a report,” Ajibola said.
“When all efforts to contact Davido proved futile, the police had to go to Susie. Unfortunately, she was of no help.”
“On the fourth day, I went to Susie’s house with the police. The
ladies said they were not the ones that beat me. They said the only help
they could render was to give me Davido’s address and that they had
since settled their differences. The whole point of the police visit was
to use the girls to get to Davido, but the girls made a phone call to
an aunt of theirs and the policemen left them, saying that they were not
the ones that assaulted me,” the cab driver said.
CRIME DIGEST learnt that the genesis of the fight was because the singer was allegedly caught cheating on his girlfriend.
Ajibola continued, I learnt that Davido was dating one of the girls I
picked up. They went to his hotel room and caught him with another girl
who was their friend. This is what I learnt caused the fight. The
police collected Davido’s phone number and called him, but he kept
asking them if they knew whose son he was.
“He warned the policemen not to threaten or intimidate him. They in
turn told him that they were just inviting him for questioning and not
to arrest him. Since then, the effort to get him has not been
forthcoming. I had to go to the hospital because I was really injured.
Davido gave me a blow to the ear which made it to bleed.
“One day, the DPO of the station assured me that they would make sure
they get him. He was irritated by Davido’s boasting that he was immune
to arrest. On July 13, one Sharon Adeleke asked me to come and collect
the key of my car at 1004. I told her to come and meet me at the police
station. She did not turn up till the DPO intervened.
“The DPO invited the Sharon Adeleke, she eventually came to drop the
key of the car. I told them that I could not just collect the key of the
car without documentation that they gave me the key of the car without a
penny, though I lost money and my car got damaged. When I said this,
the DPO told me that I did not look like someone that was worth
N100,000.
“He said I have no proof that there was money in the car and that all
he was after was to retrieve my car keys for me. He said that if I
wanted to do anything I should go to court and he ordered me out of his
office. Till this moment I have not received my car keys or an apology
from the singer,” Ajibola said.
When contacted on the telephone, both Davido and the Divisional
Police Officer of Bar Beach police station, Fakeye Adegoke, refused to
answer their calls nor did they reply the text messages sent to them.
But Davido’s publicist, Valerie Obaze, denied her client’s involvement in the incident.
“Davido has no knowledge of any incident involving the assault of a taxi
driver or the illegal seizure of his car. He does not condone violence
of any sort and will not be commenting on this untrue allegation,” she
said via email
However, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide promised
to get back to CRIME DIGEST with the facts of the matter later.
Source: Punch
Please do not hesitate to leave your opinion in the comment section below.
SENATE COMMITTEE ADVISES UNILAG TO INCLUDE
COST OF NAME CHANGE IN BUDGET
The Senate Committee on Education hints
that it considering the bill to rename the University of Lagos to Moshood
Abiola University
The Senate
Committee on Education on Monday advised the University of Lagos (UNILAG),
recently renamed MoshoodAbiolaUniversity, to include in its budget the estimated
cost of the name change.
The Chairman
of the committee, Uche Chukwumerije, made the call when he led a seven-member
team on a visit to the institution, as part of its oversight functions.
Members of the
committee, Oluremi Tinubu, Joshua Dariye and Olusola Adeyeye, are on a
three-day working visit to major federal educational institutions in LagosState.
At an interactive session with UNILAG management, Mr. Chukwumerije said that
the committee is interested in knowing the cost implication should the bill
before the National Assembly sail through.
He added that
the committee is also interested in knowing the extent of consultation between
the Federal Government and the University authorities before the name change.
Mr.
Chukwumerije noted that peace in the university is a pre-requisite to the
sustenance of a conducive environment required for development and efficient
utilisation of resources.
President
Goodluck Jonathan had announced the renaming of the institution on May 29. The
Pronunciation angered the University community with students and lecturers
protesting vehemently against the move by the president, describing it as
unconstitutional.
The University
stakeholders sought a court redress and got an interlocutory injunction
restraining the Federal Government and the National Assembly from renaming
their institution.
Revenue
generated
Mr.
Chukwumerije also sought to know the status of the Internally Generated Revenue
(IGR) of the university between 2005 and 2011.
According to him, UNILAG's unique location in the country's industrial and
commercial hub, Lagos, is of special interest to the committee.
“The location of the university in Nigeria's most industrialised city is a
location at the junction of theory and practice, posing challenges in a dynamic
relationship between town and gown.
“UNILAG has the challenge of growing the city of Lagos and the city will also grow the
university,” Mr. Chukwumerije said.
He said that it is disturbing to realise that the 2011 budget performance
report of the university indicated that from the total of about N2.6 billion
IGR, tuition accounted for almost N1.36 billion, while business operatives and
other incomes accounted for the rest.
On the capital
expenditure, the committee chairman also sought to know the progress in the
implementation of the capital projects and what their performance was like in
2012.
He added that the committee would like to know the mid-year performance of the
2012 budget, especially in the area where the vision of the leadership of the
institution demanded priority attention in the 2013 budget, as well as how the
institution had been able to tackle the perennial problem of under-funding.
The committee chairman, however, noted that if the various questions challenged
the entrepreneurial creativity of the university authorities, it is because the
committee wanted to get some insight into the university's effort in exploiting
the opportunities beckoning on the institution.
The Acting
Vice Chancellor, Rahamon Bello, in his response, said that the institution had
been doing all it could to boost its IGR, through the UNILAG Consult.
Mr. Bello, however, said that the University has been having hitches in terms
of getting enough clients for service delivery.
He held that the University has achieved a lot through the Consult and that it
would not relent in its quest to ensure that it achieved the desired goal.
According to him, the university has enjoyed some forms of partnership with
corporate organisations and individuals as a result of the management's effort
to move the institution forward.
“Taking advantage of the location of the university, in terms of IGR, we have a
Consult that has been running for about 15 years, whose major function is to
offer consultancy to all arms of government, as well as state governments.
“We have been able to make some money through this means but I can say we have
not yet got to where we would like to be,” he said.
Mr. Bello noted that the university is set to put a new strategic plan in place
during the institution's 50th anniversary celebration.
He stated that accommodation is a major challenge to the university, adding
that the bed space of about 9,000 that is being currently provided for the
students is grossly inadequate for the population of more than 30,000 students
seeking accommodation.
FEARS, AS FORMER MERCENARY,
ARMS DEALER SIGNS $850MILLION NIGERIAN OIL DEAL
Major oil industry
players in Nigeria have expressed concerns over the recent
$850 million acquisition of 45 per cent participating interest in a producing
oil mining lease in Nigerian, OML 30, by Shoreline Energy Resources Nigeria
Limited, reports the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.
Shoreline Energy is
a special purpose Nigerian company formed by an indigenous company, Shoreline
Power Company Limited and Heritage Oil Plc, an independent upstream exploration
and production company listed on both the London and Toronto stock exchanges.
Shoreline recently
announced that it was acquiring 45 per cent stake in OML 30 and its
corresponding assets previously owned by Shell Petroleum Development Company of
Nigeria Ltd (SPDC), Total E&P Nigeria Ltd and Nigeria Agip Oil Company.
The Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, through its subsidiary, Nigerian
Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, holds the remaining 55 per cent of the oil
license.
However, concerns
have been expressed by some oil industry executives about Tony Buckingham, the
chief executive officer, CEO, of Heritage Oil, a FTSE 250 company and major
player in the oil industry.
The fears concern
Mr. Buckingham’s past as a mercenary and arms contractor before he transformed
into a big player in world oil business.
Although he has
built a multi-billion dollar oil business with interests and assets in Russia,
Libya, Kurdistan Iraq, Malta, Oman, Congo, Mali , Pakistan and now Nigeria, Mr.
Buckingham’s past as a known mercenary and his business relationship with
mercenaries involved in coups in Africa continues to haunt him and his business
interests.
Heritage, on its
website attempts to distant its chief executive from his dark past by stating
that he had severed relations with his mercenary and security contacts and
associates since 1998, but the British media continues to link him with old
associates in the warring business.
The Sunday Times
once put Mr. Buckingham, who owns 33 per cent shares in Heritage "at the
epicentre of the trade in arms and soldiers... into war-torn African
states".
Mr. Buckingham, a
former diver and British SAS officer, is linked to Simon Mann, a former Scots
Guard, who was arrested, tried and jailed for leading the “Wonga coup” to
depose dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasago of Equatorial Guinea.
Mr. Mann was
sentenced to a 34 year jail sentence in Equatorial Guinea on July 7, 2008 for the 2004 failed coup but was granted
presidential pardon in November 2009 on humanitarian grounds.
Mr. Buckingham and
Heritage are at pains to play down his relationship with Mr. Mann and the
company’s website is quick to point out that its CEO has not had any kind of
contact with the internationally acclaimed mercenary since 2000.
That is
understandable. Mr. Buckingham, Mr. Mann and Lt-Col Eeben Barlow, a former
apartheid-era member of the South African Defence Forces, were founding
partners in Executive Outcomes, a crack team of commandos made up of mainly
former members of the South African Defence Force, which they used in fighting
UNITA rebels in Angola.
Mr.
Buckingham the mercenary
Mr. Buckingham had
become an adviser to the Angolan government under Jose Eduardo dos Santos
around 1989 and helped the Angolan ministry of oil set up Sonangol, an oil and
gas exploration and production company. He in turn set up Heritage in 1992 and
his company and Sonangol held oil prospecting licenses.
In 1993, communist
UNITA rebels overran Angola, taking over oil operations including Heritage’s
oil interest in the country. Mr. Buckingham teamed up with Mann and Barlow who
had founded Executive Outcomes in 1989, to use the mercenary outfit to fight
the rebels and retrieve his oil interests.
But Buckingham had
other direct involvement in mercenary activities in other parts of Africa, including Nigeria’s neighbor, Sierra Leone. In 1995, that country’s government
contracted Executive Outcomes to help train its army and help fight RUF rebels.
Mr. Buckingham
became a principal figure in another mercenary outfit, Sandline, founded in
1996 by Tim Spicer, a retired British colonel, which was hired to organize a
counter coup against soldiers who toppled the government of president Ahmad
Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone.
Sandline was
allegedly contracted for the job by Indian financier Rakesh Saxena, in return
for diamonds exploration permits.
Sandline is
notorious for breaking a United Nations arms embargo on Sierra Leone with the tacit support of the British
government. That scandal implicated the Foreign Office in arms and linked it to
Sandline and Executive Outcomes, which shared offices at 535 King's Road, London.
Sandline was also
engaged by the government of Papua New Guinea to suppress the Bougainville Revolutionary
Army, which was seeking independence from the country. An enquiry by the Papua New Guinea commission of enquiry into the mercenary
group’s contract later determined that Buckingham and Spicer were the chief
controllers of Sandline.
Sandline was
dissolve in 2004 while Executive Outcomes suffered the same fate in 2009.
Another of
Buckingham’s unsavory business dealings in Africa concerns diamond mining in Namibia. The mercenary turned oil magnate as CEO
of Sky Gem, a mining company, got diamond prospecting rights for the Neu
Schwaben from the Namibian government. The businessman was accused of
forcefully ejecting over 1,000 small time miners who had been operating on the
farm for years.
Although Heritage
claims Mr. Buckingham severed links with Mann in 2000, Hansard Trust Company
Ltd and Hansard Management, two companies which both have shares in four of the
companies in the Heritage Group have been linked to Logo Limited.
Logo Limited is the
company used by Mann in buying military equipment and ammunition and paying
mercenaries and it shared offices with the Hansard companies St Peter Port as
late as 2009.
In 2007, the
Observer of London said of Executive Outcomes and Sandline: "They are the
advance guard for major business interests engaged in a latter-day scramble for
the mineral wealth of Africa
[including] oil, gold and diamond-mining ventures... and offshore financial
management services."
Born in November,
1951, Mr. Buckingham worked in the North Sea as a diver in the 70s and later as a concessions negotiator for
Ranger Oil and Premium Oil. He earned a big cheque from oil prospecting and
production in Uganda’s Lake Albert fields and in 2009 sold his company’s
assets and interest in the country to Eni Oil, the Italian oil giant, for $1.3
billion.
Mr. Buckingham, one
of Jersey’s richest men – his fortune is put at more
than half a billion pounds – is a major donor to the Conservative Party.
Mr.
Buckingham’s foray into Nigeria
Investigations show
that before its deal with Shoreline, Heritage had made spirited efforts for
years to find an investment inroad into Nigeria. In fact, our investigation shows that as
far back as 2003, the company was already sending representatives to Nigeria to prospect for investment opportunities.
Sources said that a
representative of Heritage approached a Nigerian broker in November 2003 asking
for opportunities in oil and gas, refineries as well as other business areas.
The source said
that the representative also told the agent that Mr. Buckingham was interested
in “military business”, asking for contacts in the military.
Mr. Buckingham’s
man said that although he no longer had military affiliations, one of his
companies still owned two Russian MI24 Helicopter Gunships, the type used by
the Nigerian military, located in Australia and in good condition and which he was
willing to sell to an interested buyer in Nigeria.
However, the man
who first brought Heritage and Buckingham into Nigeria is Folorunso Okenla, the popular former
Green Eagles player. Mr. Okenla disclosed to our reporter said that he got to
know of Heritage’s good records in Uganda and contacted Mr. Buckingham to
impress on him that he was not yet a big player in the oil business in Africa
if he wasn’t doing business in Nigeria.
Subsequently, Mr.
Okenla’s company, Haoni Oil and Gas, whose chairman is retired Justice Alfa
Belgore, partnered with Heritage in the 2005 bidding round in Abuja but failed.
“I brought Heritage
into Nigeria,” Mr. Okenla told our reporter, adding
"what we were looking at was to be the local partner to Heritage which was
already a big oil industry player in Uganda.”
“Our first business
relationship with Heritage was in 2005 when Haoni Oil and Gas partnered with
them during the 2005 bidding round in Abuja but we did not succeed,” the ex–footballer
turned businessman stated.
Mr. Okenla also
said that the two companies kept exploring business opportunities together
until about two years ago.
Mr. Okenla,
however, claimed that he was not aware of Heritage’s acquisition of OML 30 but
stated that after he got the foreign oil giant interested in prospecting
business in Nigeria, other companies might have approached it
with a better deal.
He admitted he did
not do much due diligence on the businessman and denied knowing about
Buckingham’s mercenary or military past, insisting that he only knew about him
doing good oil business in Uganda.
Apart from Haoni,
other companies that Heritage explored business relationships with in Nigeria include Hicog Oil and Gas, Eurasia Limited
and ENP Limited.
Heritage’s new deal
in Nigeria means that it takes over 45% of OML 30
with eight producing fields, some two hundred wells, along with associated
infrastructure which includes a segment of the 850,000 bpd capacity Trans
Forcados pipeline.
The acquisition,
according to a statement by Heritage, is being financed by a $550 million
secured bridge finance facility provided by Standard Bank of South Africa and a $370 million underwritten rights
issue sponsored by JP Morgan Securities Limited.
Mum is the
word from Heritage
Kola Karim, CEO of
Shoreline Power Resources expressed excitement at the acquisition.
"Taking us
into the upstream oil and gas sector at such a significant time when the
Nigerian government is promoting active participation from indigenous
companies. Shoreline, along with Heritage’s strong technical team and upstream
experience will become one of the leading indigenous oil producing companies in
Nigeria. This will strengthen our existing network
of relationships with the local communities, local government & authorities
in the oil producing areas of Nigeria,” he told a Nigerian newspaper.
Concerning the
acquisition, Buckingham said in a statement, "The acquisition of.
OML 30 [the oilfield assets] is transformational for Heritage, providing a
material change in production and reserves whilst pursuing our strategy of
generating shareholder value."
"Heritage is
very excited to be participating in the development of OML 30 and entering at
an attractive valuation. We look forward to continuing to build local
relationships and partnerships with the communities in the delta region and
creating a platform to build a substantial presence in Nigeria," he stated further.
Attempts to speak
to Buckingham were unsuccessful. When our reporter called Paul Atherton,
Heritage’s Chief financial officer in London Thursday night, he asked him to call the
next morning through his official phone.
However, when the
reporter called the given number and asked to speak to Mr. Atherton, he was
told by a female voice that it was a wrong number.
Mr. Atherton did
not answer subsequent calls and has also not replied the mail sent to him
asking questions about Heritage’s oil deal in Nigeria or fears about Buckingham’s past.
The acquisition of
OML 30 is expected to boost Heritage’s net production significantly from 605
bopd to 11,650bopd.
There are moments in our lives when we find
ourselves at a crossroad, afraid, confused, without a road map. The choices we
make in those moments can define the rest of our days. Of course, when faced
with the unknown… most of us prefer to turn around and go back, but once in a
while people push on to something better, something found just beyond the pain
of doing it alone, and just beyond the bravery and courage it takes to let
someone in or to give someone a second chance, something beyond the quiet
persistence of a dream; because it’s only when you are tested that you truly discover
who you are and who you can be. The person you want to be does exist, somewhere
on the other side of hard work, faith, belief, and beyond heartache and fear of
what lies ahead.
Do you ever look at a picture of yourself and
see a stranger at the background; it makes you wonder how many strangers have
pictures of you? How many moments of other people’s life have we been in? Were
we part of someone’s life when their dream came true? Or were we there when
their dreams died? Did we keep trying to get in? As if we were somehow destined
to be there? Or did the shot take us by surprise? Just think you could be a
part of someone else’s life and not even know it.
There comes a time when every life goes off
course. In this desperate moment, you must choose your direction? Will you
fight to stay on the path? Will others tell you who you are? Or will you label
yourself? Will you be haunted by your choice? Or will you embrace your new
path? Each morning you choose to move forward or to simply give up. Will you
let down your defenses and find solace in someone unexpectedly? Will you face
your greatest fears bravely and move forward with faith and fate? Or will you8
succumb to the darkness in your soul.
Have you ever had a dream that seems so real,
when you woke up you didn’t know what to believe? What will you do when what
you thought was true wasn’t and vice versa? You can choose to blame your
circumstances on fate or bad luck or bad choices or you can fight back. Things aren’t
always going to be fair in the real world and that’s just the way it is, but
for the most part you get what you give. What’s worse? Not getting everything you
wished for or getting it but finding out it’s not enough.
The rest of your life is been shaped right
now, with the dreams you chased, the choices you make and the person you decide
to be for the rest of your life in a long time. The rest of your life starts
now.
It took a time to clear the debt, though not as
much as it took to sink a depth. Life is like a maze, it only takes his Grace
to compete with the space. Living is like a tournament, surviving is the
greatest opponent. The things we fear are the things we hear, our greatest
forthcomings now feverishly hindered by our frozen shortcomings. All life has
to give is what we are readily waiting to receive. We disregard the benefits of
the body until it becomes a herculean burden (Death).
The street tells a story which uplifts most to
the world of sudden glory and to the less unfortunate to the word of sorry. The
Hustle in the Creeks makes most powerful like the Greek and makes some f3el so
sick. A Duke must be attached to a Duchess, a Prince to a Princess, so must a
personal Dream be attached to a better team, i only the best breed must produce
the greatest seed. For most people it’s not just the struggle or hustle in
life, for them it’s just the struggle to survive; the hustle to belong to the
recognized tribe (wealthy). The street have always inculcated in the minds of
those who would believe that success is just a blessing and failure will always
remain a lesson, the more you live the more you learn and the more you try the
more you earn. It could be in gain or maybe in pain, sometimes slow like a rail
train or fast like an airplane. Whichever way, you always have a function to
perform, either at the fore or at the hind. If you are not leading then you are
following.
Life is all about thanks and thorns, whichever
presses you harder make you understand the practical theory of life better.
It’s either you are looking at where you are going or you are going to where
you are looking. The little you know is the much you can tell, if life doesn’t
entice you with its sweet comedy, then it might despise you with its painful
tragedy.
In the end life is just a process. You realize
the theme in your story only when you have achieved your victory, because in
the end it’s not the years in your life that counts but the life in your years.
